Columbia University leadership issued a letter to students in the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” Monday, warning activists that they will be suspended and put on disciplinary probation if they did not leave the occupied lawn by 2:00 p.m. Monday. The students voted unanimously to stay in the encampment and, alongside professors, formed a circle to block access to the area.
While the encampment still stands, Columbia indicated that it has started disciplining students who remained on the lawn past the deadline.
“We have begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” Ben Chang, vice president of communications at Columbia, said in a Monday evening press briefing. “Once disciplinary action is initiated, adjudication is handled by several different units within the university based on the nature of the offense.”
Chang continued, appealing to the student protesters.
“We urge you to remove the encampment so that we do not deprive your fellow students — more than 15,000 graduating this spring — their families, and friends of this momentous occasion,” Chang said, explaining that a typical commencement celebration would be impossible with the tents sprawling across the lawn and protesters chanting slogans.
Despite the student’s refusal to cooperate, the university has not wavered from its April 26 assertion that it will not invite police onto its campus to clear the tent city off its lawn and has not clarified how exactly it has identified the students occupying the quad.
After the Monday deadline passed, Stefanik said in a statement to NR that Columbia’s administration will face consequences for its failure to dismantle the encampment.
“2 p.m. has come and gone. Columbia’s empty threats and weak leadership have failed and surrendered Columbia’s campus to the pro-Hamas antisemitic mob,” Stefanik said. “The world is watching as you continue to fail your Jewish students. Congress will continue to hold these failed institutions accountable.”
In the letter to the encampment occupants, Columbia officials explained their decision to threaten suspensions.
“As you are probably aware, the dialogue between the University and student leaders of the encampment is, regrettably, at an impasse,” the Monday morning letter reads, according to photos the campus Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter posted on its X account. “The current unauthorized encampment and disruption on Columbia University’s campus is creating an unwelcoming environment for members of our community. External actors have also contributed to this environment, especially around our gates, causing safety concerns — including for our neighbors.”
As National Review reported last week, one of those “external actors” attempted to attack a group of Jewish pro-Israel marchers with a metal pole before being subdued and arrested.
Ultimately, according to the letter, students who voluntarily leave the encampment by the deadline, identify themselves to a Columbia official, and sign a form pledging to behave in accordance with Columbia policies while under disciplinary probation will be allowed to complete the semester. Those who do not “will be suspended pending further investigation.”
The letter clarifies that, during the suspension period before an official investigation, students “are restricted from all Columbia University campuses, facilities, and property,” and their student IDs will not work. They will also be unable to complete the current semester and will no longer be eligible to graduate this May. There is also a note in the letter for those who have already been disciplined by the university or have been charged with discrimination or harassment:
If you are currently involved in a disciplinary process or have already received discipline, you are not eligible for the arrangements described in the form and may not be eligible to complete the semester in good standing. In addition, if you are charged with discrimination or harassment regarding conduct occurring in the encampment, we will continue to address those concerns through our disciplinary processes, and you will no longer be eligible for the arrangements in the form.
Shafik has given the encampment occupants multiple deadlines to leave the occupied area of the lawn. Initially, that deadline was midnight Tuesday night. It was then pushed to 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and then early Friday morning. Late Thursday night, hours before that Friday deadline, Shafik wrote in a message to the Columbia community that she and her fellow administrators had been negotiating with the encampment organizers, writing, “We have our demands; they have theirs.” She also clarified in that Thursday night message that she would not be asking the police to dismantle the tent city.
Shafik issued another formal communication earlier Monday, writing that, “since Wednesday, a small group of academic leaders has been in constructive dialogue with student organizers to find a path that would result in the dismantling of the encampment and adherence to University policies going forward. Regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement.”
Shafik explained that the university will not divest from Israel but offered to “make investments in health and education in Gaza” and increase student oversight on “divestment matters.”
“There are important ideas that emerged from this dialogue, and we plan to explore pursuing them in the future,” Shafik wrote.
In its post on X, the Columbia SJP chapter told followers not to sign the document and to “show up at NOON to protect the encampment!”
On a Telegram channel devoted to the Columbia encampment, organizers asked subscribers to come to the occupied lawn and prevent the university from clearing it out.
“Please meet at 1PM at Columbia University (the Sundial) to show Columbia the liberation of Palestine is inevitable and cannot be suspended,” organizers wrote. “LIBRE PALESTINA! DISCLOSE. DIVEST. WE WILL NOT STOP WE WILL NOT REST.”