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columbia university apartheid divest
Trump Admin 'Reviewing' Visas After Arrest of Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia
"Repression breeds resistance—if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus," wrote Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
May 08, 2025
The New York Police Department arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protestors on Columbia University's campus on Wednesday evening—prompting U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to announce on X that the federal government is reviewing the visa status of those involved in the action.
On Wednesday afternoon, masked protestors, many wearing keffiyehs, gathered in Columbia's Butler Library. Video of the protest posted to social media shows demonstrators inside the library chanting "free Palestine."
Columbia has been under intense scrutiny from the Trump administration in recent months over the school's alleged failure to protect Jewish students. Critics say the administration is weaponizing antisemitism to attack Palestinian rights advocates. In March, the school faced backlash for making policy changes in line with demands from the Trump administration following the administration's decision to freeze $400 million in federal grants for the school.
Late Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X: "We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University's library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation."
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order with the professed aim of rooting out antisemitism at higher education institutions, and vowed to target foreign-born students who have engaged in "pro-jihadist" protests.
Acting university president Claire Shipman authorized the NYPD to enter campus around 7 pm on Wednesday in response to the rally in the library, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator. The student paper reported that the NYPD arrested roughly 75 protesters and began leading them out of the library shortly thereafter.
The Daily Spectator also reported that there were altercations between the police and protestors after the arrests made in connection to the library protest.
Eighty people "who did not comply with verbal warnings by the NYPD to disperse" were taken into custody, according to the NYPD, per reporting from CNN. Seventy-eight of those taken into custody were arrested and two others were issued summonses, the NYPD told the outlet. CNN noted that it's not clear how many of those arrested came from the protest inside the building.
The group Columbia University Apartheid Divest wrote on Substack on Wednesday that the protestors renamed the library in honor of Palestinian activist Basil al-Araj.
The organizers said that the action at the library "shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy. Repression breeds resistance—if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus."
In May of last year, the NYPD swept an occupation of Hamilton Hall and arrested dozens of student protestors.
Wednesday's events come not long after arrests by federal immigration agents of multiple noncitizens who had been active in pro-Palestine actions on Columbia's campus.
In March, federal immigration agents arrested pro-Palestinian activist and former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently languishing in an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, Louisiana. Another Palestinian green-card holder active in Columbia's student protest movement, Mohsen Mahdawi, was also arrested by federal immigration agents, but last month was released on bail.
Both of those cases have generated significant national attention.
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Columbia Students Occupy Historic Campus Building, Renaming It After Child Killed by IDF
"Students and community members are risking suspension and arrest to end the true state of emergency on campus, Columbia's complicity in the genocide in Gaza."
Apr 30, 2024
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University early Tuesday occupied a campus building with a long history of anti-war and anti-apartheid demonstrations, storming the hall and renaming it after a 6-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza earlier this year.
Video footage shows dozens of students celebrating as other protesters who entered Hamilton Hall unfurl a banner that reads "Hind's Hall," in honor of 6-year-old Hind Rajab.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a student-led advocacy group, said in a statement following the takeover that Columbia's leadership "forced protesters to escalate by contributing to a genocide while refusing to follow baseline standards of conduct that make negotiation possible."
"We call on the press and members of the public to hold Columbia accountable for any disproportionate response to students' actions today," the statement continued. "To Columbia's administrators and trustees: Do not incite another Kent or Jackson State by bringing soldiers and police officers with weapons onto our campus. Students' blood will be on your hands."
Taking over Hamilton Hall as done in 1968, Columbia students unfurl a banner that reads "Hind's Hall," in reference to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces.
Hundreds of students cheer as the banner is revealed, erupting into chants to "Free Palestine." pic.twitter.com/Oi8WgdZmqf
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) April 30, 2024
The occupation came after Columbia began suspending students who refused to leave their pro-Palestinian encampment by administrators' Monday deadline of 2:00 pm ET. Columbia and other universities across the U.S. are facing growing backlash for violently cracking down on demonstrations calling on the schools to divest from companies profiting off Israel's assault on Gaza.
The Associated Press reported that Columbia students on Tuesday morning "locked arms in front of Hamilton Hall" and "carried furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus."
Following the takeover, Columbia limited campus access to students and essential employees, barring members of the press from entering to cover the ongoing demonstrations.
CUAD said Tuesday that students intend to "remain at Hind's Hall until Columbia concedes" to organizers' "three demands: divestment, financial transparency, and amnesty."
"Students and community members are risking suspension and arrest to end the true state of emergency on campus, Columbia's complicity in the genocide in Gaza," the group added. "Taking back our own campus is the only and last response to an institution that obeys neither its own 'rules' nor ethical mandates."
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