Pro-Palestinian student activists at Columbia University started facing suspension for refusing to break up a protest camp on the New York City campus. The Ivy League school announced that negotiations to end the divisive demonstration had reached a deadlock.
In a statement, university President Nemat Minouche Shafik said that days of talks between student organizers and academic leaders had been unable to persuade the demonstrators to get the dozens of tents erected as a symbol of their opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza taken down.
The University of Texas at Austin police arrested dozens of students who they pepper-sprayed during a pro-Palestinian rally, while a separate crackdown continued at Columbia, which is at the epicentre of protests over Gaza that have spread to college campuses across the United States in recent weeks.
On Monday morning, Columbia issued a letter alerting students who did not vacate the encampment by 2pm ET and, sign a form promising to abide by university policies that they will be suspended and not be allowed to finish the semester in good standing.
“We have begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” university spokesperson Ben Chang stated at a Monday night briefing.
Demonstrators have threatened to remain in their camp on the Manhattan campus until Columbia complies with three demands: divestment, financial transparency, and amnesty for faculty and students who were disciplined for their involvement in the protests.
