Columbia students shift protest off-campus after university warns of arrests
Anti-Israel activists at Columbia University altered their plans to host an encampment after the school administration threatened them with arrest.
'We want to clearly communicate that camping and encampments on Columbia’s campuses are prohibited by university policy,' the school said.
Anti-Israel student activists at Columbia University altered their plans to host an encampment on the university’s Morningside Heights campus after the school administration threatened them with arrest.
Last week, the Columbia administration learned that students intended on staging another tent encampment, according to The New York Post. On April 23, the administration sent out an email warning student activists that such an encampment would violate school policy.
“We have been made aware of possible plans to establish encampments on Columbia’s campuses,” the email read. “We want to clearly communicate that camping and encampments on Columbia’s campuses are prohibited by university policy.”
“We value free expression and the right to protest,” the email continued. “These activities must be conducted in accordance with university rules and policies to ensure the safety of our community and that academic and other campus activities can continue unimpeded.”
After the email, rather than hosting their own pro-Palestine demonstration, the student protesters attended a different anti-Israel event hosted at the City College of New York, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Multiple Columbia University anti-Israel groups urged members to attend the demonstration. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) helped to organize a protest at Washington Square Park.
A Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group in New York City advertised the protest on Instagram, writing: “WE’RE TAKING BACK OUR SCHOOLS!!”
“Join the Downtown SJP Coalition at a rally and march starting in Washington Square Park at 1PM TOMORROW,” the group continued. “For Palestine and for the protection of our students against fascist and settler colonial violence and oppression.”
“Tomorrow, the student movement makes itself undeniably heard by our university leadership in a demonstration witnessed by the people of New York City, and call on them to answer our demands,” the message concluded.
This is far from the first time that Columbia University students have made headlines about anti-Israel advocacy.
Earlier this year, Columbia was subject to a federal probe after a complaint was filed about a swastika graffiti. Last month, an anti-Israel group circulated a vandalism guide at the school, urging protesters to use sledgehammers to cause “quite a bit of damage” during demonstrations.
Campus Reform has also reported about an Israeli professor, Avi Friedman, resigning from the school after Columbia appointed an allegedly anti-Semitic professor, Joseph Massad, to teach a course about Zionism.
“This wasn’t just Columbia reacting to events; this was an active decision to promote an anti-Zionist narrative,” Friedman stated at the time. “If a professor said the U.S. shouldn’t exist, would you let them teach American history?”
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
