Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University broke Monday’s deadline to disband their illegal encampment on campus.
According to NBC, students involved in the protests were given letters warning that failure to vacate their illegal encampments by the 2 pm deadline could result in suspensions and being barred from finishing their spring 2024 semester.
For well over a week, pro-Hamas student supporters disrupted activities at Columbia University by camping out in makeshift tents in protest over Israel’s war on the terror group. Demonstrators have reportedly locked themselves in academic buildings, smashed windows and kept workers there captive before letting them go. Over a hundred students have been arrested in the antisemitic protests so far, including the daughter of US congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
In a letter to the university on Monday, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said that talks with student protesters had broken down.
“Regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement,” she wrote, adding that many students, Jewish or not, “have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks.”
She also cited the university’s upcoming May 15 graduation as a reason why the protests must end immediately, stating, “We owe it to all of our graduates and their loved ones to honor their achievement.”
Meanwhile, anti-Israel demonstrations are continuing to disrupt leading universities across the United States. On Sunday, over 100 students erected tents in front of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s administrative building, demanding Israel end the “occupation” in Gaza. The same day, nearly 200 students at Northwestern University in Illinois linked arms to demand the university divest its funds from the Jewish State.
