OA day after Columbia University called on authorities to arrest more than 100 pro-Palestine protesters, students continued to occupy part of the campus lawn.
Dozens of police officers were outside the university’s gates on Friday. Inside, it looks like a huge picnic. Loudspeaker shouts range from “Free Palestine” to reminders to clean up and get food if protesters get hungry.
Marie Adele Grosso, a 19-year-old Barnard College student, was among those arrested Thursday. She was back at camp on Friday, wearing a keffiyeh, despite receiving an email saying she was provisionally suspended. The college has not yet determined whether she violated the Barnard College Student Code of Conduct.
Grosso says she is prohibited from living on campus, cannot use her meal plan and is unsure where she will spend the night. University officials tell her she has 15 minutes to collect her belongings. But she is determined to keep protesting. “The only moral thing is to do everything we can,” she says.
Not everyone is on her side. Avi Lichtschein, a pro-Israel protester, appeared outside the campus gates with an Israeli flag and his dog. “The days of Jewish people or Israeli people feeling intimidated are over. You can do your rally, it’s wonderful. I can hold my Israeli flag,” he says. Lichtschein, who grew up in New York and has relatives in Israel, says he plans to move to Israel with his family in the near future. “It’s not out of fear, it’s more a sense of supreme pride,” he says. There are only a handful of counter-protesters; they are vastly outnumbered by hundreds of pro-Palestinian supporters.
A Columbia University spokesperson said Friday that students who participated in the camp are suspended, but did not provide an exact number. “We continue to identify them and will send formal notifications,” they said.
The spokesperson also stated that the camp has been dismantled and he expects the protests to continue. “We have rules regarding the time, place and manner that apply to protest activities and we will continue to enforce them,” the spokesperson said. Although the tents are no longer set up, protesters appear to still have plans to sleep on the lawn. A large pile of blankets and sleeping bags sits on a blue tarp.
See more information: USC faces backlash over alleged ‘censorship’ of pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s speech
The New York Police Department arrested 113 people on Thursday. The charges included resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct. Police were invited to campus by Columbia President Minouche Shafik.
Shafik wrote in a Letter of April 18 to the New York City Police Department that the “encampment raises safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community.”
Police said the protest was peaceful. “The arrested students were peaceful, did not offer any resistance and said what they wanted in a peaceful manner,” said John Chell, NYPD patrol chief. After police arrested students on Thursday, more protesters took their place in campus demonstrations. Some of those who were arrested returned.
The arrests marked the first time the university called police on student protesters since 1968, during anti-war protests against the Vietnam War.
Isra Hirsi, daughter of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, posted in X Thursday that she was one of three Barnard College students who were suspended. Hirsi is an organizer for Columbia University Apartment Divest, a coalition of student organizations calling for Columbia to divest from Israel.
On Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar grilled Shafik during a congressional hearing on anti-Semitism. Omar asked about an alleged chemical attack on pro-Palestinian protesters, as well as why the students were evicted and harassed. “There has been an increase in attacks and harassment against anti-war protesters,” Omar said on Thursday.
Shafik said at Wednesday’s congressional hearing that the university has suspended 15 students. “Anti-Semitism has no place on our campus and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly,” she said.
Despite the arrests on Thursday and Shafik’s calls to disperse the students, the demonstrations continued on Friday, with no signs of abating.
At around 5pm, a few dozen Muslims prayed on the lawn; some wore the Keffiyeh as a hijab. Their non-Muslim peers surrounded them with blankets to give them privacy.
Eliette, a graduate student at the Columbia School of Social Work and queer non-binary Korean, was arrested on Thursday. (They asked that her last name be withheld for fear of being doxxed.) “The NYPD said there were no threats; that says it all,” they said at camp on Friday. The protester says the movement has been “full of joy and camaraderie”. They say it was important for them not to be on the wrong side of history and mention that being an American citizen and living off campus helps them feel more protected.
O Columbia Spectator editorial board criticized the university administration on Thursday for “confusing pro-Palestinian activism on campus with anti-Semitism” and failing to protect students. “Hundreds of campus affiliates witnessed as the NYPD shamefully arrested more than 100 of our classmates, friends, and colleagues for peacefully protesting,” they wrote.
At least three legal observers have been arrested, according to Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest. They accused the police of denying access to health services to a student who collapsed outside the camp. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment on these incidents.
Shafik said in a Statement of April 18 which she called out law enforcement “out of grave concern for the safety of the Columbia campus.”
Celeste, a student at Columbia Arab University, said Thursday during a news conference that the university’s response to the protests made her feel unsafe. “Whose safety do we prioritize when we call the police on campus?” she said. “It seems that Arab students are less valued at the moment.” (Celeste asked not to reveal her last name out of concern for her safety.)
Ilan Cohen, a Jewish student from Columbia, said at the press conference that he is “horrified” by the implications these “crackdowns have for (his) own security.”
“The idea that censorship, repression, silencing and shooting are taking place on our campus in the name of my safety does not make me feel safe. It alienates me,” Cohen said. “If anything. I am part of a growing group of young American Jews who are horrified and today’s actions solidify that beyond belief.”
Congressman Jamaal Bowman said at a news conference Friday that Columbia appears to be giving in to pressure from right-wing Republicans to suppress free speech. “Bringing in the NYPD to arrest students protesting for peace takes us down a very, very dark path,” he said.
Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian-American and lead organizer of Columbia University’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, arrived at the camp at 4 a.m. Wednesday, ahead of Shafiq’s testimony before Congress. “I’ve never had such a communal experience in my entire life,” she says.
Alwan feels that the entire student body is furious. “They are losing control because we have watched a genocide unfold on our screens every day and they have ignored every democratic means through which we have tried to make our voices heard,” she says. (Israel denies that genocide is taking place, but South Africa has presented a case of genocide to the International Court of Justice.)
Alwan says the students watched a Palestinian film on a projection screen and people danced. Alwan keeps refreshing her email inbox, nervous about the possibility of receiving a suspension notice. So far, she hasn’t. “I will probably enter camp regardless of whether or not I am suspended,” she says.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
