Columbia Threatens Students Occupying Building With Expulsion

Columbia University is threatening to expel students who occupied an administration building.

Early Tuesday morning, pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an administration building called Hamilton Hall.

The Associated Press reports, “Dozens of protesters took over a building at Columbia University in New York early Tuesday, barricading entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag from a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the 🇮🇱Israel-Hamas war on college campuses nationwide.”

“Protesters on Columbia’s Manhattan campus locked arms in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and carried furniture and metal barricades to the building, among several that were occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest. Posts on an Instagram page for protest organizers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall,” it added.

In response to the occupation, Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said, “Students occupying the building face expulsion.”

The AP notes, “Chang said the university had given protesters a chance to leave peacefully and finish the semester, but that those who didn’t agree to the terms from Monday were being suspended — restricted from all academic and recreational spaces, allowed only to enter their residences, and, for seniors, ineligible to graduate.”

Chang added, “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.”

On Tuesday, images surfaced of protesters smashing windows on Columbia’s campus.

In a statement, White House assistant press secretary Andrew Bates said, “President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life.”

“He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days,” he added.

Bates also said Biden believes in the right of freedom of expression, “But protests must be peaceful and lawful.”

“Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America,” he continued.