Students at Columbia University have organized anti-Israel protests in demands that their school divest from Israel. The protests focused on the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza led to an eruption of protests across the country, dividing the nation further. Columbia University, along with many other schools dealing with protesting groups decided to punish their students, leaving them banned from campus with no access to dining halls or shelter.
Columbia President, Nemat Shafik called in the NYPD to campus for the first time in over 50 years. This was meant to sweep pro-Palestinian protests out of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment, leading to the arrest of 108 individuals. While these protests are pro-Palestinean, much controversy has been raised due to the protests anti-semetic undertones. To further this, Jewish students at Columbia University have reported being attacked, giving the university reason to arrest and suspend these protestors. While current protestors were horrified with how the university aggressively silenced them, the university was clear that any prejudice towards Jewish students is unacceptable.
On Friday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez visited Columbia’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” to applaud the anti-Israel protests. “It’s really special. It’s really amazing”, she said, congratulating the group for “excellent” leadership.
Later that same day, Columbia protest leader Khymani James was banned from campus for stating that Zionists “don’t deserve to live” on video, saying he was “very comfortable calling for these people to die”. He went on further to say “Be glad I’m not going around murdering Zionists”. ABC News claims that in an interview, James refused to apologize for his words, but a few hours later said that he “misspoke”, and no one deserves to feel threatened on campus.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Gates in a recent statement said that James’ comments were “horrifying” and that it was a clear advocating for the murder of Jews. “While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous — they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America,”
In light of these demonstrations, Columbia University has decided to go hybrid for the rest of the Spring 2024 semester. Other colleges such as USC, have decided to cancel their graduation.
On Monday, April 29th, protestors were given a 2pm deadline to exit the encampment, or else they would face immediate suspension, but would not suspend students supporting around the camp. Many faculty and staff members surrounded the encampment, showing their support for their students’ right to protests, no matter their beliefs on the conflict.
Columbia has not made an updated statement on if their faculty will face censure, or if they plan on divesting from Israel.
