Pro-Palestinian students refuse to leave Columbia University and are suspended

The university administration’s new attempt to calm things down backfired. After board chairman Minouche Shafik announced that talks between the university and the demonstrators had come to nothing, the university board issued an ultimatum to the students: if they did not leave the campus before 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon, the university would start handing out suspensions. This means that students will not be able to complete the semester and therefore may not be able to graduate. The graduation date is May 15.

With this far-reaching measure, the Columbia University administration hoped to deter the demonstrators without having to call in the police. Instead, the demonstration took on larger proportions. Just after midnight, hours after the ultimatum expired, the demonstrators left the camps and occupied a university building. Arm in arm, dozens of students blocked the main entrance.

Meanwhile, some university teachers, wearing yellow-orange vests, stayed behind the encampment to block access to the tents to prevent the tents from being demolished. They said they would stay all night to ensure that their students’ right to protest was respected.

Student protesters across the country are demanding more or less the same thing: that universities cut financial and academic ties with Israel, and that they stop taking money from weapons manufacturers. More than 350 protesters were arrested across various universities in the US this weekend alone.

‘Created an unwelcoming environment’

Board Chairman Minouche Shafik said in a statement that the demonstration at Columbia University has created an “unwelcome environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty.” She said many of them have left campus since the demonstrations broke out. “And that is tragic,” she wrote.

Jewish students say they have been victims of anti-Semitic incidents. For example, a video circulated of a student saying that ‘Zionists have no right to live’. The university suspended the student, and the board is currently considering additional sanctions.

On the other hand, there are also some Jewish students and organizations participating in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They are critical of the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza.

The demonstrations also got out of hand at other universities last night. Protesters also occupied a university building on the campus of Princeton University in New Jersey. Unlike in New York, the police did intervene here: thirteen people were arrested. Students at Portland State University took over a library, and in Austin, police used pepper spray against protesting students. Dozens of people were arrested.