Fall 2023 October 9, 2023: Statement of Solidarity On October 9, 2023, the Columbia chapters of
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) published an open letter expressing "full solidarity with Palestinian resistance against over 75 years of Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid" and calling for a protest at 4:30 p.m. on October 12. The same day, in an official university-wide communication, Columbia University President
Minouche Shafik wrote: "I was devastated by the horrific attack on Israel this weekend and the ensuing violence that is affecting so many people. Unfortunately, at this moment, little is certain except that the fighting and human suffering are not likely to end soon." As of September 2025, it was Columbia's last official statement using institutional voice about a global event.
October 12, 2023: First protest and
Jewish Voice for Peace, 12 October 2023.In anticipation of the planned protest, Columbia University's administration announced late on October 11 that, starting the next day at 6 a.m., it would restrict access to its Morningside campus to Columbia University ID holders only. The afternoon of October 12, hundreds of Columbia affiliates gathered for the SJP-JVP protest; several supporters of Israel gathered to
counter-protest. In an interview with
WKCR, a Columbia employee who identified himself as "an officer of administration" working "up in the bowels of Gotham up by the George Washington Bridge at the medical center" said "I’m Jewish, okay? I’m a Zionist, okay? I hope every one of these people die," referring to the students protesting with SJP and JVP. The next week, the State of Israel's
Twitter/X account retweeted a video of
Shai Davidai, then an assistant professor at the
Columbia Business School, and called Columbia administrators "cowards". In the video, Davidai addressed President
Minouche Shafik and said, "We are waiting for you to eradicate all pro-terror student organizations from campus."
October 25, 2023: doxing trucks accusing students and affiliates of antisemitism drive around campus The morning of October 25,
billboard trucks sponsored by the conservative media group
Accuracy in Media (AIM) began driving around Columbia's Morningside campus displaying the names and faces of Columbia students beneath the text "Columbia’s Leading Antisemites". The media group also created a website called "Columbia Hates Jews", listing the names of 29 Columbia affiliates it claimed were antisemites.
November 1, 2023: Walkout of class taught by Hillary Clinton; Task Force on Antisemitism announced There was a student
walkout of a class taught by SIPA Dean
Keren Yarhi-Milo and
Hillary Clinton on November 1 after Clinton made remarks opposing a ceasefire. The protesters also demanded an investigation into CampusGroups, the SIPA online platform from which AIM took students' information for use on its doxing trucks and websites. The establishment of the task force was criticized by some, such as
James Schamus, who said it did not define antisemitism. No similar task force was established to address
anti-Palestinian racism,
Islamophobia, or other forms of discrimination. The administration also announced a Doxxing Resource Group in response to students'
AIM doxing truck complaints.
November 9, 2023: Walkout and art installation at Low Plaza On November 9, SJP and JVP hosted a walkout, protest, art installation, and
die-in at the steps of
Low Memorial Library. At the protest, student organizer
Mohsen Mahdawi told his story of growing up in a
refugee camp in the
occupied West Bank, of witnessing his 12-year-old best friend killed in front of him by an Israeli soldier and of being shot in the leg himself at 15 years old, also by an Israeli soldier. including Mahdawi.
November 10, 2023: Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace irregularly suspended On November 10, Columbia senior administrator Gerald Rosberg announced the suspension of SJP and JVP, citing a violation of university rules after the November 9 protest, which he described as an "unauthorized event" that included "threatening rhetoric and intimidation". On October 25,
Jonathan Greenblatt of the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Alyza D. Lewin and
Kenneth L. Marcus of the
Brandeis Center had written university presidents a letter calling on them to investigate SJP for "potential violations of the prohibition against materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization", adding that "universities must also update their code of conduct to ensure that harassment and support for terrorism have no place on campus." The claim that SJP and JVP used "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" was debunked by journalists and retracted by Rosberg privately in a University Senate Plenary on November 17, 2023, but Columbia did not reverse the suspension of SJP and JVP and never issued a public statement to correct and clarify the matter. In April 2025, US Secretary of State
Marco Rubio cited the phrase "threatening rhetoric and intimidation" verbatim, apparently drawing from the statement Columbia did not retract, in a memo delivered in support of his case against
Mohsen Mahdawi. The statement announcing CUAD's formation listed six demands in addition to
economic divestment and
academic boycott: (1) call on government officials to call for an immediate ceasefire; (2) divest from companies benefiting from Israeli apartheid; (3) cancel the opening of the Tel Aviv Global Center; (4) cease the dual-degree program with
Tel Aviv University; (5) protect academic freedom and stop vilifying pro-Palestinian activism; and (6) reinstate SJP and JVP. The committee was responding to five complaints of antisemitic harassment and two of anti-Muslim harassment, though it was not initially clear which applied to Columbia. The protesters chanted phrases such as "There’s no room for celebration, end Israeli occupation" between songs, but—at the request of the Columbia College Student Council (CCSC), which had been in communication with CUAD—it did not otherwise interrupt the various student performances. students protested at Barnard College's Futter Field, demanding that the college's president, Laura Rosenbury, publicly call for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. By the end of January, Barnard administration had started disciplinary processes for at least 19 students involved in the protest.
