Student protesters at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at universities across the United States, are being suspended after defying an ultimatum to leave the area.
Authorities at the prestigious New York University demanded that the protest camp be cleared by 2 p.m. Monday or the students would face disciplinary action.
A few hours later, Columbia vice president for communications Ben Chang said the university had “begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus.”
Chang said students had been warned they would be “suspended, ineligible to complete the semester or graduate, and restricted from access to all academic, residential and recreational spaces.”
Student protesters at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at universities across the United States, are being suspended after Trump defied an ultimatum to leave the area.
Columbia University officials said talks with student protesters had broken down and issued an ultimatum for them to dismantle their encampment.
Students gather to march and demonstrate in support of a protest camp on campus supporting Palestinians, despite a 2:00 pm deadline issued by university officials to disband.
But the students involved in the camp were not happy to comply with the university’s request.
“These repulsive scare tactics mean nothing compared to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians,” said a statement read by a student at a news conference after the deadline.
“We will not move until Columbia meets our demands or… they are forcibly displaced,” said the student, who did not want to give his name.
The protests against the Gaza war, with their high number of Palestinian civilian deaths, have posed a challenge for university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints that the demonstrations have veered into anti-Semitism and hatred. .
Images have been seen around the world of police in riot gear summoned to several universities to break up demonstrations, reminiscent of the protest movement that broke out during the Vietnam War.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, in a statement Monday announcing that the talks had failed, said that “many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks.”
“Many have left the campus and that is a tragedy.”
“Anti-Semitic language and actions are unacceptable and calls for violence are simply abhorrent,” he said.
Pro-Palestinian protesters marched at 2 pm as the deadline to clear the camp came and went.
The students involved in the camp were not happy to comply with the university’s request to leave the area and now face suspension.
Students received a suspension warning if they did not meet the deadline
Columbia students were the first from an elite university to set up camp, demanding that the school get rid of Israel amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
A protester waves the Israeli flag at the camp set up in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
A protester carries the university disciplinary notice covered for support for Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University.
Protest organizers deny accusations of anti-Semitism, arguing that their actions are directed at the Israeli government and its persecution of the conflict in Gaza.
They also insist that some incidents have been orchestrated by agitators who are not students.
With the school year ending, administrators also point out the need to maintain order on campus for exam studies.
“The right of one group to express its opinions cannot come at the expense of another group’s right to speak, teach and learn,” Shafik said.
One graduate student protester, who asked to be identified only as ‘Z’, said: “It’s finals week, everyone is still working on their finals, I still have finals to do.”
“But at the end of the day, school is temporary,” the protester said.
President Joe Biden’s White House has also attempted to walk a fine line in defending the right to protest while also condemning reported acts of anti-Semitism.
“We understand that Americans are going through a painful time and that freedom of expression must be done within the law,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
However, Biden’s Republican opponents have seized on the issue, calling the protests anti-Semitic and threatening to withdraw federal funding if they are not stopped.
‘What continues to happen in Columbia is an absolute disgrace. The campus is being overrun by anti-Semitic students and faculty alike,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday, reiterating his call for Shafik to resign.