Columbia Protesters Given 48-Hour Deadline To Dismantle Encampment

NEW YORK CITY — Student protesters at Columbia University have 48 hours to dismantle the pro-Palestine encampment on the lawn, school officials said.

Administrators are making “important progress” with encampment representatives, who have pledged to removing a “significant” number of tents, removing non-Columbia affiliated protesters and prohibiting “discriminatory or harassing language” in the protest, according to an email sent just after 4 a.m. by the office of university president Minouche Shafik.

“In light of this constructive dialogue, the university will continue conversations for the next 48 hours,” the email reads. “We will report back on progress.”

The announcement was made seven days after demonstrators first descended on the lawn about 4 a.m. last Wednesday and set up dozens of tents to protest the university’s ongoing financial investments in Israel.

Following warning letters distributed to student protesters that night, over 100 demonstrators were arrested and students were suspended Thursday afternoon after Shafik called the NYPD to sweep the encampment. Read more: Dozens Arrested In Columbia Protests As NYPD Moves On Campus

Students returned to the lawn shortly thereafter and the encampment “continues to grow,” Brian Chang, Columbia’s Vice President of Public Affairs, said at a media briefing Tuesday. During his remarks, he noted the protest stands in “violation of university rules, full stop, and we are taking steps to resolve it.”

The school has since switched to hybrid learning amid the protests, the Associated Press reported.

While access to the Morningside Heights campus remains limited to CU ID holders only, House Speaker Mike Johnson is slated to visit the campus to meet with Jewish students Wednesday and discuss the “troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses."

Accusations of antisemitic harassment of Jewish students at Columbia has prompted condemnations from the White House and Mayor Eric Adams, although the protests' supporters contend those incidents, if they happened, are isolated.

"Across the country, there are people who come, have nothing to do with the issue, and they want to aggravate," Adams said at an unrelated news conference Tuesday.

He contended there were a "number of people" seeking to take advantage of the climate at New York universities and try to "cause violence in our city, and we're going to seek them out and we’re going to identify them."

"I also want to be clear that we will not tolerate intimidating, harassing, or discriminatory behavior," Shafik said in a letter posted to Columbia's website Tuesday. "We are working to identify protestors who violated our policies against discrimination and harassment, and they will be put through appropriate disciplinary processes.

"The right to protest is essential and protected at Columbia, but harassment and discrimination is antithetical to our values and an affront to our commitment to be a community of mutual respect and kindness," she added.

This is a developing story. Patch will update as more information comes in.

Read more of Patch's coverage of the antiwar protests:

• Columbia, NYU Antiwar Protests Yield 230 Arrests, Finger-Pointing
• More Than 200 Arrested In Grand Army Plaza Antiwar Protest: NYPD
• Yale Police Charge 45 With Criminal Trespass In Protest: PD