Students defy order to leave
Student protesters at Columbia University defied a deadline on Monday (US time) to clear their pro-Palestine encampment after officials warned they would be suspended if they continued their occupation.
The university gave students hours to leave the encampment on Columbia’s West Lawn, where demonstrators have been living in tents for the last two weeks demanding divestment from Israel.
The students were told they would be allowed to leave in “good standing” with Columbia if they vacated by 2pm and signed a declaration they would abide by the university’s rules until the end of term.
However, students formed a protective circle around the tents while continuing to chant. “Free, free Palestine. Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
Columbia warned it had identified “many” of the protesters, and that those who refused to leave would be banned from campus and blocked from graduating.
Three hours after the deadline elapsed, university authorities said they had begun suspending students. They did not clarify how many had been suspended. “We regret that we need to take these actions, but we must restore order to the campus.”
The demand came after two weeks of talks between the university and protesters, who want Columbia to sell investments linked to Israel, cancel a new “global centre” in Tel Aviv, and grant amnesty to demonstrators who have broken rules.
One student group called the threatened suspensions a “repulsive scare tactic”.
Baroness Shafik, the university’s president, said “the university will not divest from Israel” but that officials had offered to have the proposal explored by a committee. Columbia had also offered to donate money to support humanitarian work in Gaza. – Telegraph Group
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