1:06
- ABC News
- April 30, 2024
Columbia protests come to a head: what to know
Columbia University’s classes have gone virtual amid the ongoing protests.
1:06
The tent encampment and protests have since resumed on campus in an ongoing, dayslong effort.
ABC News has reached out to Columbia University for comment.
On April 23, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury sent an email to the Barnard community, stating that the \"vast majority\" of students currently on interim suspension have not previously broken any college rules.
If these students choose to agree to follow Barnard's rules during a probationary period, Barnard's administration said it would lift their suspensions, allow them to regain access to Barnard buildings, and neither the interim suspension nor the probationary period would appear on their transcript or student disciplinary records, Rosenbury said.
Columbia University announced Monday that all classes on Monday, April 22, would be held remotely and only essential personnel should report to work in person. She said campus tensions have been \"exploited and amplified\" by people unaffiliated with the university \"who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas.\"
\"The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days,\" said Shafik. She said a group of administrators and faculty members will come together to come to a \"resolution\" on campus issues and also speak with student protesters. \"We need a reset.\"
A university public safety announcement on April 21 also outlined new resources to address \"considerable disruption and distress\" caused by ongoing gatherings at the campus, located in Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood.
The measures include increasing security patrol with 111 additional personnel -- including more personnel for campus escort services and campus access point security -- as well as improved ID checks at entry points and increased security at The Kraft Center, which houses aspects of Jewish life on campus, during the Passover holiday which began on April 22.
NYPD told ABC News on April 22 that there are no credible threats to any particular group or individual as a result of the protests at Columbia University.
The NYPD is working with the university to provide \"safe corridors\" for students -- locations where officers will be stationed off-campus.
The department says it has not received any reports of physical harm toward any students.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul met with Shafik and NYPD officials on April 22 to discuss public safety initiatives as student protests and unrest continue to play out on campus.
\"Students are scared, they're afraid to walk on campus, they don't deserve that,\" Hochul said in a video message posted to social media.
\"I'm calling on everyone. People need to find their humanity, have the conversations, talk to each other, understand the different points of view. Because that's what college students should be doing,\" Hochul added.
On April 24, House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with some Jewish students on campus about their concerns, and called on the Shafik to resign unless she can improve what he called her failure to handle the anti-Israel protests on campus.
\"If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped -- there is an appropriate time for the National Guard. We have to bring order to these campuses. We cannot allow this to happen around the country. We are better than this. We are better than this. And I will ask [President Biden] to do that, and I will tell him the very same thing,\" Johnson said.
On April 22, more than 150 untenured faculty members submitted an open letter in support of student protesters and against the NYPD's engagement with campus protests in the Columbia Daily Spectator, the student newspaper on campus.
\"In the face of these events, we stand with you,\" the letter read. \"You should be able to express your views and engage in peaceful protest on campus, not least in public spaces. You should certainly not be worried about being sanctioned for your political views. You should not be made fearful because police line the gates, ready to flood onto our campus at the invitation of the administration.\"
On April 27, more than 100 faculty members of the Barnard chapter of the American Association for University Professors unanimously issued a “no confidence” vote in Barnard President Laura Rosenbury, who runs Columbia's Barnard College, according to an open letter.
They cited a \"lack of care for students,\" \"repeated violations of academic freedom and free expression,\" \"undermining the longstanding and cherished culture of Barnard College,\" and more.
Across the country, dozens of student on-campus encampments against the Israel-Hamas war have continued to pop up at colleges and universities, including: New York University, Yale University, University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Emerson College, University of Texas-Austin and The New School.
![\"NYU](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/NYU-protests-042224_1713840160886_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
The Hostages Families Forum, a pro-Israel group, held a mass rally on the morning of April 26 in front of Columbia University, aiming to bring the hostages back into the public discourse.
“My dream was to study at Columbia, to engage in discussions and debates on complex issues. It’s possible to debate the war and its costs,\" said Dana Cwaigrach, a leader of the Hostages Families Forum and a student at Columbia, in a statement. \"It’s not possible to ignore and deny what happened to us on October 7th and the fact that there are still 133 hostages in Gaza.”
