Columbia Protesters Defy Line-in-the-Sand University Deadline to End Campus Occupation

Hundreds of Columbia student-activists who faced threats of suspension gathered in front the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Monday, in defiance of the university's demand that they clear out the occupied green by 2 p.m.

"We will continue until our demands are met," Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) said in a statement on social media. "We will not be intimidated."

The university's evacuation demands come after week-and-a-half dispute between the student protestors and the administration. Activist groups like Columbia SJP and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) have demanded that the college disclose more information about its financial holdings and divest from businesses which profit off of Israel's war in Gaza, among other requests.

The university ordered students to clear the encampment on the grounds that it is "creating an unwelcoming environment for members of our community."

The politics of the encampment have been subject to intense scrutiny from the beginning - there are Jewish activists involved in occupying the lawn and participate in associated activist groups. Students and faculty members even celebrated a Passover Seder inside the encampment.

Some, however, allege that the activism has led to a spike in on-campus antisemitism - with at least one rabbi associated with the university urging Jewish students to return home. Columbia SJP and its members have made repeated public statements asserting that Jewish students are a welcome part of their movement and that their issues are with the Israeli government and the university's administration.

The university distributed documents to the student activists, informing them that they would not punished for the encampment as long as they signed a form promising to not break any university rules before the end of the next academic rule. Not all students are eligble for the agreement, however, as some are facing pre-existing discplinary charges for their involvement in pro-Palestine activism. Students who sign the form could also still face harrassment and discrimination charges from the university.

The student activists argue that the university is not negotiating with them in good faith. They also compared the fliers distributed to them, with the documents that Israel airdrops on Gaza.

"Today's threats come after days of fruitless negotiations in which the University refused to seriously consider our demands for divestment, financial transparency, and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined in the movement for Palestinian liberation," Columbia Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) wrote in a statement.

"Columbia pulled out of negotiations over the weekend by threatening students with a mass campus lockdown and the eviction of every undergraduate from their dorms. It is our position that good faith negotiations are not possible so long as the University attempts to win arguments by weaponizing food insecurity, houselessness, and military attacks as leverage."