Yesterday Columbia threatened to suspend students who refused to leave the tent camp and there were some reports that they actually started doing that before the day was out. And yet, as Jazz pointed out earlier, things only got worse as masked students escalated to taking over a building. Now a spokesman for the school is threatening students who remain in the building with expulsion.
We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. Our top priority is restoring safety and order on our campus.
We made it very clear yesterday that the work of the University cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules. Continuing to do so will be met with clear consequences. Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation—vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances—and we are following through with the consequences we outlined yesterday.
Students occupying the building face expulsion.
Protesters were informed that their participation in the encampment violated numerous University policies. We gave everyone at the encampment the opportunity to leave peacefully. By committing to abide by University policies, they would be allowed to complete the semester.
Students who did not commit to the terms we offered are now being suspended. Those students will be restricted from all academic and recreational spaces and may only access their individual residence. Seniors will be ineligible to graduate.
As you’ve probably heard, one of the three things students are demanding is “amnesty,” meaning no one involved in the protest receives any sort of consequences, not suspension and definitely not expulsion. It sounds as if the school is, so far, refusing to cave in on that demand.
That’s good but at this point things have gone way past the point of giving students a pass. In addition to the vandalism that happened last night, at least one maintenance worker claimed he was held hostage by the occupiers.
At around 12:30 a.m., students began a large picket near South Lawn, marching toward the northern end of campus and away from Hamilton. Simultaneously, a stream of protesters carrying sleeping bags and backpacks diverged from the picket line, picking up black metal barricades as they rushed into Hamilton.
Upon entry, protesters quickly set down their belongings and raced up the stairs, bringing tables and chairs from classrooms to block the doors from the inside, covering security cameras with black trash bags and tape, and shuttering the blinds.
Protesters locked down the building in less than five minutes and allowed no one to enter.
A Facilities worker who was in the building exited the building at around 12:40 a.m., after shouting at the protesters occupying the Hamilton lobby to let him leave. As he left Hamilton, he yelled at the crowd, “They held me hostage.”
Protesters removed the barricades blocking one door at 1:10 a.m., allowing several individuals who had remained inside Hamilton—including at least three Facilities workers, according to a source inside the building—to leave. Afterward, the protesters immediately relocked the door.
There are photos from inside the building showing a maintenance worker squaring off with a few of the occupiers. They are grabbing him by the clothes and he appears to push one of them back into a wall. This was arguably an assault in addition to holding him against his will.
Photographer Alex Kent captured the moment a maintenance crew member confronted a group of demonstrators who attempted to barricade themselves inside the school’s Hamilton Hall Tuesday. https://t.co/I7WkBjWQm8
— KFOX14 News (@KFOX14) April 30, 2024
Is holding staffers against their will something the university is willing to negotiate over? Also, why are most of the occupiers in those photos wearing blue nitrile gloves? Is this an attempt to avoid leaving fingerprints? That’s what it looks like. This seems like a pretty clear indication that it is time to call the NYPD in to deal with the people inside the building. President Shafik is holding the police back at this point. She should stop doing that and let them deal with the criminals.
In addition, the occupiers were later chanting “no divestment, no commencement.” One of the things Shafik said yesterday was that she was determined to go ahead with graduation in the area where the tent camp is currently located. The protesters are now telling her that won’t happen. Is she going to let them run the campus or is she going to re-establish order?
This isn’t complicated. As I noted earlier, others schools have done it. Bring in the police in sufficient numbers and arrest the occupiers. Immediately expel anyone who was found inside the building and then forbid them to re-enter campus. Tell them they can return for their belongings after graduation.
Columbia is the center of this movement. End the occupation there and you’ll send a clear signal to other campuses that all this is going to achieve is an early end to your academic career. If President Shafik won’t do it for her own campus she should do it for the benefit of all the others.
Let’s wrap this up with this video clip.
NEW: Columbia protester tells Fox News reporter to get out of her face after he asks multiple questions including why they held three janitors hostage.
Reporter: “Do you feel like it was right to hold 3 of the janitor workers hostage inside of the building?”
Protester: “I think… pic.twitter.com/ACzZqFIMN4
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 30, 2024