Leat Unger, a Columbia alumna and cousin of hostage Omer Sham Tov, added: “As a Columbia alumna, I am deeply pained by the widespread disregard for the hostages. Omer, who is the age of the students here, was kidnapped from a party. It could have been any one of you,\" according to a statement from the group.
On April 29, protesters at Columbia University, who sparked much of the protests across the nation earlier this month, were being asked to voluntarily disperse after the school's president said it was not able to come to an agreement through negotiations.
Since April 24, \"a small group of academic leaders has been in constructive dialogue with student organizers to find a path that would result in the dismantling of the encampment and adherence to University policies going forward. Regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement,\" Shafik said in a statement on April 29.
One of the top demands of the protesters, for Columbia to divest from Israel, was flatly denied by the university, according to the statement.
The school asked protesters, who number in the hundreds, to voluntarily disperse, but offered no explanation for what would happen if they did not. The school said it did not \"want to deprive thousands of students and their families and friends of a graduation celebration.\" The school's graduation ceremony is set to be held May 15.
\"We urge those in the encampment to voluntarily disperse,\" Shafik wrote. \"We are consulting with a broader group in our community to explore alternative internal options to end this crisis as soon as possible. We will continue to update the community with new developments.\"
Some protesters who encamped on Columbia University's campus defied the school's order to pack up and leave by 2 p.m. on April 29.
Sueda Polat, a student representative from the protesters' negotiating team, told reporters that the university did not engage in good faith negotiations and failed to meet their demands to divest from Israel.
\"It is against the will of the students to disperse. We do not abide by university pressures. We act on the will of the students,\" she said.
Police were outside of the campus as the deadline approached, but they did not immediately enter after it passed.
\"Students are aware of the risk of law enforcement … they know how to come together in that risk,\" Polat said.
A representative from Columbia University said the school began suspending students who have defied the 2 p.m. deadline to leave the encampment.
Ben Chang, the vice president of the office of public affairs, did not say how many people would be suspended but said those students would not be able to attend classes or graduate.
\"Students who agree to leave and sign a form committed to abide by university policies will be allowed to complete the semester,\" he said.
The school's campus is still closed to anyone who doesn't have a student ID.
Chang reiterated that the negotiations with the groups protesting were being done in good faith until discussions broke down.
\"We were hopeful and were disappointed when the student protesters could not reach a consensus in the discussion,\" he said.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University occupied a hall on campus early April 30, hours after school officials ordered the dispersal of a protest encampment.
Videos viewed by ABC News appeared to show protesters creating a barricade with metal chairs outside Hamilton Hall after midnight.
Several were seen in the videos unrolling protest posters from one of the building's balconies.
It was unclear how many demonstrators had occupied the hall, which is on Amsterdam Avenue, although there are estimated to be dozens. The Columbia Spectator, a campus newspaper, reported the people who were inside were working to block the building's exits with tables, chairs and zip-ties.
Columbia University has threatened student protesters with \"clear consequences\" after protesters occupied a building in an escalating standoff. Students defied a 2 p.m. deadline to disperse Monday.Students occupying the building face expulsion, the university warned.
\"We made it very clear yesterday that the work of the University cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules. Continuing to do so will be met with clear consequences. 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 said in a statement.
Students who did not commit to the terms Columbia's proposed agreement to vacate the encampment by 2 p.m. Monday have been suspended.
\"Those students will be restricted from all academic and recreational spaces and may only access their individual residence. Seniors will be ineligible to graduate,\" Columbia said.
\"This is about responding to the actions of the protesters, not their cause,\" Columbia said.
The NYPD said today that they will essentially be standing \"on the sidelines\" amid the ongoing protest at Columbia and will not go onto University property unless authorized to do so, or there is an imminent danger.
At a separate briefing, NYC Mayor Adams said that his office is communicating with Columbia University \"probably hourly.\"
The NYPD will continue to police outside the university, per the university’s request.
\"They asked us to come into all of their entry points to monitor that,\" Adams said.
ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab, Darren Reynolds, Bill Hutchinson, Meredith Deliso and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to the report.
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