The Columbia University administration warned suspended anti-Israel groups and other campus organizations that students could face disciplinary action for an unauthorized protest on Thursday, a warning issued not long after six students were allegedly suspended for a March 24 pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Local chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), who were suspended by the New York university in November for “repeatedly violating university policies related to holding campus events” culminating in a November 9 protest, were among groups calling for supporters to rally on Thursday for an “all out for Al-Shifa solidarity protest.”
“The Zionist entity has massacred hundreds at Al-Shifa hospital and left it in complete ruin after a two-week siege,” said the advertisement featuring the logos of the Student Workers of Columbia and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD).
"We are calling on all Columbia student organizations to come out and show solidarity with Gaza in the face of the IOF's [sic] horrific attack on Al-Shifa hospital. Bring banners, cultural clothing, or anything that you feel can explicitly display your organization’s solidarity. Columbia students stand with Palestine.”
Columbia SJP and JVP said that they would hold the university accountable for involvement in what they called a “genocide” and called upon all student organizations to attend.
Warnings placed before the protests
Columbia’s Chief Operating Officer Cas Holloway warned the groups against the unauthorized protest at Columbia’s Morningside campus.
“This protest is unsanctioned – organizers and participants will be subject to disciplinary action if they proceed,” Holloway said in a Thursday statement. “I want to remind our entire community that it is everyone’s responsibility to maintain the safety of our campus and respect the rights of all the members of the Columbia community.”
CUAD and SJP on Saturday night posted footage of the Thursday protest, in which a speaker said “Let’s make it clear – this campus is ours!”
“There is only one solution: intifada, revolution,” the student activists chanted as they marched: “intifada, intifada.”
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SJP Columbia claimed on Thursday that on Wednesday night six students, including a Palestinian and two Jewish students, were suspended over a March 24 event. The Columbia Daily Spectator reported that the suspensions were lifted for two students. The students allegedly were given 24 hours’ notice to leave university housing.
The pro-Palestinian groups said that the suspensions came two days after a Palestinian student was visited by a private investigator hired by the university.
Holloway said on March 28 that the investigator had been hired following the Resistance 101 event, which featured speakers from Within Our Lifetime, Masar Badil (the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement) and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Network. Masar Badil and Samidoun are alleged to be connected to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group.
“The event that took place Sunday night was unsanctioned and unapproved and was held despite multiple cancellations by both Columbia and Barnard,” Holloway said at the time. Barnard is a private women’s liberal arts college affiliated with the university.
“We have banned the outside speakers from campus,” he said. “Columbia University rejects all forms of hate and bigotry, and we unequivocally condemn language that promotes or supports violence in any manner. We will pursue discipline against any community member who has violated our policies.”