Columbia University began a new academic year on Tuesday after two years of tumultuous post-October 7 massacre anti-Israel protests culminating in a civil rights and funding resolution deal with the US federal government.
Yet the first day of classes occurred under threats by anti-Israel activists to redouble efforts to see their policies implemented.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition that led many of the protests, said that as it was entering a new phase of its “struggle,” it would embody the words once displayed on a campus encampment that “paradise lies in the shadow of swords.”
“As Columbia students return for their first day of classes, we honor the tens of thousands of students who have been murdered and incarcerated by the Zionist regime, which intentionally targets academic institutions,” CUAD said on X/Twitter on Tuesday. “We will not let them be forgotten.”
An Instagram account run by the family and friends of CUAD leading member Mahmoud Khalil, who became the locus of President Donald Trump’s administration’s crackdown on radical student activism when he was detained for deportation in March, republished his April letter calling on students to “reclaim Columbia” and “carry forward the work of the past year.”
Khalil was released on bail in June but, according to Reuters, said that he would resume his anti-Israel activities. Khalil spoke at the Detroit People's Conference for Palestine over the weekend, calling for the need to continue organizing such activities no matter the cost. The activist’s attempted deportation indicated that his movement was winning, he said in his address.
Scattered protests were held outside the campus, with one activist, according to Columbia Jewish and Israeli Students, carrying a sign that warned, “Some of your classmates were IOF (Israel Occupation Forces) criminals committing genocide in Palestine.”
Columbia University warned on Tuesday that it was investigating incidents on the first day of class and over the weekend that may have violated the institution’s anti-discrimination rules.
“These individuals are being informed that further actions designed to intimidate or harass specific groups of students will not be tolerated and will result in immediate action, including interim measures ranging from campus access restrictions to interim suspensions,” the Columbia Office of Public Affairs said in a statement. “Actions that target community members for harassment based on identity are a violation of our policies.”
On Wednesday, Columbia Jewish and Israeli students reported on X/Twitter that gratuitous graffiti insulting Trump and the university was found near the dorms and an Israeli restaurant. “Long live the intifada,” also read the graffiti.
'Syllabus pledge'
The New York Daily News reported that the faculty protested changes to the university in accordance with the July deal with the Trump administration. With professors taking a “syllabus pledge” for teaching controversial topics, some expressed concern that their syllabus may run afoul of new rules. This represented an attack on freedom of speech, according to protesters.
Acting Columbia President Claire Shipman assured in a July 23 statement, referring to the resolution with the federal government, that the university retained control of its academic and operational decisions.
“No provision of this agreement, individually or taken together, shall be construed as giving the United States authority to dictate faculty hiring, university hiring, admissions decisions, or the content of academic speech,” Shipman quoted from the agreement.
Professors also told The New York Daily News that they were concerned that their lessons could be restricted because of the university’s July 15 integration of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, alongside the 2024 Columbia Antisemitism Task Force definition, into its Office of Institutional Equity.
Columbia said on August 4 that the definitions were a resource and not determinative.
“We understand there is debate inside of our community, and more broadly, about this definition,” said the university. “Columbia’s consideration of this definition, as one of many factors used when considering complaints of discrimination, will strengthen our response to and our community’s understanding of modern antisemitism.”
Jewish and Israeli students alleged that throughout the post-2023 protests they were harassed, threatened, and ostracized in a discriminatory manner.
Columbia stated in July that it didn’t admit to any government conclusions that it had violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by tolerating a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students but added that it did not deny “the very serious and painful challenges our institution has faced with antisemitism.”
The agreement, which came after the March freezing of $400 million in federal grants and another $1.3m. in federal funding, would see Columbia paying a $200m. settlement to the government over three years and a $21m. settlement to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“For months, Columbia’s discussions with the federal government have been set up as a test of principle – a binary fight between courage and capitulation. But like most things in life, the reality is far more complex,” said Shipman.
“We established our non-negotiable academic and institutional boundaries clearly, and we chose to talk and to listen.”
The resolution codified campus reforms, including changes to the disciplinary processes and campus security enhancements. During the post-2023 protests, outside activists entered the campus to aid in the encampment and other disruptive protests. The New York Daily News reported that students were frustrated by difficulties in accessing the campus through limited entrances that required swiping IDF cards to gain access.
Columbia was the site of the flagship encampment protests, serving as the prototype for activist groups across the country. The encampment was launched in April and culminated in violent building occupations that ended in May arrests of trespassing activists by the New York City Police Department.
Campus activism didn’t cease after the encampment, with further occupations and pitched protests on campus, including the January protest disruption of a class on the History of Modern Israel on the first day of Columbia’s spring semester.