Columbia students occupying building ‘face expulsion’

Source: Politico | April 30, 2024 | Irie Sentner and Madina Touré

The announcement came about 13 hours after a group of pro-Palestinian student protesters stormed Hamilton Hall.

NEW YORK — Columbia University is threatening to expel pro-Palestinian students who charged a campus building early Tuesday morning and continued to occupy it throughout the day.

“Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation — vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances — and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday,” Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said in a statement. “Students occupying the building face expulsion.”

The announcement comes about 13 hours after dozens of protesters stormed Hamilton Hall, an academic building housing several humanities classrooms as well as the offices of undergraduate admissions and of the dean of Columbia College. Demonstrators barricaded the doors with furniture and vowed to stay put until the university meets their demands as hundreds more formed a human chain in front of the building.

The students occupying the building are an “autonomous group” whose asks match those of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the organization behind the school’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment, according to a CUAD release. Those requests include full university divestment from Israel, disclosure of all financial holdings and amnesty for student protesters.

Negotiations between demonstrators and university officials had stalled, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said Monday. She affirmed that the institution “will not divest from Israel.”

Tuesday is the first day of Columbia’s annual “reading week,” a period of 24/7 quiet hours in the leadup to finals. The university — which has limited access past its gates to students who reside in residential buildings on campus and essential personnel — has since closed its libraries, sweeping students out floor by floor. Dining halls are now only open to students who live on campus.

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