Columbia University introduces new restrictions as students and protesters return to campus
Columbia UniversityThe New York campus is witnessing student protest Although the start of the new school year is still a few days away, the campus of Columbia University in New York is the epicenter of a pro-Palestinian protest movement that has spread to schools not only at Columbia but around the world. In a recent update, around 50 protesters marched down the sidewalk and shouted pro-Palestinian chants. Students were seen blowing whistles and banging on drums, pots and pans, and the iron railings of the campus’s locked gates.
This happened as more than 1,000 new students at Columbia University had gathered for a graduation ceremony. The university administration is hoping to avoid a repeat of the protests. Columbia University witnessed a large protest in April, in which more than 30 student protesters who had barricaded themselves inside an academic building were arrested.
The dean of Columbia’s medical school believes that effectively managing protests and demonstrations advances our educational and research missions while enabling free speech and debate.
Changes introduced by Columbia University
- A Reuters report says the southern gardens, once surrounded by hedges and yellowed by tent encampments, are now lush and green, with public security officers guarding the entrances and new signs indicating that camping is prohibited under school rules.
- Campus gates that have stood open for decades to the surrounding city streets are closed under a new system that restricts access, with guards allowing entry only to those with Columbia IDs and preregistered guests.
- Across campus, officials have installed fences and roller gates that can be rolled up along hallways to cordon off small areas. A group of senior NYPD officers inspected the cordons during a campus visit last week.
Protest at Columbia University History
1968 Columbia University protest: The student protest was motivated by anger over the Vietnam War and changes to the draft that were undermining student deferrals, particularly in graduate school.
Columbia University Protest 2024: Students staged a protest after pro-Palestinian students set up an encampment of about 50 tents on the university campus. They didn’t just set up a tent, they called it the Gaza Solidarity Camp and demanded that the university divest from Israel. Columbia University’s South Lawn was occupied by pro-Palestinian students in April. The pro-Palestinian protests have been led by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of student groups demanding that the school end its investments in weapons manufacturers and other companies that support Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories.
(With contributions from Reuters)
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