Columbia University Students Greeted With Violent And Angry Anti-Israel Protesters

Daily Report September 03,2024

Full protests engulf Columbia University as it launches a new school year. Demonstrators picketed and beat drums as lines of students streamed past security at the Morningside Heights campus.

Demonstrators carried signs that read, “Resist till victory,” and shouted slogans like “Columbia you’re a killer we will never be the same” and “Over 100,000 dead Columbia your hands are red.”

Many also chanted: “Don’t cross the picket line we must honor Palestine.”

At another time, an estimated 150 students could be seen lined up outside the Broadway and West 116th Street gates of campus.

The demonstration came after months of anti-Israel protests at Columbia and other colleges around the country. Some on campus said it felt like an uptick in antisemitism during the waning days of last spring semester led to a spike.

/div>

This “period of turmoil” culminated in the resignation of Columbia President Minouche Shafik, whose sudden departure came after numerous arrests on campus and multiple calls to the NYPD for officers to clear tent encampments.

Interim President Katrina Armstrong has also committed to balancing free expression with ensuring a safe learning environment.

The university has updated its protest guidelines in attempts to avoid future soggy protests. The report from Columbia’s antisemitism task force, published alongside this article as an addendum to show how Columbians responded twelve months after the violence there and elsewhere erupted, said that changes were essential “immediately” in order for policies — many of which could hardly be called that — about being good neighbors.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also asked all colleges in the state to enforce their disciplinary codes and punish students who disrupt campuses “as swiftly as possible.” She lauded schools that boosted their ID checks in order to limit access and cautioned, “There are storm clouds over the college administrators.”

Other students were annoyed at the protest because it disrupted their studies. Aryeh Krischer, a 28-year-old grad student, said if the current situation is any judge, “there’s certainly going to be probably some protesters there who are very angry blocking entrance to campus and trying not just physically but ideologically getting people.”

Most faculty members still don’t know what the semester will look like. “Wishful thinking, but we all have a bet going on how soon before total lock health lockdown mode again,” said Rebecca Korbin, who teaches history at the university.

The protests are expected to continue throughout the semester, with anti-Israel student organizers planning future actions including encampments.