Spring 2024 January 19, 2024: Former Israeli soldiers attack demonstrators On January 19, 2024, students at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on campus were sprayed with a chemical that they alleged to be
Skunk, a foul-smelling spray usually used as crowd control by the
Israel Defense Forces, causing various injuries. At least eight students sought medical attention. In response, demonstrators organized a protest outside the university on February 2 and SJP and JVP published a report stating that the perpetrators were former IDF soldiers and current Columbia students. The
New York City Police Department announced that it would investigate the event as a potential hate crime. The attack's perpetrators were initially placed on interim suspension before later being suspended through May 2025. In April, one of the perpetrators, who had been suspended the previous month, sued the university under the pseudonym
John Doe, claiming that he had actually sprayed non-toxic "
gag gift" fart sprays he had purchased from
Amazon, adding that pro-Palestine students
doxxed him in retaliation. The suspended student alleged that Columbia subjected him to "biased misconduct proceedings" and that he had used fart sprays such as "
Liquid Ass", not harmful chemicals. After a joint investigation by the NYPD and Columbia, the school concluded that the chemical substance was a "non-toxic, legal, novelty item".
February 2, 2024: Rosenbury's inauguration interrupted by protesters Ten student protesters were removed from
Laura Rosenbury's inauguration as the ninth president of
Barnard College, as, one by one, they interrupted her speech and were removed. Rosenbury told the protesters they were free to speak as they were each escorted out. Barnard President
Laura Rosenbury had attempted to cancel the screening for weeks. On January 17, she called the event's faculty organizer into her office and told her to pause the screening due to concerns that it might be cited in a
Title VI lawsuit, as it had been at other schools. On January 31, Rosenbury allowed the screening, and event organizers made the event happen in person instead of by alternative methods being considered. considered consultation with the University Senate's executive committee. The policy limited the time and place of protest activity to a protest zone including the South Lawn or the Sundial from midday to 6 pm on weekdays, and would expire at the end of the spring 2024 semester.
March 4, 2024: Columbia's Task Force on Antisemitism's first report calls for increased restrictions on protests Columbia's Task Force on Antisemitism—co-chaired by
Esther Fuchs,
Nicholas Lemann, and
David Schizer—released its first report, in which it did not define antisemitism but called for more restrictions on protests.
March 24, 2024: Resistance 101 panel On March 24, 2024, students held a "Resistance 101" panel featuring speakers from
Within Our Lifetime, Masar Badil, and
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Network, as well as Khaled Barakat, allegedly a member of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, though Barakat denied that. Columbia's newly hired Chief Operating Officer Cas Holloway released a statement declaring that Columbia "immediately notified law enforcement and engaged an outside firm led by experienced former law enforcement investigators to conduct an investigation". Columbia also hired a private investigation firm to surveil students in relation to the event.
The Columbia Spectator reported that two men in suits appeared at the residence of an undergraduate student on the morning of April 1, and that a man called the student's personal phone and identified himself as a private investigator. In anticipation of the demonstration, Holloway emailed dozens of student leaders of groups signed onto the CUAD coalition to say that the planned protest would violate the "Interim Policy on Safe Demonstrations" as it had not been registered in compliance with the policy. about 70 protesters sat in tents bearing the Palestinian flag on the East Butler Lawn. When Shafik summoned the
New York Police Department's Strategic Response Group to
mass arrest the student protesters and dismantle the encampment on April 18, students from the large crowd that had gathered around the lawn immediately occupied the adjacent West Butler Lawn and established another encampment there the next day. During the weekend of April 20–21, public safety officers from the administration told
WKCR-FM, which had been broadcasting information about the protest, to vacate its office due to an unspecified danger. Staff refused, saying they had a responsibility to broadcast information 24/7. WKCR later said it was a misunderstanding.
April 21, 2024: Rabbi Elie Buechler advises Jewish students to stay at home On April 21, Elie Buechler, a rabbi associated with Columbia University's Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, recommended that Jewish students "return home as soon as possible and remain home", arguing that the ongoing campus occupation had "made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety". Footage of protests over the weekend showed some protesters using antisemitic language against Jewish students, and many Jewish students said they felt unsafe.
