Furious Columbia University students said they were being denied access to dining halls and food on Tuesday after violent pro-terror rioters broke into an academic building and forced the Ivy League campus into lockdown.
Only students residing in dorms on the Morningside Heights campus and “essential” staff were being allowed in as of Tuesday morning, Columbia officials said — just hours after the masked anti-Israel protesters seized the Hamilton Hall building.
“They’re turning us away,” a frustrated Taylor Francisco, 26, told The Post.
“We’re low income students. We rely on Columbia dining service to eat, especially at the end of the semester,” she added. “I just want to eat to sustain my brain while I do my work.”
Sam, a 23-year-old Bachelor of Arts student, said he, too, was denied breakfast because he lives in Columbia housing just across the street.
“I just woke up. I want breakfast,” he said after being blocked by campus security. “I have to call my family and try to get some money for food.”
“I have a set amount of dining swipes that cover me for the semester. I have about 25 left, worth about $18 a piece, and I can’t use any of them,” he added.
Those who were allowed to access the campus had to file through a screening tent set up on Amsterdam Avenue and West 116th Street.
The Post spotted one woman crying after she was turned away by security, while another was forced to log onto a class remotely from the sidewalk.
“The administration is going a vast disservice to us,” Francisco, who is doing her Masters in quantitative methods and social sciences, said. “It’s disturbing to see their disregard for low-income students.”
“My thesis is due tonight at midnight,” she added. “I was planning on going to office hours with my thesis advisor to talk about some last-minute changes and I don’t think I will be able to do that … It’s very disruptive. This is really disrupting academia.”
Meanwhile, Sam — the bachelor of arts student — said he was hightailing it away from Columbia on Wednesday, noting, “I don’t want to be here.”
“Honestly who would want to be here? For 90% of the students, or more, this has nothing to do with us. Instead of focusing on semester finals we have to try and avoid all the protesters,” he said.
“It’s frustrating. I can’t go and access any of the libraries or resources on campus. The protesters should have been removed from campus a while back.”
The dozens of rioters stormed into Hamilton Hall — an 8-story academic building named after founding father Alexander Hamilton — and sealed themselves in shortly before 1 a.m., draping the façade with a giant flag calling for “intifada.”
Some used metal barricades, chairs and tables to block others from getting inside.
One hammer-wielding demonstrator was filmed smashing through a glass-paneled door and placing what appeared to be a bike lock around its handles.
As of mid-morning, the rogue rioters were still occupying the building on the South Lawn, which has been the scene of the school’s anti-Israel encampment for over a week.
The dramatic takeover of the building came hours after Columbia finally began suspending students who refused to vacate the tent encampment that brought campus life to a halt over the last two weeks.