Where did those things happen, specifically? At Columbia, the university administration shut down campus; it was functioning fine otherwise (except for one building on the last day).
"except for one building on the last day", lol except for the one building that was vandalized likely for millions of dollars in damages. That was an escalation, how much more would it escalate if the police had not stepped in?
A crime is a crime, it does not matter if its state / federal or misdemeanor. Do we just allow crime if some of us decide that its for a good reason? Who gets to decide if the reason is just? That's a pretty slippery slope you are looking to walk up.