April 22, 2024: overwhelming majority of Columbia College votes in favor of divestment A majority of
Columbia College students voted in favor of divestment in a referendum sent by the Columbia College Student Council. 76.55% voted in favor of financially divesting from Israel, 68.36% voted to cancel the opening of the Tel Aviv Global Center, and 65.62% voted to end the dual degree program with Tel Aviv University. Because of the protest, the university canceled classes on April 22, and then said it would switch to
blended learning for the remainder of the semester. The Columbia Elections Board announced that a referendum on divestment from Israel, originally proposed by CUAD on March 3, 2024, had passed by a large margin, showing that Columbia's student body mostly supported the initiative. In the evening, the students celebrated a
Seder on the first evening of
Passover. On April 23, A student organizer said that protesters were in negotiations with the university through a legal negotiator but declined to share details. Ben Chang, Columbia's spokesperson, said that organizers had met with university officials in the early morning to discuss the situation. Shafik issued a midnight deadline for protesters to either agree to vacate campus or face the university's consideration of "alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus". Jewish pro-Palestinian students held
Passover Seder within the encampment. Shortly after midnight on April 24, SJP reported that protesters had suspended negotiations because the university had threatened to call in the
New York Army National Guard to clear them out, saying they would not return to the negotiating table until Columbia rescinded its threat. But the university said that "important progress" had been made in negotiations and that Shafik's original deadline would be extended by 48 hours, that the students had agreed to reduce the number of tents, and that they would ensure that protesters not affiliated with Columbia would leave campus. Protesters were seen taking down and moving some tents. Meanwhile, the NYPD dispersed about 100 protesters outside campus. During his speech, Johnson said that during the October 7 attack, "
infants were cooked in ovens", an unsubstantiated claim. Later, he called on President
Joe Biden to deploy the National Guard to quell the protests;
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied that such deployment is up to the
governor of New York, not the president. The next day,
Palestine Legal filed a Title VI suit with regard to suspended students. The
Columbia Board of Trustees issued statements in affirmation of Shafik. The University Senate held an emergency meeting with Shafik to consider censuring her.
April 25, 2024: United for Israel rally outside Amsterdam gates On the evening of April 25, at Columbia's Amsterdam Avenue gates, a United for Israel rally held by
StandWithUs along with right-wing figures including
Sean Feucht,
Eric Metaxas, and Russell B. Johnson, attracted hundreds of pro-Israel demonstrators, and multiple incidents of harassment were reported. The rally was promoted as a "unity march of Christians and Jews" and some demonstrators harassed pro-Palestinian counter-protesters and targeted some counter-protesters inside the gates. U.S. Representatives
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and
Jamaal Bowman visited the encampment. Columbia library workers issued a statement condemning Shafik for deploying police and private security against the protesters. More than 1,000 pro-Israel protesters organized by the "New York Hostage and Missing Families Forum" rallied at 116th and Broadway. The University Senate announced plans to call for a
censure vote against Shafik but decided instead to vote on a resolution expressing displeasure with her out of reluctance to oust the president in a time of crisis. On April 27, James apologized. The next day, the administration called for the protesters to leave, and said that bringing back the NYPD would be counterproductive. a crowd by force from Columbia's gates on Amsterdam Avenue.
April 29 – May 2, 2024: "Hind's Hall" occupation of Hamilton Hall, subsequent raid, and arrests line up aboard a
Lenco BearCat, evening of April 30. Negotiations between protesters and the university came to a "dead end" on April 29. The administration threatened to suspend students still in the encampment by 2 pm. It also offered a partial amnesty deal. CUAD voted to stay in the encampment after the deadline, and SJP told members not to sign any administration deals. Faculty linked arms around the encampment before the deadline. Despite the threats, students stayed in the encampment and surrounding areas. Suspensions began later that day. Meanwhile, a Jewish student sued the university for failing to provide a safe environment, and alumni wrote Shafik a letter asking her to clear the encampment. and barricaded themselves inside. Protesters unfurled a banner purporting to rename the building "Hind's Hall" in honor of
Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces. A campus police officer in the lobby left the building when confronted by the occupiers, while three Columbia janitors, among them Mario Torres, who tried to block the protesters, were briefly stuck inside and left the building after approximately 30 minutes. The campus was locked down and higher police presence was noted near campus; the NYPD and the university said they would not send police in. The administration threatened to expel students who participated in the hall takeover. Activist
Lisa Fithian was spotted aiding protesters breaking into Hamilton Hall. Late in the evening, a heavy riot police presence was seen outside the campus. The administration told students to shelter in place due to "heightened activity". The NYPD prepared to raid the campus after a letter from Shafik gave it permission. Protesters appeared undeterred, continuing chants. At around 9 pm, the NYPD entered campus with administration approval. The administration blamed protesters for escalating by taking Hamilton Hall. The district attorney's office said no one was injured and their Police Accountability Unit was reviewing the incident.
