Columbia University has given students another 48 hours to clear out the vast encampment covering the lawn in front of the Butler Library, warning that the school will consider “alternative options” if the protesters refuse to leave.
University President Minouche Shafik said Tuesday that students had until midnight to agree to dismantle the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the West Lawn of the Morningside campus. But after the deadline passed, a Columbia spokesperson said the university “will continue conversations for the next 48 hours.”
Students have agreed to dismantle a “significant number of tents” and remove protesters not affiliated with Columbia, as well as prohibit “discriminatory or threatening language,” the university reported.
The spokesperson said the university was heartened by the “constructive dialogue,” but the decision to extend the deadline until Friday fed the narrative that the university has essentially surrendered to the anti-Israel protesters.
“You can’t give these antisemites an inch!” Rep. Brian Mast, Florida Republican, posted on X. “They’re threatening Jewish students and chanting ‘death to America,’ but you expect them to disperse willingly?”
Meanwhile, the New York Post ran the front-page headline “Columbia Surrenders,” while the Wall Street Journal posted letters from readers under the headline, “Columbia’s Surrender to Hatred on Campus.”
SEE ALSO: Spread of campus ‘Gaza solidarity encampments’ fuels arrests, antisemitism concerns
Ms. Shafik brought in the New York Police Department last week to clear out the encampment, but the sprawling tent city is now bigger than ever. At least a dozen other U.S. universities are also grappling with the pro-Palestinian protest camps.
Student protesters and sympathetic faculty blasted Ms. Shafik for calling in officers, who made more than 100 arrests, insisting that the encampment represents a peaceful protest.
Ms. Shafik warned that the encampment threatens student safety. A rabbi affiliated with Columbia urged Jewish students last week to return home over concerns about their well-being in the increasingly anti-Israel and antisemitic campus climate.
“I fully support the importance of free speech, respect the right to demonstrate, and recognize that many of the protestors have gathered peacefully,” Ms. Shafik said in her statement. “However, the encampment raises serious safety concerns, disrupts campus life, and has created a tense and at times hostile environment for many members of our community. It is essential that we move forward with a plan to dismantle it.”
The president of Columbia University just extended the deadline for the pro-Hamas protesters to disperse.
You can’t give these antisemites an inch! They’re threatening Jewish students and chanting “death to America,” but you expect them to disperse willingly?
— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) April 24, 2024
Pro-Palestinian student groups are demanding that the university divest its financial holdings from Israel and companies doing business with Israel.
Ms. Shafik said a group of faculty, administrators and students are in talks with the protesters, but that if they refuse to disperse, “we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus so that students can complete the term and graduate.”
Columbia canceled in-person classes Monday and announced Tuesday that it would move to mostly remote hybrid learning for the rest of the academic year. The university’s commencement ceremonies are scheduled for May 15.
“I am deeply sensitive to the fact that graduating seniors spent their first year attending Columbia remotely,” Ms. Shafik said. “We all very much want these students to celebrate their well-deserved graduation with family and friends.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, New York Democrat, accused Columbia of bowing to the “antisemitic fringe.”
“The cancellation of in-person classes at Columbia University is an admission of failure by President Minouche Shafik, who has chosen to surrender control of Columbia to an antisemitic fringe,” Mr. Torres posted Monday on social media.