April 17, 2024: students establish first encampment; Shafik, Shipman, Greenwald, and Schizer testify before Congress On April 17, beginning around 4 am, about 70 protesters sat in tents bearing the Palestinian flag on the East Butler Lawn. Protesters put up banners reading "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" and "Liberated Zone". A substantial NYPD presence was noted outside the university as soon as the encampment was established. Shafik had previously been invited to attend the November 2023
United States Congress hearing on antisemitism but had declined, citing a scheduling conflict. The next day, Shafik authorized the
New York City Police Department (NYPD) to enter campus and to arrest student protesters in the encampment. The NYPD sent in its
Strategic Response Group to arrest student protesters for the first time since the
1968 protests. Columbia University employees cleared the tents. CUAD (Columbia University Apartheid Divest) said the university dumped students' confiscated belongings in a nearby alley. After the NYPD appeared, a group of pro-Israel counter-protesters congregated to celebrate the university's response, waving American and Israeli flags. A protest on 114th Street and
Amsterdam Avenue formed, but dispersed to allow buses with detained protesters to exit.
April 18, 2024: students in encampment arrested by NYPD and suspended; autonomous occupation of adjacent lawn; second encampment As the NYPD dismantled the first encampment on the East Butler Lawn after its
Strategic Response Group had arrested approximately 100 student protesters, other students
autonomously occupied the adjacent West Butler Lawn.
Cornel West and
Mohammed el-Kurd joined the crowd and spoke to the hundreds of students rallying on the lawn. Students hoisted their banners and eventually pitched several tents. A group protested outside the university's main entrance on
116th Street. Protesters on 116th Street and
Broadway moved toward 120th Street after a man was taken into custody. All of the student protesters the NYPD arrested were released by late evening and informed by the university that they were indefinitely suspended. A staff member at Barnard resigned citing the administration's mistreatment of students, describing the decision to summon the NYPD on students "insanely racially violent."
April 19, 2024: Jummah and Shabat in the encampment; evening of Palestinian culture On April 19, protesters remained camped out on campus; SJP chapters at the
University of North Carolina,
Boston University, and
Ohio State University, as well as the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee at
Harvard University, announced rallies in solidarity with the Columbia protesters.
Norman Finkelstein, an anti-Zionist political scientist and activist, appeared and gave a speech to protesters. were held at the encampment in the afternoon and evening, respectively. Six students who were wearing
keffiyehs to the School of General Studies
Gala in support of the 108 students arrested in connection with the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" said they were harassed and physically assaulted at the event. 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. 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; faculty walkout; Gaza Liberation Seder 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, Jewish students at Barnard and Columbia, many arrested and suspended days before, hosted an outdoor Gaza Liberation Seder in the encampment on the first evening of
Passover. The
seder featured a student-authored
haggada and the ceremony was led by a student wearing a
watermelon kippa.
April 23, 2024: Barnard suspends and evicts 55 students; Shafik announces midnight deadline; National Guard alarm For their alleged participation in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, 55 students were suspended and evicted by Barnard College, representing 1.64% of the Barnard's student body. Students were also were given 15 minutes to gather their belongings from their Barnard residences and denied dining hall access.''After US Senators urged President Biden to send in the
US National Guard, rumors circulated that the midnight deadline was placed on Columbia's administration by Mayor
Eric Adams or Governor
Kathy Hochul, and that the National Guard would be summoned if it were not met.
April 24, 2024: negotiation deadline extension In an email sent to affiliates shortly after 4 am, the administration announced that negotiations would be extended by 48 hours, with CUAD announcing that the administration agreed not to involve the NYPD or the National Guard in campus protests in that time. In a press briefing, University spokesperson Ben Chang stated that the accusation that administrators threatened to bring the National Guard to campus was an “untrue and unsubstantiated claim” while reaffirming that, if the negotiations were not successful, the administration would "have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn." 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 United for Israel march and rally, April 25. 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.
The New York Times said James's comments raised the question, "How much of the movement in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza is tainted by antisemitism?" On April 27, James apologized. The NYPD said that outside agitators were trying to hijack the protests, and that they were ready to raid the campus if needed.
April 29, 2024: Shafik announces end of negotiations: Columbia "will not divest from Israel" On the morning of Monday, April 29, Shafik announced in an email 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.
April 30, 2024: "Hind's Hall" occupation of Hamilton Hall, subsequent raid, and arrests , a Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces, and
Handala iconography hangs from
Hamilton Hall the day after protesters occupied the building. In the early morning of April 30, protesters occupied
Hamilton Hall 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. 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 said there was evidence that two outside agitators and "professionals",
Lisa Fithian and the wife of
Sami Al-Arian, had given students tactical knowledge and training to escalate the protests. 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. == Negotiations ==