The Washington Post reported that billionaires and titans of business in a
WhatsApp group with Mayor
Eric Adams encouraged him to send police to sweep the Columbia protests. The
Post reported that a group including
Daniel Lubetzky,
Daniel S. Loeb,
Len Blavatnik, and
Joseph Sitt joined a
Zoom call with Adams on April 26, a week after he first sent the NYPD onto Columbia's campus to arrest students, and some spoke of making political donations to Adams. In the letter to the deputy commissioner, Shafik requested an NYPD presence through at least May 17, two days after the scheduled
commencement. On May 2, the NYPD announced that during arrests at Columbia, out of 112 people arrested, 32 were not affiliated with the school. Mayor
Eric Adams emphasized the role of "
outside agitators" and said there was evidence that "professional" Nahla al-Arian, The actions taken against the demonstrators by the NYPD in riot armor while clearing Hamilton Hall inspired
Macklemore's song "
Hinds Hall", whose lyrics call the police "actors in badges". In June, the charges against most of the participants in the occupation of Hamilton Hall were dropped. Before and after the encampment, Jewish students sued the university, alleging civil rights and university policy violations due to harassment and abuse of Jewish students. One lawsuit was settled. Pro-Palestinian students also sued the university, claiming civil rights and university policy violations in connection with the university's actions against the protesters.
Summer 2024 May 6–16, 2024: Graduation ceremony canceled and continued protests Despite claims that the police sweep was done to ensure a main graduation commencement, especially as the class of 2024 had its
high school commencement canceled due to COVID, the university decided on May 6 to cancel the main commencement, though the various colleges and schools of the university planned to hold separate commencements. Small pro-Palestinian protests were held outside the homes of some Columbia University trustees on May 7. During one such protest, a pro-Israel man argued with some of the protesters before driving into the protest. The driver and a struck protester were both arrested and treated at the hospital for minor injuries. On May 16, faculty, students and religious leaders held a "People's Graduation" ceremony at the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine for students who were punished for participating in the encampment. Palestinian-American poet
Fady Joudah and Palestinian journalist
Hind Khoudary spoke at the event.
May 31 – June 2, 2024: "Revolt for Rafah" alumni weekend encampment On May 31, students regrouped and launched a third encampment. About 100 students participated in the protest, which was said to be a response to the
Rafah offensive and a
Washington Post article revealing that elites pressured Adams into sending the NYPD in during the second raid. Students said the encampment was only the first of a continued protest presence on the campus, remaining for alumni reunion weekend. By 7 pm, about two dozen students with ten tents had occupied part of the South Lawn during the university's alumni reunion. According to Columbia SJP, the protesters identify as "an autonomous group of Palestinian students". The encampment was dismantled on June 2, once the alumni weekend ended. The NYPD briefly entered the campus to document vandalism that took place.
June 3–6, 2024: Columbia Law Review publishes Eghbariah article; board of directors shuts down website '' took down its entire website hours after its editorial staff published
Rabea Eghbariah's article "
Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept". The website was reinstated after a 20-5 majority of staff editors voted to strike. Seven hours after the
Columbia Law Review published Eghbariah's article—a commissioned piece expanded from an essay commissioned then censored by the
Harvard Law Review and later published in
The Nation—its board of directors shut down the
Columbia Law Review website, relenting only when the majority of editors threatened to strike.
August 8, 2024: Cas Holloway's apartment vandalized Columbia
Chief Operating Officer Cas Holloway's apartment building was vandalized with red paint and crickets at 3 a.m. Several flyers, including a
wanted poster with Holloway's picture on it, were posted nearby.
August 14, 2024: Resignation of Minouche Shafik; Katrina Armstrong named interim president Minouche Shafik suddenly resigned amid the turmoil on campus after 13 months and 13 days in office—the shortest tenure of any Columbia University president since 1801.
Katrina Armstrong, who had been CEO of the
Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and dean of the
Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, was appointed interim president, effective immediately.
August 21, 2024: House Committee on Education subpoena's Columbia for internal records related to the protests Virginia Foxx of the
United States House Committee on Education and Workforce sent Armstrong a letter to force Columbia to release documents to the federal government. It was the second time in the year and in its history that the committee sought to force a university to turn over internal records. Armstrong announced the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), a newly created office led by Vice Provost Laura Kirschstein, empowered to punish students and faculty it finds guilty of discrimination. It centralized the reporting of and investigations into cases of discrimination and harassment at Columbia, replacing the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA) and taking over its responsibilities. SJP members also recalled Meta taking down several posts quoting
Ghassan Kanafani.
