White House: Columbia University Acquisition Building ‘Absolutely Wrong Approach’

The White House on Tuesday condemned the move by student protesters to occupy a building on the Columbia University campus, calling it the wrong approach amid ongoing campus demonstrations across the country against Israel’s handling of the war. in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian New York school protesters took control of an academic building on Tuesday morning, barricading the entrances and flying a Palestinian flag outside the window.

“The president believes that taking a building on campus by force is absolutely the wrong approach, that it is not an example of peaceful protests,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters.

“Hate speech and hate symbols also have no place in this country. A small percentage of students should not be able to disrupt the academic experience, the legitimate study, for the rest of the student body,” Kirby added.

Protesters who took over the building crossed their arms in front of it and carried furniture and metal barricades into the hallway. The same building was occupied in a civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest in 1968.

Kirby reiterated that disrupting the education of other students on campus is “unacceptable.”

“You cannot hinder the educational pursuits of your peers. They have the right to go to school and to do so safely. They have the right to receive education,” he said. “Taking over a building by force is unacceptable.”

When asked about Biden’s views on deploying the National Guard to deal with protests on college campuses, an idea floated by some Republicans, Kirby said there is no active effort to federalize the guard.

The White House criticized questions about the National Guard last week, arguing that handling protests is up to local leaders.

Biden and the White House have consistently condemned the anti-Semitic and hate-filled rhetoric of campus protests while maintaining that Americans have the right to peacefully protest.