As Columbia University extends deadline for dismantling pro-Gaza encampment, possible NYPD crackdown looms

As pro-Palestinian demonstrations spread across U.S. campuses, tensions remained high Wednesday at Columbia University, one of the first sites to see students bunker down to protest the Israel-Hamas war.

Amid the prospect of a second NYPD sweep at the university, Columbia officials and students have been trying to hash out a brokered solution to end their campus antiwar tent demonstration.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik had given a deadline of Tuesday at midnight for demonstrators to shut down the encampment, organizers of which have been demanding the school divest from Israel and reverse pro-Palestinian student and faculty discipline measures. The cutoff was extended 48 hours early Wednesday.

“As stated many times, until these demands are met, we do not have any plans of leaving,” said Khymani James, a Columbia student at the encampment.

The demonstration has come under fire for violating school rules and instances of offensive, antisemitic rhetoric, frequently by non-student protesters along the perimeter of campus.

The attempt to reach an agreement came just under a week after officials called the NYPD to break up the encampment, arresting more than 100 protesters. Since then, police have maintained a presence outside the campus.

NYPD brass said Wednesday they want the university to have a more comprehensive plan in place if they go in a second time. Shortly after the protesters were cleared out last week, they came right back and pitched new tents on campus.

“We still have to have some conversations and talk about what the plan is,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard said on PIX11 News on Wednesday morning. “Even if we do go in to clear out the plaza, what’s the plan to maintain it? What’s the plan going forward to the end of the school year?

“We cleared it out and we thought that would be the end of it,” Sheppard added, admitting that no one thought the protesters would return so quickly. “But now we see that (keeping the area clear) was something we should have put into our action plan when we went in and we will continue to do that if these things pop up in the future.”

The NYPD cracked down on a similar protest encampment at New York University on Monday night. Few protesters returned the next day after the school built plywood barriers around Gould Plaza in Greenwich Village, stopping demonstrators from camping there. It has remained generally quiet at NYU because an action plan was immediately put in place, Sheppard said.

“The key difference with NYU is I thought we did a better job of maintaining it overnight so that way, the next day we weren’t facing the same problem,” he said. “NYU was also aggressive and took the onus to make sure that they maintained their own plaza area after we cleared it out.”

Since the NYPD crackdown on Columbia last week, students from coast to coast have set up similar encampments. That’s prompted a strong police response in locations such as the University of Texas at Austin, where at least 30 students were reportedly arrested Wednesday.

Columbia officials, who faced criticism by students and faculty for calling in the police last week, say they are making progress in talks with the protesters. According to the administration, students have committed to removing a number of their tents and promised that protesters not enrolled at the school will leave.

“In light of this constructive dialogue, the university will continue conversations for the next 48 hours. We will report back on progress,” a university spokesperson said early Wednesday.

Protesters “have taken steps to make the encampment welcome to all and have prohibited discriminatory or harassing language,” school officials said. They also have committed to complying with FDNY safety regulations.

But students walked back a commitment to the dismantling of some tents on Wednesday afternoon, saying they agreed to those terms before the threat of another round of law enforcement activity. They also refused to confirm or deny if any non-students were present in the encampment.

The tension on campus started more than a week ago as Shafik readied for a congressional hearing on the university’s response to antisemitism. Around the same time, students began occupying a lawn with dozens of tents, calling the area the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”

University administrators warned students to leave and began notifying them of suspensions, costing dozens of students their campus housing. By Thursday afternoon, Shafik called in NYPD cops, who wore riot gear to clear the lawn.

The sweep appeared only to embolden demonstrators who continued to camp out on the lawn while they chanted, hosted lectures, danced and held screenings over the past week. While some Jewish students participated in the encampment, others reported feeling unsafe on campus and its perimeter, where hundreds of protesters have shown up each day.

Columbia is offering students a hybrid learning option to finish out the school year. Barnard College, the women’s school affiliated with Columbia, offered to lift suspensions for many students involved in the encampment — if they promise to play by the college’s rules going forward.

As policies shift, students have remained undeterred.

“Across history, student movements have been at the forefront of social justice movements and in changing the tides,” said Basil Rodriguez, another student representative for the encampment.