August 30, 2024: Task Force on Antisemitism releases second report and considers anti-Zionism antisemitism In late August, Columbia's Task Force on Antisemitism released a second report. News of the report was first published on June 16 in the Israeli newspaper
Haaretz, in an interview with the task force's co-chairs, before any official communication from the university. In the report, the Task Force characterized
anti-Zionism as antisemitism In September, Columbia faculty published an open letter criticizing the task force's findings. At least 24 Jewish faculty members, 16 non-Jewish faculty members, some Jewish students, and others criticized the report for misrepresentations, omission of key context, and equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
Fall 2024 September 4, 2024: "Shut it Down" picket on first day of class of the 2024–25 academic year splattered with red paint on the first day of classes of the fall 2024 semester. On the first day of classes of the 2024–25 academic year, dozens of protesters
picketed the gates at 116th Street and Broadway in a protest organized by CUAD. On campus, someone dumped a can of red paint on the
Alma Mater statue.
September 11, 2024: Barnard officially adopts policy of "institutional neutrality" After months of practicing institutional neutrality on a provisional basis,
Barnard College issued a statement on community expectations formally adopting the policy. Informed by the
Chicago Principles, the policy was consonant with a pattern in which university administrators declined to explicitly take political positions during the
protests and unrest on campuses during the Gaza War.
September 17, 2024: Armstrong creates President's Advisory Committee on Institutional Voice Six days after Barnard formally adopted institutional neutrality, Columbia's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, announced the creation of the President's Advisory Committee on Institutional Voice to study the implementation of a policy of neutrality.
October 7, 2024: Pro-Palestine student walkout, pro-Israel "Columbia United Against Terrorism" rally, and "Memory Lane" pro-Israel exhibition on the lawn On the anniversary of the
October 7 attacks and the beginning of the
Gaza war, hundreds of pro-Palestine students gathered at Low Plaza after a
walkout. They began quietly by continuing the daily vigils CUAD had started the previous week, in which those present listen in silence as the names of the over 50,000 Palestinian
martyrs killed by Israel were read aloud. The crowd held the Israeli and US flags and pro-Israel students spoke about the people who died at the
Nova music festival. Aeder also exhibited his installation in Chicago and at
Harvard and
Princeton. Davidai had been under formal investigation by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA) since February 16, 2024, for several complaints of harassment from students. It distinguished itself from CUAD, which it described as having "shifted from a horizontally structured coalition founded on Palestinian liberation to a nebulous organization that is not led by the affinity group of Palestinian student organizers."
October 31, 2024: House Committee on Education and the Workforce publishes report The
US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by
Virginia Foxx, published a report titled "Antisemitism on College Campuses Exposed" presenting its investigation into how Columbia and other schools responded to Palestine solidarity protests it described as antisemitic.
December 6, 2024: "Distraction by Design" protest at the Tree Lighting For the second year in a row, students protested at Columbia's annual tree lighting ceremony on College Walk. The "Distraction by Design" protest condemned Columbia's refusal to
divest from Israel and drew attention to Columbia trustee
Jeh Johnson's position as former director of
Lockheed Martin, the company that produces the
AGM-114 Hellfire missiles used by Israeli
Apache helicopters. In
The Forward, Shilon wrote of the experience, "it made me feel like a Jew in a way I had never felt before" and that he experienced it "not as a threat to my existence, but rather as harassment".
February 21, 2025: first expulsions of students for Palestine solidarity protest action On February 21, Barnard expelled two seniors for their alleged disruption of the course History of Modern Israel. On February 28, it expelled a third involved in the
Hind's Hall occupation of
Hamilton Hall. On February 27, protesters began to picket outside Barnard's main gate, calling for the explusions' reversal.
Shai Davidai started a counterprotest. The protesters disbanded but the NYPD arrested someone nearby shortly after.
March 4, 2025: Protest of Hillel event with Naftali Bennett Over 100 protesters gathered to protest a closed-door event with former Israeli Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett. The invitation email to the event, sponsored by Columbia Barnard
Hillel and hosted by the SIPA Dean
Keren Yarhi-Milo, said "The information in this email and the details of the event, including the identity of our guest, are confidential" and "the invitation is non-transferable, so please minimize discussing this event with others". For the third time in a year, the administration summoned the NYPD to arrest students. Barnard officials reported there was a
bomb threat and had the NYPD forcibly remove the protesters, arresting nine people. It was later established that the bomb threat was fake. Although official statements from Barnard and headlines of some local and national media outlets suggested that the protesters themselves were responsible for the bomb threat, the protesters were its stated targets. According to a screenshot obtained by
The Intercept, an email sent to Barnard administrators declared an attack on the "anti-white faggot terrorists/communists that are protesting". Trump had publicly criticized Columbia 25 years earlier when it refused to purchase a property in
Midtown from him for $400 million. According to
The Atlantic, "with Trump's buy-in, Stephen Miller|[Stephen] Miller was ultimately the one who approved pulling federal funding from the school."
