ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS AT COLUMBIA VOW TO STAY PUT, AS CAMPUS WARS SPREAD

Anti-Israel Protesters at Columbia Vow to Stay Put, as Campus Wars Spread

After the university extended the deadline to dismantle the encampment until Friday, a spokesperson for the protest group denied that its leaders had agreed to concessions

April 25th, 02AM April 25th, 02AM

NEW YORK – With protests over the Israel-Hamas war spreading to campuses across America, activists at Columbia University vowed on Wednesday to stay put in their encampment until the administration accepted their demands to cut ties with Israel.

"We are not going anywhere," said Khymani James, a spokesperson of the protest group.

His declaration came just hours after it appeared that the administration and student leaders were inching closer to a resolution of the crisis that has engulfed the university since police were summoned to campus last Thursday and arrested more than 100 students.

Inspired by the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" at Columbia, students across the country have followed suit, holding sit-ins and pitching tents at prime locations on their respective campuses, demanding that their universities divest from Israel.

On Wednesday, police and state troopers clashed violently with protesters at the University of Southern California and the University of Texas in Austin, among other schools, with arrests reported. At New York University, the administration set up a plywood wall to block a main campus plaza, after several protesters were arrested there on Monday.

James said that the student group at Columbia had three demands: that the university divest from all corporations and institutions that are "complicit in the Israeli genocide," that it disclose all its investments, and that it grant amnesty to all students and faculty who have faced disciplinary actions or been fired for participating in anti-Israel protests.

The university had given the protesters until midnight to dismantle their encampment. Rumors soon spread that it planned to call in the National Guard to force the students out. In the morning, the university said it would extend the deadline for 48 hours – until Friday morning – after the protest leaders had agreed to a number of concessions. These concessions included taking down many of the tents in the encampment, banning speakers not affiliated with the university and allowing any students who wished to enter the space.

James said that the protesters had not agreed to these concessions because the university had acted in bad faith by threatening to call in the National Guard. He acknowledged that people not affiliated with the university were still present at the campus. Ben Chang, vice president for communications at Columbia, said in a briefing later in the day that the university had never threatened to call in the National Guard. "That is an untrue and an unsubstantiated claim," he said.

On a visit to Columbia on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson was heckled by protesters, as he stood, flanked by Republican lawmakers, on the Low Library steps overlooking the encampment. During the visit, he met with Jewish students and with the university president, Minouche Shafik.

"My message to the students inside the encampment is go back to class and stop the nonsense," he said. "Stop wasting your parents' money."

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 members of the Columbia University community presented Shafik with a letter on Wednesday requesting that she take action against the unauthorized encampment and the continued unsanctioned protests on campus.

"Presumably the majority of students, faculty, and staff simply wish to peacefully study, teach, research, and live and work on campus; their rights to do so must also be upheld," they wrote. "These activities are impeded given the repeated and flagrant violations of university rules. This is especially concerning as students enter the final exam period and upcoming commencements."

The letter noted many Jewish students have left campus housing because of concerns for their personal safety and "some who are even seeking to transfer out of Columbia University due to antisemitism on campus."

Among those who signed the letter were 259 faculty, 267 students and 1,013 alumni.

2024-04-24T23:09:27Z dg43tfdfdgfd