Columbia University struck hard against pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday, suspending student demonstrators and authorizing the NYPD to break up an encampment at the heart of campus. Police have made multiple arrests as part of a promised crackdown by the university’s president. Below are the latest updates on this developing story.
Prior to the police action on campus on Thursday, Columbia suspended three students — Isra Hirsi, Maryam Iqbal, and Soph Dinu — for participating in the encampment. A copy of the suspension notice obtained by the Intercept read that the school “has determined that your continued unauthorized encampment on the Columbia campus poses an ongoing threat of disruption to, or interference with, the normal operations of the College and the University.”
i’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege i have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings
i just received notice that i am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.
Hirsi is the daughter of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. On Wednesday, Omar questioned Shafik during her House testimony, getting her to say that there have been no protests against any ethnic or religious communities on campus. “I think that the line of questioning which my mother asked was definitely a pressure for Columbia University,” Hirsi told the Intercept.
Pro-Palestinian protesters initially gathered around the police buses used to detain those who were arrested, but later dispersed after an organizer asked them to clear the street.
Another large demonstration of hundreds of students formed on the campus lawn near the encampment, the New York Times reports:
Dozens of students have hopped the fence into the lawn and and are sitting on the now wet grass in a light rain. Many are wearing kaffiyeh, and a Palestinian flag is waving. Their message seems to be: You can’t arrest us all. “The people united will never be defeated,” some chant.
Protesters had their cameras rolling as the crackdown began:
NYPD entered @Columbia campus, led by Chell & Daughtry. SRG shouldered their way past students, then played a recording about an “unlawful encampment” and that students would be charged with trespassing.
At least a thousand students watching, yelling “Shame!” at NYPD. pic.twitter.com/iWFo0MiGpI
ARRESTS HAVE BEGUN. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HAS BEGUN ARRESTING THE STUDENTS IN THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT. SHAME ON COLUMBIA AND MINOUCHE SHAFIK. HISTORY WILL REMEMBER YOU ON THE SIDE OF GENOCIDE!!!! pic.twitter.com/3yiKIpO5nZ
Student protesters set up the group of around 50 tents on Wednesday morning, calling it the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and demanding Columbia to divest from organizations involved in the war in Gaza.
On Thursday morning, Shafik authorized the NYPD to remove students from their tents. By 3 p.m., university personnel were taking down the tents from the cleared encampment.
A post shared by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine🇵🇸 (@sjp.columbia)
“Protests have a storied history at Columbia and are an essential component of free speech in America and on our campus,” Shafik wrote in a statement:
We work hard to balance the rights of students to express political views with the need to protect other students from rhetoric that amounts to harassment and discrimination. We updated our protest policy to allow demonstrations on very short notice and in prime locations in the middle of campus while still allowing students to get to class, and labs and libraries to operate. The current encampment violates all of the new policies, severely disrupts campus life, and creates a harassing and intimidating environment for many of our students.
President Shafik’s move came hours after she finished testifying on Capitol Hill about how Columbia would take a harder line against protests and speech characterized as antisemitic. “I promise you, from the messages I’m hearing from students, they are getting the message that violations of our policies will have consequences,” she told a House committee investigating the university.
This post has been updated.
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NYPD Arrests Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia University: Live Updates
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19.04.2024
Columbia University struck hard against pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday, suspending student demonstrators and authorizing the NYPD to break up an encampment at the heart of campus. Police have made multiple arrests as part of a promised crackdown by the university’s president. Below are the latest updates on this developing story.
Prior to the police action on campus on Thursday, Columbia suspended three students — Isra Hirsi, Maryam Iqbal, and Soph Dinu — for participating in the encampment. A copy of the suspension notice obtained by the Intercept read that the school “has determined that your continued unauthorized encampment on the Columbia campus poses an ongoing threat of disruption to, or interference with, the normal operations of the College and the University.”
i’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege i have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings
i just received notice that i am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.
Hirsi is........
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