March 8, 2025: Detention of Mahmoud Khalil by ICE and threats by the Trump administration , New York City on March 10, 2025 Repression of pro-Palestinian protesters intensified in 2025 during the
second presidency of Donald Trump, when the Trump administration announced the revocation of $400 million in federal funding for the school despite renewed efforts by Columbia to crack down on student protests through a new disciplinary committee. These efforts included the expulsion of students previously involved with pro-Palestine protests, and the temporary suspension and/or revocation of degrees for students who had already graduated. On March 9,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained SIPA alumnus
Mahmoud Khalil, a leading pro-Palestinian negotiator and lawful permanent resident, following an online campaign by pro-Israel groups to have him deported.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a second Palestinian member of the Columbia University community, was arrested for deportation soon after.
March 10, 2025: federal agents revoke permanent residency of Yunseo Chung, search her dorm and other Columbia residences Yunseo Chung, a Columbia University student and lawful
permanent resident with a green card, was among a group of protesters arrested during the "Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya Liberated Zone" occupation of Milstein Center. Charges against Chung were dropped. On March 10, federal law enforcement told her lawyer that her permanent resident status was being revoked. Federal agents searched her dorm and her parents' home, but did not find her. Chung's lawyer filed a petition for a writ of
habeas corpus in the
District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the case was assigned to judge
Naomi Reice Buchwald, who ruled that Chung could not be detained for the time being.
March 11, 2025: "Jews Say ICE Off Campus" protest; doctoral candidate Ranjani Srinivasan forced to leave US Dozens of Jewish students wearing "Jews say ICE off campus" protested in front of
Alma Mater in protest of the
detention of Mahmoud Khalil and the presence of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on campus.
Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national,
Fulbright scholar, and doctoral candidate at Columbia, was forced to leave the US due to threats from the Trump administration. Srinivasan chose to self-deport after having her visa revoked. She had previously been detained during the Hamilton Hall protests, but all charges were dismissed. Her attorney said she was not a participant in the protests. Srinivasan was also accused without evidence of being a Hamas supporter.
March 13, 2025: Expulsions, degree revocations, and suspensions for Gaza Solidarity Encampment and Hind's Hall student protesters The Columbia University Judicial Board (UJB) issued a statement announcing expulsions, multiple-year suspensions, and degree revocations for students involved in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and Hind's Hall occupation of Hamiltion Hall, two days after Rules Administrator Gregory Wawro announced that hearings had been completed. Although these announcements came after the Trump administration demanded this exact kind of punishment, Wawro expressed confidence that the community would "accept the legitimacy of the outcomes, whatever they may be, since we followed our longstanding practices and policies under the Rules." Among those Columbia expelled was Grant Miner, a PhD student and president of the Student Workers of Columbia—UAW 2710 union, which was due to begin its contract bargaining with Columbia the next day. On March 2, 2026,
New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits dismissed Columbia's punishment of 22 students, undergraduates and graduates, involved in the Hind's Hall occupation of Hamilton Hall, ruling that Columbia used inadmissible evidence—arrest records
sealed in June 2024 when
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dropped criminal charges against the protesters—in disciplinary hearings later that summer. Lebovits called the sanctions against students "arbitrary and capricious" and said they violated university rules and state law. Columbia said it was "considering all of its options, including seeking a stay of the order and appealing the decision." The demands included
expulsion or multi-year
suspensions as punishment for pro-Palestinian demonstrators; a
mask ban; the abolishment of the University Judicial Board in order to "centralize all disciplinary processes" under the university president; placing the Middle East, South Asia, and African Studies (MESAAS) department under academic
receivership; adopting a
controversial definition of antisemitism; and giving campus police "full law enforcement authority", including to make arrests. Professor
Katherine Franke and others called it a "ransom note". Columbia agreed to these demands. several policy measures intended to address the demands. These included restructuring the university's disciplinary system, hiring 36 police officers empowered to make arrests, and appointing a senior vice provost to supervise the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) department. According to the announcement, the senior vice provost would conduct "a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East."
March 28, 2025: Armstrong steps down; board of trustees co-chair Claire Shipman made president Although it had recently expressed satisfaction with Armstrong's measures enacted to restore federal funding, a statement from the Trump administration's Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism called Armstrong's resignation "an important step toward advancing negotiations" between the government and the university and referred to a "concerning revelation" earlier that week, ostensibly a call with faculty in which she downplayed Columbia's commitment to its concessions to the Trump administration.
Board of trustees co-chair David Greenwald announced that interim president Katrina Armstrong was stepping down and that the other co-chair,
Claire Shipman, would serve as acting president of the university. Greenwald became the sole chair of the board of trustees.
