Student journalists at Columbia University saw days of drama up close

Student journalists on the Columbia University campus knew what was coming long before police with riot shields arrived to begin arresting pro-Palestinian protesters.

They watched the situation escalate as protesters stood their ground, refusing to abandon Hamilton Hall and using a pulley system to bring supplies into the building they occupied.

The reporters, who work for U.S. and international universities and online publications, suspected negotiations with administrators were going nowhere when protesters began wearing COVID-era masks to hide their identities. Some began sleeping on the floor in classrooms or journalism offices for fear of missing something.

But when a journalism professor started writing down the phone number to call if they were trapped in permanent marker in his arms, that was the moment it became clear: They were recording history.

The Tuesday night police raid that emptied Hamilton Hall capped two weeks of drama over the protests in Columbia, experienced by student journalists at the Ivy League school as they covered them.

Other media outlets were being kept off campus, so these reporters were the only ones who could capture what was happening.

“I just woke up and thought, I’m going to take some photos,” said Seyma Bayram, a Columbia journalism fellow focused on creating a long-form investigative podcast unrelated to the protests.

The camps were a visual feast. There were musical performances, students reading and helping each other write papers for their classes. She wanted to document everything.

On Monday, students would face suspension if they did not leave. Crowds marched around the camp chanting. The students received written notices from the administration telling them to go. They tore them up and threw them into trash cans. Rumors were flying.

That night, Bayram didn’t want to go home, sleeping on the office floor.

“How,” she wondered, “are they going to remove the students. They won’t go away.”

By Tuesday, she was exhausted. The student reporters loaded up their cameras and other equipment and waited.

Many protesters were beginning to leave, recalled Shayeza Walid, a journalism student at Columbia who covered the arrests for the news website Al-Monitor.

The sun was setting as they held hands and sang, knowing they would face academic repercussions if they stayed. Many had already given up covering their faces, Walid said.

To her, the chants felt like an anthem and she saw the protesters, some dressed in Palestinian keffiyehs, crying. She doubts she will ever forget this.

“It was so inspiring and devastating because these were the kids who were willing to be arrested,” she recalled.

And then the police began to gather outside, setting up barricades. Even on campus, Bayram could tell from photos posted on social media that police action was imminent. And then the police were there.

“I don’t know, it was like all of a sudden there was police…riot gear everywhere,” Bayram said.

The student journalists walked backwards, filming as they went, Bayram said.

She was kicked off campus. Police buses and police officers were everywhere. All around her, people were being arrested.

“Those of us who are expelled, like student reporters and teachers, I think we were all horrified because no press was present outside or inside Hamilton Hall,” Bayram said.

Walid recalled that the reporters formed pairs for safety. His companion, an international student, had never seen so many police officers gathered in one place. “And frankly, neither do I,” Walid said.

She said police also seemed shocked when they entered the campus and saw how few students remained. “It was clearly disproportionate to where we were,” she said.

Before the arrests, protesters inside the campus used a bullhorn to lead those protesting outside into corners, recalled Cecilia Blotto, a journalism student who has been posting photos and videos on Uptown Radio, a project of the university’s journalism program. .

“Columbia, you’re a liar,” she remembers them singing, along with “Disclose, give up! We will not stop, we will not rest.”

Then Blotto saw a police bus pull up, officers getting out with shields and armbands. Then they played a recording saying that if the protesters did not disperse they would be arrested.

“People appeared to be dragged into the street, with four police officers holding one leg and one arm each. I saw some really stunning footage of people shouting shame at the police as they dragged away students,” Blotto said. She tried to film everything.

Emily Byrski, a graduate student who had a phone number written on her arm in case she was arrested, said the students were not completely unprepared. There was a training session.

Still, she said, there were many false alerts.

“It’s like the boy who cried wolf. Like, there were two or three nights here where we were told there was a rumor that the NYPD was coming, please come to campus,” she recalled.

Byrski had knee surgery earlier this year, so he was unable to run while police arrived. She limped along with her friend.

“So we’re watching this all happen from the inside and trying to document it as the NYPD is grabbing people, throwing them to the ground. It was horrible to see, like, a foot away from me,” Byrski said.

She said she has seen teachers cry over the past week. She is pondering everything, not knowing what to make of it.

“I’m kind of in shock,” Byrski said. “I think we were all in shock.”