A student-faculty takeover of Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at New York University occurred last Friday, during which protesters chanted grotesque, antisemitic declarations, including “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

There were roughly 30 members of Students for Justice in Palestine who masked themselves and entered Bobst Library, where students were studying for midterms. They tied several large banners, including one that read “Free Palestine” to upper balconies overlooking the library atrium and began chanting using loudspeakers.

Supporting them were nine members of NYU’s newly formed Faculty for Justice in Palestine, which released a statement condemning the “massive killing of Israeli civilians” on Oct. 7 but cited Israeli “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid” as “the root causes of the current wave of violence.” The statement has 179 signatories, including some professors at the Steinhardt and Tisch Schools, which bear the names of prominent Jewish philanthropists who are known for their support of Israel .

The disturbance follows weeks of antisemitic incidents at NYU, which have not been sufficiently addressed by the administration, according to students, parents, and alumni.

Nina Rennert Davidson is a JD-MBA alumna of NYU and current parent of an undergraduate. Her family has been active in the school for years. “NYU is not taking the safety of my child and the integrity of her education seriously,” she said. “I know of Jewish kids who are not going to school because they are afraid. They are removing all identifiable signs of their Jewishness. How can the school do nothing? I am speaking with other donors, and we plan to take action. Our children’s rights are being violated.”

Sabrina, a 20-year-old junior who transferred to NYU this semester, was at the library Friday. She asked that her last name be withheld because she has been harassed after speaking out about other anti-Israel activity on campus this past week.

“Security was there,” she said. “They watched it happen. They said the administration didn’t give them the authority to do anything about it.”

Another student said she called the campus “Bias Hotline” and received no assistance.

According to another student at the library, two representatives from the Office of Student Affairs were also in the building and appeared to be assisting faculty engaging in the protest. “They did nothing to help us,” she says.

The behavior of the faculty is what shocked onlookers most.

Professors were seen throughout the incident handing out masks to students and inciting them. L’Heureux Lewis Mccoy, Associate Professor of Sociology of Education at the Steinhardt School and FJP member, is seen on video filming a Jewish student who is observing the protest in the atrium below. The young woman begins to cry when “Resistance is justified” is chanted by the crowd, and McCoy is asked by another student to stop filming her. The professor refuses and claims he feels “uncomfortable”.

“I told him he was abusing his power as a professor,” the student who filmed the incident says. “I appealed to him to treat people with empathy. Astonishingly, that didn’t move him.”

Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Rafael Rodriguez responded to an email by a concerned student on Friday, saying he was “promptly made aware of” the protest and that his “team members” showed up immediately. He said they requested the removal of the banners and that the demonstration was moved to a public area.

However, time stamps from the videos taken by students at the protest show it began around 2:50 p.m. and continued for 40 minutes until 3:30 p.m. Security didn’t remove the banners until 3:15 p.m., according to Sabrina, and the disruption continued for 15 minutes thereafter.

The Bobst Library website says “creating a disturbance or behaving in a manner which interferes with normal use of the Library” as “unacceptable conduct” subject to referral for disciplinary action or to local, state, or federal enforcement officials. “Rowdiness” and “noise” are listed as examples of a disturbance.

Moreover, the “Policy on Posting Flyers, Notices and Posters in Bobst Library” section of the site says that “Posting of non-library notices (including posters, notes, announcements, flyers, advertisements, signs, etc.) in the public areas of the library, with the exception of the designated community bulletin boards, is not permitted.”

The SJP-FJP protest appears to have been in direct violation of both library policies. NYU has not commented on why the disruption was allowed to continue or who, if anyone, was disciplined for their involvement.

On Friday afternoon, school administrators, including President Linda Mills, sent out an email to NYU students, parents, and families that did not mention the Bobst takeover but did affirm the school’s commitment to safety and to the right to demonstrate peacefully. It further stated that it would not “allow a place in our community for hatred, bias, discrimination, Islamophobia, or anti-Semitism.” The statement did not detail any action taken against students or faculty who broke university rules or reassure Jewish students of NYU’s commitment to safety.

On Monday, an NYU spokesperson said, “Free expression is a bedrock principle for the university. The protesters were informed that hanging banners and using amplification in the library or otherwise disrupting university operations violates the university’s rules, and the protest ended shortly thereafter. Given the heightened sensitivity around current events, we expect that people will exercise free expression respectfully and responsibly.” The statement did not clarify how those in attendance were being held accountable for their violations.

Students at NYU say they feel unsafe. Two native Hebrew speakers said they won’t speak Hebrew on the streets, or even on the phone to their parents, for fear of being heard and then targeted. They feel ignored by the administration and have no confidence that anyone will pay a price for their actions.

“Every day that the school does nothing, it promotes an unsafe environment,” Sabrina said. “They act like this is political. This has nothing to do with politics. I am angry at the environment NYU is creating for its Jewish students.”

Rebecca Sugar is a writer living in New York . Her column, The Cocktail Party Contrarian, appears every other Friday in the New York Sun.