- Columbia backed out of its midnight deadline to dismantle the camp
- Around 200 pro-Palestinian protesters buckle up on their 10th day on Friday.
- President Minouche Shafik said that negotiations with the organizers are progressing
Columbia University on Thursday night backtracked on an overnight deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave an encampment as students prepared for the 10th day of protests.
University President Minouche Shafik issued a statement less than an hour before midnight pulling out of the boundary to dismantle a large tent camp with about 200 students.
‘The talks have shown progress and continue as planned. We have our demands; they have theirs,’ Shafik said.
The statement denied that New York City police had been invited to the campus. “This rumor is false,” she said.
Student protesters say they are expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed 34,305, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s Health Ministry.
Minouche Shafik of Columbia University issued a statement less than an hour before the midnight deadline backing away from the deadline.
Students at the Columbia University camp in Gaza are entrenched for the tenth day on Friday.
Members of the New York Police Department’s Strategic Response Group stand outside the main gate of Columbia University early Friday morning.
Student protesters say they are expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed 34,305.
In Columbia, protesters defiantly set up a tent camp where many will graduate in front of their families in just a few weeks.
Columbia officials said negotiations were showing progress as the school’s early Friday deadline to reach an agreement on dismantling the camp approached.
However, two police buses were parked nearby and the presence of private security and police was noticeable at the entrances to the campus.
Members of the New York Police Department’s Strategic Response Group stand outside the main gate of Columbia University early Friday.
Police have carried out large-scale arrests at universities across the country, sometimes using chemical irritants and Tasers to disperse protests over Israel’s war against Hamas.
A week after Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was arrested for protesting at Columbia University, she and her mother, a progressive member of the ‘Squad,’ visited the pro-Gaza camp on campus to enjoy and take selfies with activists.
Hirsi was one of more than 100 people arrested last Thursday for participating in an anti-Israel demonstration. She was also suspended from Barnard College the same day.
“I had the honor of seeing firsthand the pacifist camp at Columbia University,” Omar posted in X after his visit to the campus.
‘Contrary to the attacks from the right, these students are joyfully protesting for peace and an end to the genocide taking place in Gaza. “I am amazed by their bravery and courage.”
Her post accompanied a video of her shaking hands with protesters and receiving a warm welcome from students.
Omar’s trip comes a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., visited the campus to condemn protesters to a chorus of boos and protests.
Rep. Ilhan Omar visited the Columbia campus a week after her daughter, Isra Hirsi, was arrested for protesting and suspended from Barnard College.
Johnson criticized the crowds in Columbia as “lawless agitators and radicals” and questioned their ability to become “America’s leaders.”
He also praised Jewish students who remain committed to their education and have prepared fierce anti-Israel protests to do so.
“We will not remain silent while Jewish students are expected to run for their lives,” the speaker told the crowd.
Johnson, who met with Columbia University President Minouche Shafik before delivering his speech, publicly called on him to resign if he remains unable to control the protests that have broken out on campus.
He also threatened to withdraw federal funding from schools that cannot ensure the safety of their Jewish students.