New York Metropolis Police gathered in drive outdoors of Columbia College on Wednesday, after college students convened within the pre-dawn hours to erect dozens of tenting tents on a campus garden. The demonstration backing Palestine was launched hours earlier than president Minouche Shafik started testifying at a Congressional listening to addressing allegations of anti-semitism on campus within the wake of Hamas’ October 7 assault on Israel.
The scholars are a part of the Columbia College Apartheid Divest coalition, which fashioned after directors suspended chapters of College students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace this fall, claiming violations of campus security and occasion planning guidelines.
Organizers of the tent occupation drew inspiration from Vietnam-era protestors who, after Columbia introduced plans to construct a pupil health club by grabbing metropolis parkland, occupied directors’ workplaces in 1968 and demanded the college minimize ties with a protection division assume tank.
Right now’s divestment coalition is equally demanding the college’s board minimize all funding ties with weapons producers which have been supplying Israel, in addition to, in line with organizer Isra Hirsi, prolong amnesty to pro-Palestinian college students who’ve been punished for previous campus actions.
“I by no means anticipated to see this many individuals right here,” stated Hirsi, a Barnard pupil who’s the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, “even if they know the dangers of disciplinary motion and arrest.”
Whereas Columbia’s grounds are often open to all, it has largely closed the campus gates and barred public entry following demonstrations this fall protesting Israel’s struggle in Gaza that the administration stated had been unsanctioned. (Once I requested entry, spokesperson Robert Hornsby denied me, claiming I couldn’t observe underneath a longstanding coverage associated to “our end-of-term campus preparations.”)
Professional-Israel demonstrators are additionally anticipated to stage a rally close to campus concerning Shafik’s testimony, organising a day of pressure and excessive police presence.