NYPD Descends on Columbia Campus, Arrests Protesters

Charisma Madarang and Andrew Perez
·3 min read
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On Tuesday, leadership at Columbia University called in the New York City Police Department to break up student protests demanding the university divest from Israel amid its ongoing siege in Gaza, which has led to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians. Protestors were seen being arrested by law enforcement, zip-tied, and loaded onto buses that drove away from campus.

Pro-Palestine student protesters have led an encampment at Columbia for two weeks. This is the second time that the university has called in the NYPD to clear the encampment. Police were seen entering the campus in full riot gear Tuesday evening, and entering the second floor of Hamilton Hall through an elevated ramp as protesters shouted, “Shame on you!” and “Fall!”

Earlier that day, the university’s president, Nemat Shafik, sent a letter to the NYPD, asking police to “help to clear all individuals from Hamilton Hall and all campus encampments.” Shafik also requested that law enforcement remain on campus through at least May 17, 2024 — two days after the school’s commencement ceremony is set to take place on May 15.

In a statement, Columbia’s Vice President for Communications, Ben Chang, said that they “believe that the group that broke into and occupied the building is led by individuals who are not affiliated with the University.” He added that the “decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.”

The NYPD released a separate statement and confirmed that “multiple individuals were taken into custody” on Tuesday and said that the “investigation remains ongoing.”

Prior to Tuesday’s arrests, the university issued a shelter-in-place order and threatened to expel students occupying Hamilton Hall, where students had barricaded entrances — recreating an occupation of the same building by anti-Vietnam War protesters in 1968. Protesters unfurled a banner reading “Hind’s Hall” in tribute to Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in February when the vehicle she and her relatives were traveling in was fired upon by Israeli forces in Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

On Monday, Columbia attempted to clear the encampment by issuing suspensions to students who had not left the encampment. The university announced that students who remained and refused to sign a “form committing to abide” to its policies would be “placed on suspension, ineligible to complete the semester or graduate, and will be restricted from all academic, residential, and recreational spaces.”

The following morning, students took over Hamilton Hall.

Columbia previously called in the police on April 18, when Shafik broke with a decades-long tradition of the school’s handling of student protests and called on the NYPD to arrest activists occupying the “Liberated Zone” on the campus lawn.

Collegiate demonstrations have erupted across the country as some students demand their universities divest from Israeli investments and military contractors. The protests have added to existing pressure on President Joe Biden and his administration to cease providing military aid to Israel amid its war in Gaza.

Biden condemned the student takeover of Hamilton Hall in a statement on Tuesday. “President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over building is not peaceful — it is wrong,” said a White House spokesperson. “And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.”

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized Columbia administrators and New York Mayor Eric Adams for sending in police.

“If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and univ presidents,” she wrote on X. “Other leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory path. This is the opposite of leadership and endangers public safety. A nightmare in the making. I urge the Mayor to reverse course.”

This article was updated on May 1 at 5:35 p.m. E.T. to include a statement from the NYPD.

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