Student demonstrators at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at colleges across the U.S. are being suspended after defying an ultimatum to leave the area.
Authorities at the prestigious university in New York demanded that the protest encampment be cleared by 2pm on Monday afternoon or that students would face disciplinary action.
A few hours later, Columbia vice president of communications Ben Chang said the university had ‘begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus.’
Chang said students had been warned they would be ‘placed on suspension, ineligible to complete the semester or graduate, and will be restricted from all academic, residential, and recreational spaces.’
Student demonstrators at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at colleges across the U.S. are being suspended after , defying an ultimatum to leave the area
Columbia University officials said talks had broken down with student protesters and issued an ultimatum that they dismantle their encampment
Students gather to march and rally in support of a protest encampment on campus supporting Palestinians, despite a 2pm deadline issued by university officials to disband
Columbia vice president of communications Ben Chang said the university had ‘begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus.’
But students involved in the encampment were not happy to comply with the university’s request.
‘These repulsive scare tactics mean nothing compared to the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians,’ said a statement, read out by a student at a press conference after the deadline.
‘We will not move until Columbia meets our demands or… are moved by force,’ said the student, who would not give his name.
Protests against the Gaza war, with its high Palestinian civilian death toll, have posed a challenge to university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints that the rallies have veered into anti-Semitism and hate.
Footage of police in riot gear summoned at various colleges to break up rallies have been viewed around the world, recalling the protest movement that erupted during the Vietnam War.
Columbia University president Minouche Shafik, in a statement Monday announcing that talks had broken down, said ‘many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks.
‘Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy.’
‘Anti-Semitic language and actions are unacceptable and calls for violence are simply abhorrent,’ she said.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched at 2pm as the deadline to clear the encampment came and went
Students involved in the encampment were not happy to comply with the university’s request to leave the area and now face suspension
The students were given a suspension warning if they did not meet the deadline
Students at Columbia were the first from an elite college to erect an encampment, demanding that the school divest from Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war
A demonstrator waves the Israeli flag at the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza
A protestor wears the university’s disciplinary notice covered over by support for Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University
Protest organizers deny accusations of anti-Semitism, arguing that their actions are aimed at the Israeli government and its prosecution of the conflict in Gaza.
They also insist some incidents have been engineered by non-student agitators.
With the school year wrapping up, administrators are also pointing to the need to maintain order on campus for exam studies.
‘One group’s rights to express their views cannot come at the expense of another group’s right to speak, teach and learn,’ Shafik said.
One graduate student protester, who asked to be identified only as ‘Z,’ said: ‘It’s finals week, everyone is still working on their finals, I still have finals to do.’
‘But at the end of the day, school is temporary,’ the protester said.
A group of Pro-Palestinian students march around the Columbia University encampment which in some sides is surrounded by Israeli flags and a few Pro-Israel demonstrators
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold a protest outside of Columbia University on Monday
The students created a human chain that marched for over two hours around the quad
A student protester flys a kite inside the protest encampment on the Columbia University campus
Omer Lubaton Granot and his son pose for a graduation photo with Israeli flags outside the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza
Demonstrators at Columbia University picket around the encampment
President Joe Biden’s White House has also attempted to walk a fine line of defending the right to protest while condemning reported acts of anti-Semitism.
‘We get that it is a painful moment that Americans are dealing with, and free expression has to be done within the law,’ Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
However, Biden’s Republican opponents have seized on the issue, casting the protests as anti-Semitic and threatening to pull federal funding if they aren’t stopped.
‘What continues to transpire at Columbia is an utter disgrace. The campus is being overrun by anti-Semitic students and faculty alike,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday on X, reiterating his call for Shafik to resign.
