According to a statement released on Thursday from Columbia University, the university has expelled, suspended, or revoked the degrees of students who occupied a campus hall in April 2024.
According to a statement from Columbia, students were given punishments based on their “severity of behavior at these events” and, if any, past infractions.
The university responded to the university’s action by appointing student activists in the United States who led pro-Palestine demonstrations last year in response to Israel’s occupation of Gaza and demanded that their schools cut financial ties with Israel.
Additionally, it comes after Columbia received a $400 million cut in federal funding on March 7. In a letter sent this week from US authorities, the university was one of 60 institutions that was threatened with further cuts.
What we know about Columbia’s response to the threat and its current state:
What is stated in the letter from the US government to Columbia and other universities?
The US Department of Education emailed 60 institutions on March 10 to let them know they were being investigated for “antisemitic harassment and discrimination” and that they might face possible law enforcement action if they don’t “protect Jewish students.”
The notice included names from renowned universities like Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton. The US government provides funding for all 60 schools.
The education department cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which mandates universities to “protect Jewish students on campus, including (by providing) uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.”
In response to the report, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated in the letter: “The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on prestigious US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely impacted campus life for more than a year. Leaders in universities must do better.
The Trump Administration, led by @USEDgov and the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @HHSGov, &, @USGSA), has canceled approximately $ 400 million in federal grants to @Columbia because it failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. pic. https://twitter.com/CavoXbhhvx
Prior to that, on March 7, the Department of Education announced a $ 400 million funding cut for Columbia specifically in response to a “failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.”
As Israel’s conflict with Gaza grew, the school became a major hub as a result of the wave of campus protests that erupted in the US last year. A group of students, staff, and alumni occupied Hamilton Hall, a campus academic building on April 30 before being forcibly cleared by New York police at the university’s leadership’s request.
Columbia’s response: how? What has been done to the students?
Columbia has not responded to the education department’s letter in a public manner.
However, according to a statement to staff and students from Columbia’s interim president Katrina Armstrong on March 10, funding cuts would have an impact on “research and crucial functions of the University,” as well as staff and students. Federal grants cover the cost of running the university, which generates more than $6 billion annually.
Then, on Thursday, Columbia announced that as a result of the university’s investigations, students who participated in the protest last year at Hamilton Hall have received multiple-year suspensions or complete expulsions. The university judicial board of the university conducted the process over the course of several months, which included hearings for each student.
The university stated that it is “engaged in enforcing the University’s Rules and Policies and enhancing our disciplinary procedures.”
University Statement Regarding UJB Determinations on March 13, 2025: https://t.co/C8Hn518ZId Pic. twitter.com/dgr71AzMeX
It further stated that degrees will be removed for those who have since graduated. The judicial board did not release the names and precise names of the students who had been sanctioned.
Several other students have been informed by university officials that they are also under investigation for making “unauthorised” protests on social media or posting messages to support Palestinians, according to The Associated Press news agency.
How have students and others responded to “dangerous times”?
A group of student workers accused the university’s leadership of failing to take a stand in an opinion that was published in the university’s publication Columbia Daily Spectator in February.
“You requested a letter from Columbia’s Student Workers to let you know that Columbia would protect non-citizen students, faculty, and staff. Your office responded with a vague response that seemed to address a completely different subject. The University’s leadership has stood by or, worse, accelerated and enabled these threats, the body wrote.
According to a report from The New York Times, Columbia University officials issued a press release this week to warn students at the institution’s journalism program about using social media. Non-US citizens were specifically advised to refrain from publishing articles about Ukraine or Gaza.
The journalism school’s dean, Jelani Cobb, cautioned students, “Make sure your social media page is not filled with commentary on the Middle East.” No one can save you, he continued, “These are dangerous times.”
According to historian Eraldo Souza dos Santos, who is currently associated with Cornell University, “history shows that a university that doesn’t support the academic freedom of its own members is opening itself to further attacks on academic freedom in the future.”
“Columbia has reportedly complied with Khalil’s demands for protection as well as being willing to work with the current administration to criminalize dissent on campus.
According to him, “It should be trying to offer legal and public-facing support to a generation of students who have been fighting segregation and apartheid since the 1960s and 1980s,” he told Al Jazeera.
What transpired prior to everything?
Additionally, authorities have directly retaliated against students who demonstrate in favor of Palestine.
On Saturday, March 11, immigration authorities detained and detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who served as a student negotiator until his graduation in December.
Khalil was raised in Syria and is a Palestinian. He is married to a US citizen and has been granted permanent residency in the US, but he is currently facing deportation. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived to arrest him, Kalil’s lawyer Amy Greer claimed he was inside his Columbia University-owned home.
Trump predicted that Khalil’s arrest would be the “first of many arrests” in a post on his Truth Social platform following Khalil’s arrest.
Since the Hamilton Hall incident, Republicans in the US Congress have examined and criticized Columbia’s disciplinary procedure. Republican representatives wrote to Columbia in February to demand that the university provide documentation of student protests or face funding cuts.
In an effort to prevent a US congressional committee from obtaining student records from the institutions, Khalil and seven other unnamed students from Columbia and the affiliated Barnard College filed a lawsuit in Manhattan this week.
Source: Aljazeera
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