NYPD enters Columbia University again, arrests Gaza protesters – National & International News – TUE 30Apr2024

In a move likely to stir more unrest, Columbia has once again called in NYPD to crack down on Gaza ceasefire protesters. Another university has found a safer, smarter way to deal with protesters.

NYPD officers breached Columbia University tonight for the second time in two weeks. After clearing the street, police drove a huge emergency services vehicle with a telescoping ladder-type ramp up to Hamilton Hall on Columbia’s campus. Hamilton Hall was taken over this morning by students demanding that the university divest from Israel and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Police used the vehicle-mounted ramp to enter a window on the second floor of Hamilton Hall. 

For the last several hours, hundreds of NYPD officers were gathering around the campus in full riot gear. Several blocks around the campus were barricaded. It appears as of time of writing that 50 people on campus were arrested and led away in zipties.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has been criticized for her initial decision to call in police two weeks ago. Yesterday, the university sent out an email denying rumors of a campus lockdown and saying there were no plans to call in police as it would be “counterproductive”. However, today the campus was locked down and students were encouraged not to come to campus. Police once again entered campus today with Shafik’s authority.

Statements both from the university and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have claimed that “outside agitators” were responsible for the occupation. However student groups have said that only Columbia students were involved and only Columbia students were arrested. Outsiders and people with no affiliation with the university have been barred access to the university for several days.

More crackdowns likely to spur more protests

Tonight’s raid is likely to stir more unrest across the country. President Shafik first called in the NYPD to break up the protest encampment on the campus on April 18. Her decision to call in NYPD violated university policy, which requires approval from the faculty Senate for non-emergency police intervention on campus. The faculty senate rejected her request and Shafik called in police anyway, earning her a censure from the panel. More than 100 students were arrested on the 18th, even though the NYPD described the protesters as “peaceful”. Several students were also suspended.

Those arrests only served to further fire up the Columbia protesters, who returned in even greater numbers the following day. Not only that, but Gaza ceasefire protests have also spread to nearly 50 campuses across the country since then. As of a few days ago, more than 1000 people have been arrested (often in brutal fashion) during raids of protest encampments in over a dozen states. The vast majority of those arrested have been students and faculty trying to protect them.

Students dug in

Days of negotiation between Columbia’s administration and the students followed, finally reaching an impasse. The students are demanding that the university divest from companies that support Israel, which Shafik flatly refused to do. The university then ordered student protesters to disband their encampment on campus by 2pm Monday under threat of suspension.

Some students complied, but a core group of student protesters defied this order and broke into Hamilton Hall and occupied it. The students renamed the hall “Hind’s Hall” in memory of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza earlier this year.

A spokesperson for the student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said protesters were determined to continue demonstrating until the university agreed to their demands. The university then threatened students occupying the hall with expulsion.

Hamilton Hall has previously been occupied in 1968 by students protesting the Vietnam War, and later in 1985 by students demanding the university divest from entities supporting apartheid South Africa.

A different approach

Northwestern University near Chicago has dealt with protests on its campus differently. Instead of calling in riot police, campus administrators have negotiated in good faith with students. The university has agreed to set up an advisory committee (composed of students and staff) in the fall to promote transparency and responsible investment of the university’s assets. The university will also fund two visiting Palestinian academics per year and fully fund the undergraduate educations of five Palestinian students per year.

In return, protesters will be allowed to continue their demonstration on campus until June 1. However, they have agreed to limit their demonstration to a specific area and have removed all but a single aid tent.

People on both sides, both pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League have voiced displeasure over the agreement. Some pro-Palestinian protestors said their negotiators had “sold out” for too little. Meanwhile, the ADL has demanded that Northwestern’s (Jewish) President Michael Schill resign, saying that his agreement with protesters “capitulated” to their “antisemitic” agenda. ADL’s President Jonathon Greenblatt would prefer to call in the National Guard to crackdown on protesters, risking a repeat of the 1970 Kent State massacre.

However, like most good negotiations, Schill’s agreement gave everyone some of what they wanted, but not everything they wanted. This was accomplished without the spectacle of a brutal police raid and without further eroding students’ trust in the university and its leadership.