Columbia University anti-Israel protesters: 5 dramatic moments from a week of chaos
Chaos has engulfed the Ivy League.
Protesters at Columbia University have spent days protesting against Israel’s war with Hamas, forcing authorities to arrest more than 100 of the agitators, and the school’s president has shifted all classes to virtual learning on Monday amid safety concerns.
Columbia University President Dr. Nemat "Minouche" Shafik mostly closed the campus and urged commuting students not to travel to the campus in a statement posted just after 1 a.m. on Monday. In the statement, the president said she was "deeply saddened" by certain actions of the agitators, who have formed an "encampment" on the campus and have riled students and faculty with anti-Jewish slogans and chants.
The statement is the latest action from the school’s administration amid the fiery protests in and around the New York City campus that began Wednesday as dozens of anti-Israel activists created an encampment on the main lawn of campus.
See the dramatic moments on the campus from Columbia University anti-Israel protests.
On Wednesday, dozens of protesters called on the university to divest itself from companies that have ties to Israel. These protesters then erected camping tents and remained on the school grounds, despite being instructed to leave.
The protesters then shouted antisemitic chants and slogans on Columbia's campus. That same day, the school’s president, alongside co-chairs of the university's board of trustees, was testifying before Congress on antisemitism on campus.
The school acknowledged the tents violated the school’s policies, despite initially allowing them to remain.
"The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university policies," a university spokesperson told the Spectator, a student newspaper. "We are informing the students they are in violation of university policies and for their own safety and for the operation of the university they need to leave."
According to the school’s president, stopping the protests was more nuanced as they were attempting to walk a line of allowing students to exercise free speech rights while weighing wider safety concerns.
"A more complicated issue was the conflict between the free-speech rights of pro-Palestinian protesters and the impact that these protests were having on our Jewish students and their supporters. Some things that were said at those protests and on social media were profoundly unsettling and frightening," Shafik wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Tuesday. "Trying to reconcile the speech rights of one part of our community with the rights of another part of our community to live in a supportive environment or at least an environment free of fear, harassment and discrimination, has been the central challenge at our university and on campuses across the country."
On Thursday, the protesters repeated various chants and slogans, including an unashamed, blatant claim that these protesters are members of Hamas, the group which brutally murdered civilians, raped Israeli women, and took hundreds of hostages during the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack.
"We are Hamas!" one aggressive protester was seen shouting.
"Hamas make us proud, kill another soldier now," others chanted.
When a person challenged her, asking: "You’re Hamas, wow! You’re what? You’re Hamas?" She answered, "We are all Hamas, pig!"
One Jewish Columbia University student was repeatedly kicked in the stomach during the protests, and an agitator reportedly told her to "kill yourself."
Billionaire Bill Ackman posted about the protests on X, asking, "How would @Columbia respond if the students took over campus in support of the KKK and called for the genocide of other ethnic minorities? Would @Columbia continue to support the demonstrations on the basis of a commitment to free speech or would the University's code of Conduct suddenly have operative impact?"
Later that same day, more than 100 anti-Israel protesters were arrested from the encampment.
The New York City Police Department announced Thursday that officers arrested 108 people who refused to leave the encampment, each of whom was issued a summons for trespassing.
Among the arrested was Rep. Ilhan Omar’s, D-Minn., daughter, Isra Hirsi, who claimed she had been suspended from the nearby Barnard College for participating in the protests.
Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon joined the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University on Friday, alongside demonstrators who were calling for the death of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natenyahu and expressing support for Hamas, the terror group that carried out the deadliest attack in Israeli’s history on Oct. 7.
Sarandon was seen marching with a crowd of Columbia students just outside of campus. She gave a brief speech and led them in an anti-Israel chant. The actress was dropped from her talent agency months ago for appearing at a similar rally.
"Columbia, you will see! Palestine will be free!" the group chanted in unison.
"It is very important to have their voices heard and that this is their right in a democracy, especially in a place of education and supposedly higher thought. To be attacked with racism and intolerance is not acceptable," Sarandon said in her remarks.
She chanted: "It is very important" — with the crowd echoing — "to have their voices heard."
On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the recent threats against Jewish students "antisemitism."
"The First Amendment protects the right to protest, but students also have a right to learn in an environment free from harassment or violence," she said. "At Columbia or on any campus, threatening Jewish students with violence or glorifying the terror of October 7 is antisemitism."
New York City Mayor Adams said Sunday on X that he is "horrified and disgusted" with the antisemitism being "spewed" at Columbia University.
"Hate has no place in our city, and I have instructed the NYPD to investigate any violation of law they receive a report about and will arrest anyone found to be breaking the law," he said. "We will not be a city of lawlessness, and those professional agitators seeking to seize the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to sow chaos and division will not succeed."
On Monday, Shafik said all classes would be held virtually and urged commuting students not to visit the campus amid safety concerns.
"I am deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus," Shafik wrote. "Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm. Students across an array of communities have conveyed fears for their safety and we have announced additional actions we are taking to address security concerns. The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days. These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas."
"We need a reset," she added. "To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday. Faculty and staff who can work remotely should do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy. Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will not come to campus."
In response to Fox News asking about protesters shouting "We are Hamas," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that "no president has taken more action to combat antisemitism than this president."
She added: "In our national strategy, we made clear that when Jews are targeted because of their beliefs, because of their identity, or when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hate, hatred, that is antisemitism, and that is completely, completely unacceptable."
The White House doubled down on Sunday.
"While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable and dangerous – they have absolutely no place on any college campus or anywhere in the United States of America," repeated White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates. "And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms."
Fox News’ Brie Stimson and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.