March 31, 2025: Columbia University Senate publishes The Sundial Report The Sundial Report, a 335–page chronology of the 2023-24 protests at Columbia, was prepared by a group within the Columbia University Senate, a policymaking body composed of faculty members and students. The University Senate, established after the
1968 Columbia University protests to further shared governance at the university, is independent of the university's administration, and its report was critical of how the administration handled the protests. At around 2 p.m., Public Safety officers cut the locks and forced protesters outside the gates, after which the protesters sat down in front of the gates, locked arms, and dispersed around 4 p.m. After Harvard University
rejected such demands from the Trump administration, even after it threatened Harvard with over $9 billion in cuts to federal grants and contracts, according to
Inside Higher Ed, Columbia appeared to "tacitly reject" the proposal after having already made significant concessions to the Trump administration.
April 14, 2025: Detention of Mohsen Mahdawi Mohsen Mahdawi of the
School of General Studies was detained by
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in a trap set at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in
Burlington, Vermont, where United States Citizenship and Immigration Services had informed him he had an interview to obtain U.S. citizenship. According to
Drop Site News, the
State Department drew on Columbia's mischaracterization of the November 9, 2023, protest, taking language from the university's description of the protest as pretext to deport Mahdawi. In a statement the day after the November 9 protest announcing the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, Gerald Rosberg, then a senior administrator at Columbia, called it an "unauthorized event" that included "threatening rhetoric and intimidation". Claire Shipman, who left her position as co-chair of the
board of trustees to become acting president of the university on March 28, announced in an email to the Columbia University community that the University Senate would be subject to review. According to
The New York Times, the move was an "effort to potentially diminish the university senate's authority" and one that Shipman and the trustees used "vague language" to explain.
April 22, 2025: plans for student encampment leaked and published by NBC Matt Lavietes reported for NBC News that Columbia students were planning to establish an encampment that week. but when the appointed time came, the group did not set up encampments.
May 7, 2025: "Basel Al-Araj Popular University" occupation of Butler Library Pro-Palestinian protesters entered and took over Room 301, the main reading room at
Butler Library, at around 3:15 pm, naming it the "Basel Al-Araj Popular University" for
Bassel al-Araj. Columbia Public Safety security guards blocked the reading room exit and required the protesters to show their university identification or face arrest for trespassing, creating a standoff. At 6:55 pm, acting president Claire Shipman summoned the NYPD to remove the protesters,—the fourth mass arrest at Columbia University in 18 months and the largest since April 2024, when the NYPD arrested 109 in its sweep of the "Hind's Hall" occupation of
Hamilton Hall and the second Gaza Solidarity Encampment. with two people brought out in stretchers, one of them wearing a
kuffiyeh draped over their face. Following the incident, the university suspended over 65 students and barred 33 others, including those from affiliated institutions such as
Barnard College, from entering the campus. Student journalists for
Columbia Daily Spectator and
WKCR were among those given notices of interim suspension. The protest and subsequent arrests garnered national attention. US Secretary of State
Marco Rubio called the protesters "trespassers and vandals" and "pro-Hamas thugs" and announced that the Trump administration would review their visa statuses. The Trump administration praised Columbia's response as showing "fortitude and conviction", highlighting the enforcement of campus policies amid federal scrutiny over the university's handling of antisemitism allegations. Civil liberties organizations expressed concern over potential infringements of free speech and the right to protest. A letter from the executive committee of the
American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at Columbia deplored the "erosion of shared governance" as it denounced the university's decision to call the NYPD for assistance.
May 20–21, 2025: boos and jeers at 2025 commencement On May 20, 2025, during her speech at the
Columbia College class day ceremony, Shipman was greeted with jeers and boos, as well as chants of "free Mahmoud" in reference to
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate held in detention since
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained him at his Columbia residence on March 8. At the university's main commencement ceremony the next day, there were also boos, jeers, and chants of "free Palestine" from the crowd of graduates during her speech, in which she said that "many in our community today are mourning the absence of our graduate Mahmoud Khalil."
Summer 2025 May 22, 2025: Trump administration accuses Columbia of violating Jewish students' rights The Department of
Health and Human Services accused Columbia of violating Jewish students' rights as proscribed by
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
June 4, 2025: Department of Education says Columbia does not meet accreditation standards The
US Department of Education said Columbia failed to meet
accreditation standards due to what it described as a failure to protect Jewish students on campus, a violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
July 15, 2025: Shipman announces Columbia will adopt IHRA definition and partner with the ADL Amid negotiations with the Trump administration over $400 million of federal funding it withdrew from Columbia, acting president Claire Shipman announced that Columbia would adopt the
IHRA definition of antisemitism and partner with the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In the negotiations, Trump's team was led by
Stephen Miller and Columbia was represented by
Jay Lefkowitz and Matt Owen of the law firm
Kirkland & Ellis. Professor
Rashid Khalidi cited Columbia's adoption of the IHRA definition as the reason he cancelled his fall lecture course History of the Modern Middle East.
