- Columbia University has expelled or suspended students involved in a pro-Palestine protest last year.
- This comes after the ICE arrest of activist Mahmoud Khalil and the Trump administration pulling $400 million of funding from the university.
- These suspensions and expulsions were decided after hearings led by the University Judicial Board.
Following a pro-Palestinian protest last year that drew worldwide attention, Columbia University recently announced that it has expelled or suspended students involved in the protest.
In a campuswide email on Thursday, the university said that a judicial board has brought a variety of sanctions against students who participated in a building occupation in protest against the war in Gaza last spring, according to The Associated Press. Along with the suspensions and expulsions, the university has also revoked diplomas of people who have since graduated.
These suspensions and expulsions come after the Trump administration pulled $400 million of federal funding from the school, citing that it failed to fight antisemitism on campus. Also, just a few days ago, a Columbia campus activist, Mahmoud Khalil, was arrested and was detained by federal immigration authorities, according to BBC.
Trump has also threatened to pull funding from more universities that allow ”illegal protests" and from schools that fail to protect their Jewish students from antisemitism.
The university did not share how many students were suspended, expelled or had their degree revoked. According to the AP, Columbia stated that the outcomes were based on an “evaluation of the severity of behaviors.”
Columbia’s announcement of suspensions and expulsions came after a long process of hearings for each student that were led by the University Judicial Board, per the AP.
“The return of suspended students will be overseen by Columbia’s University Life Office. Columbia is committed to enforcing the University’s Rules and Policies and improving our disciplinary processes,” the school said in a statement, according to BBC.
What was the protest that students were expelled for?
On April 30, 2024, a group of students used padlocks and furniture to barricade themselves inside Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. This was a major escalation of college campus protests, according to the AP.
This occupation of Hamilton Hall followed a tent encampment on campus, which inspired a series of similar demonstrations at campuses across the country.
According to the AP, hundreds of New York police officers, as requested by the university, stormed onto campus the following night and arrested dozens of people involved in the encampment and the occupation.
During a June court hearing, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it would not pursue criminal charges for a majority of the people originally arrested on trespassing charges. These students still faced disciplinary hearings and the possibility of expulsion or suspension from Columbia.
Students who were part of the encampment but didn’t participate in the takeover of Hamilton Hall were informed that they would not face further discipline, per the AP.
