Dozens of anti-Israel protesters infiltrated a school library at Barnard College, displaying Palestinian flags and handing out pamphlets that appeared to come from Hamas.
At around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, the masked protesters flooded the Milstein Center to express their outrage over the expulsion of three students. Two of the students were expelled for handing out fliers during an Israeli studies class in January containing what the university called “violent imagery.” The other student was expelled for last spring’s occupation of Hamilton Hall.
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Protests broke out last Wednesday and Thursday over the students’ expulsions, leading to some of the protesters being arrested and charged by the New York City Police Department.
“We were left with no choice but to resume the sit-in because Barnard has shown they will sabotage negotiations unless we hold them accountable,” the protesters wrote on Substack. “Until administrators concede to our demands, we in our hundreds will continue to disrupt their business as usual.”
Protesters hung stickers and posters on Wednesday with the words “Burn Barnard Burn” written on them and distributed a pamphlet titled “Our Narrative … Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” which said it came from the “Hamas Media Office.” One protestor also took a puppet with a name tag on it of the surname of Barnard President Laura Rosenbury and hung it outside the building by its neck.
“Puppet President Rosenbury, are the Zionist Donors pulling the strings?” Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of various student clubs, wrote on Instagram.
An hour into the protest, Barnard issued a warning to the protesters.
“The disruption of academic activities is not acceptable conduct,” it read. “We are committed to supporting our Columbia student body and our campus community during this challenging time.”
By 5 p.m., NYPD officers entered the building after a bomb threat was called in.
The protest came just two days after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding from universities that fail to stop antisemitic activity on their campuses. He also signaled his desire for a ban on masks at demonstrations.
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“All federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote on social media. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!”
Trump also threatened months ago to pull federal funding from schools he deemed complacent in the wake of anti-Israel protests back in November. However, if Trump dissolves the Education Department, it is uncertain which agency will take up the Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which is tasked with investigating Title IX violations.