July 22, 2025: UJB punishes over 70 students with expulsions, suspensions, and degree revocations While Columbia was in negotiations with the Trump administration, its University Judicial Board issued expulsions, suspensions, and degree revocations to over 70 students who participated in the "Basel Al-Araj Popular University" occupation of Butler Library.
July 23, 2025: Columbia settles with Trump administration and agrees to pay $220 million The day after issuing 70 expulsions, suspensions, and degree revocations to students, Columbia finalized negotiations with the
Trump administration and agreed to pay the federal government a $220 million settlement. As part of the deal, Columbia agreed to provide the federal government with the private information of applicants to the university—those admitted as well as those not admitted—including their race,
GPA, and standardized test scores. Columbia sent an "initial set of information" including admissions data conveying "both rejected and admitted students broken down by race, color, grade point average, and performance on standardized tests" as well as the university's "training materials to socialize all students". Critics of the settlement have called the government's actions "extortion" and Columbia's actions "capitulation." As part of the settlement with the Trump administration, Columbia established a claims fund worth $21 million for Jewish employees reporting that they experienced antisemitism at the university. The fund is a
settlement of the
Title VII investigation of the university from the federal government's
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which will also decide Jewish employees' eligibility for compensation and how much money each will receive. criticized the fund and questioned whether Jewish professors would be given compensation if they supported the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. against the student worker union, Student Workers of Columbia - UAW Local 2710, for violating the
National Labor Relations Act of 1935 by not bargaining in "good faith" with regard to contract renegotiation, citing the union's insistence that the union president—Grant Miner, whom Columbia expelled in March 2025, the day before contract negotiations were to begin, for alleged rules violations in the Hind's Hall occupation of
Hamilton Hall in April 2024 and whose appeal Claire Shipman terminated before consideration—be present and participate in the union's bargaining with the administration. Columbia also canceled prestigious
preceptorships for senior doctoral students to give classes in the
Core Curriculum and recruited external lecturers to fill these positions weeks before the fall 2025 semester. In an open letter, the union called the administration's conduct "textbook
union busting."
Fall 2025 November 10, 2025: Institute of Global Politics honors Yitzhak Rabin with Bill Clinton; students protest off campus The Institute of Global Politics hosted an event titled "Yitzhak Rabin, 30 Years On: His Legacy and the Challenges of Peace", honoring former Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and commemorating the
Oslo Accords.
Bill Clinton spoke on a panel with
Keren Yarhi-Milo,
Hillary Clinton, Jacob Lew,
Nadav Eyal, and
Dennis Ross, with opening remarks by Columbia President
Claire Shipman. It was held outside the 116th Street gates instead. its rejection of three proposals from the 2024–2025 academic year to
divest from Israel or companies that "engage in, profit from, or support Gross Violations of Human Rights and International Law, including war crimes". ACSRI criteria for consideration require what it calls "broad consensus within the University community". On February 29, 2024, ACSRI had rejected CUAD's December 2023 proposal to divest from Israel, which ACSRI said failed to reach broad consensus. ACSRI said that Columbia College was but 1 of 17 schools and that the university community was not only current students but "all living alumni, faculty, and students". After a series of administrative turnovers, Mnookin will be the university's fifth president in four years, after
Lee Bollinger,
Minouche Shafik,
Katrina Armstrong, and Shipman. According to the
Columbia Spectator, demonstrators "called on the University to stop sharing student, faculty, and staff information with the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies; remove members of the board of trustees who have 'enabled the Trump administration’s repression of noncitizens'; end the surveillance and discipline of students for political activity; and clarify how the University has implemented its $221 million agreement with the Trump administration." calling for a suite of changes to a number of regional studies programs to be overseen and administered by the university's Committee on Global Thought. Among these changes is a push to expand programs relating to Israel.
Department of Homeland Security agents
impersonated the NYPD and pretended to be searching for a missing child to gain entry to the Columbia-owned residential building and detain Elmina Aghayeva, a neuroscience student in Columbia's
School of General Studies. President Shipman acknowledged the detention in a university-wide email. Two days later, Columbia released a public statement that said it was "deeply disappointing that flyers were distributed last week singling out community members by name and photograph" with what it called "inaccurate and inflammatory claims". After public pressure, the OIE followed up with an email to the student announcing that the investigation would be "administratively closed" after an initial interview, meaning that the case would be dropped. The review of the
University Senate—first announced by
Claire Shipman on April 18, 2025, weeks after leaving her position as co-chair of the
board of trustees to become acting president of the university—culminated in a report released April 2026, though dated December 2025. == Protests at other university campuses ==