New information shows many protesters weren’t students, NYPD says
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS — On Thursday, new images and new information about police removing protesters from an academic building they’d seized at Columbia University brought one question to the fore: how much influence do demonstrators from outside of college communities have on protests on campuses?
The question is being analyzed by law enforcement, students, and college administrators alike, even as protests continue at colleges and universities all over the New York City area.
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New bodycam video from officers entering Hamilton Hall on the Columbia campus Tuesday night was released by the NYPD on Thursday. Protesters had broken into and taken over the academic building on Monday, and the university had requested that police come onto the private college’s campus to remove the demonstrators.
On Tuesday night, NYPD officers made arrests at both Columbia and at City College, 20 blocks away. They arrested more than 300 protesters, and on Thursday, police leaders had a numerical analysis of the arrests that had been made.
“More than half of the people arrested at City College were not from that school,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell in an interview with PIX11 News. “About 30 percent were not from Columbia,” he continued. “What are they doing there, and what level of agitator are they?” he asked.
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Chell and other police leaders have specifically mentioned Lisa Fithian, an activist who’s known to travel to protests nationwide and advise demonstrators. She’s been seen in a variety of videos outside of Hamilton Hall confronting some Columbia students who tried to stop the building from being taken over. One of those students is Charles Beck.
“I’d like to think that the Columbia student body doesn’t have the innate tendency to do something like what happened,” Beck said in an interview with PIX11 News on Thursday. “It actually makes a lot of sense to me that there were outside people.”
Throughout the day on Thursday, there were a few small protests outside of Columbia’s gates, as well as just outside of City College, or CCNY, which has been fenced off and shut down by the NYPD, at the college’s request. CCNY is part of the larger City University of New York, or CUNY system. There was a protest in front of CUNY’s welcome center, on East 42nd Street, on Thursday morning.
Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus has also removed protesters from its buildings this week. All of those institutions have said that they have been, and still are, open to negotiating with students.
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Columbia said in a statement to PIX11 News that it offered protesters who want it to divest from Israel an expedited review by the university’s divestment committee; greater access to Columbia’s financial information; the convening of a faculty committee on academic freedom and financial barriers; and an offer to make investments in health and education in Gaza.
For its part, Fordham University re-emphasized statements made on Wednesday by its president, Tania Tetlow.
She said, “We met with student leaders as recently as yesterday, readily agreeing to allow them to present their case about divestment and transparency to trustees and our chief investment officer. We remain committed to that process.”
“It comes down to this,” Tetlow continued. “Fordham students have a right to feel safe and to finish their exams. Period. …We remain committed to permitting peaceful protests that still allow the rest of our student body to continue their studies.”
PIX11 requested a comment from CCNY and CUNY and has not yet received a detailed response.
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