New York City was rocked by a series of protests on Thursday as more than 100 students from Columbia University were arrested. This marked the culmination of months of on-and-off demonstrations on campus, which began on October 7th when the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.
The protests were sparked by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of approximately 33,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry. Students at Columbia have been vocal in their support for the Palestinian people and have been protesting against Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
The arrests were authorized by university President Minouche Shafik, following her testimony at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing titled “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism.” In an email to Columbia students, faculty, and staff, Shafik explained her decision, saying, “I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances.”
The students, who call themselves Columbia University Apartheid Divest, set up dozens of tents on the east lawn of the university campus at 4 a.m. on Wednesday. They also hung a banner declaring the area as the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” The group posted their demands on Instagram, calling for the university to divest from companies and institutions that profit from “Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine.” They vowed to remain in the encampment until their demands were met.
However, Shafik stated that the protesters had been repeatedly informed that they were violating university policies and must disperse. She also made it clear that all students participating in the encampment would be suspended. “At this time, the participants in the encampment are not authorized to be on university property and are trespassing,” she said.
The New York Police Department’s Strategic Response Group arrived at 1 p.m. on Thursday and used zip-ties to handcuff the protesters and remove them from campus. They were then loaded onto correctional facilities buses and taken to 1 Police Plaza. According to Captain Jaclyn Keane, 108 students were charged with trespassing, and two were additionally charged with obstruction of governmental administration. This marked the first mass student arrest on Columbia’s campus in 50 years.
As the arrests were taking place, supporters of the encampment gathered around the fenced-in east lawn, shouting “Shame on you” and other chants at the NYPD officers. After the arrests, they moved to the campus’ west lawn and began an impromptu occupation.
The second occupation drew the support of several prominent activists, including Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed el-Kurd and Cornell West, a U.S. independent presidential candidate and Columbia faculty member. West spoke to the crowd, criticizing the university administration for not taking a stand against the genocide in Gaza. “They can read Sophocles, they can read Karl Marx, they can read Martin Luther King, but when it’s time to take a stand against genocide, they won’t do it,” he said.
Even after the arrests, the protesters remained determined to continue their demonstration. One student urged the crowd to stay in solidarity with the people of Gaza. “We are asking that in solidarity with the people in Gaza, you continue to remain on this lawn…Remember that solidarity is an action, it is not just a feeling, and we want you to remain here as long as possible,” she said.
As of Thursday evening, the protesters were still occupying the campus’ west lawn, with more people joining in and setting up tents and supplies for the night. Outside of the campus, supporters marched and chanted in solidarity with those inside.
These recent events are a continuation of tensions on Columbia’s campus since October 7th. The actions of the students have brought the university into the spotlight and sparked a nationwide discourse on student activism at elite universities in relation to the Israel-Gaza conflict. In fact, following backlash to their statements in front of the House Education subcommittee, Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned at the beginning of the year.
Representative Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released a statement in support of the arrests, saying, “Columbia must take the bold and difficult actions necessary to address the pervasive antisemitism, support for terrorism, and contempt for the university’s rules that have been allowed to flourish on its campus. This includes real discipline that matches
