


Columbia University disciplined dozens of students for participating in two pro-Palestinian protests: one in its Butler Library in May and an alumni weekend protest last year.
The school announced discipline Tuesday for the two protests but did not specify how many demonstrators had been punished. The suspensions come as the school negotiates with the Trump administration to restore its federal funding.
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Columbia told NBC News it would not release the “individual disciplinary results of any student” but stated that “sanctions from Butler Library include probation, suspensions (ranging from one year to three years), degree revocations, and expulsions.” Dozens of students previously occupied the library.
Two-thirds of the involved students received a two-year suspension, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.
“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community,” the school said in its statement. “And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules. Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences.”
The pro-Palestinian group Columbia University Apartheid Divest said in a press release that nearly 80 students from the May protest were suspended for a duration of one to three years.
The Trump administration had cut millions of dollars in federal funding from Columbia, spurring the school to adjust its disciplinary process, mostly ban masks at protests, and hire dozens of new security officers, among many other measures.
The school adopted a new antisemitism definition on July 16. “Columbia is committed to taking all possible steps to combat antisemitism and the University remains dedicated to ensuring that complaints of discrimination and harassment of all types, including complaints based on Jewish and Israeli identity, are treated in the same manner,” Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a statement.
“Formally adding the consideration of the IHRA definition into our existing anti-discrimination policies strengthens our approach to combating antisemitism,” she added.
The Trump administration had previously pressured Columbia to crack down more on reports of antisemitism.
COLUMBIA ADOPTS NEW ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION AHEAD OF POSSIBLE TRUMP DEAL TO RESTORE FUNDING
Columbia University was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests last year. The protests and the university’s response generated so much controversy, reverberating in the months after, that then-university President Minouche Shafik stepped down in August 2024.
Her successor, Katrina Armstrong, stepped down in March. Claire Shipman is now Columbia University’s acting president.