Columbia University in the US prepares for pro-Palestinian demonstrations as classes start up again
Columbia University in New York City is preparing for the return of pro-Palestinian protests with the start of the fall semester as students come back to campus.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside one of the school’s entrances, with some participants playing drums, as classes recommenced on Tuesday.
The entrances to the university were secured, and everyone coming onto the campus had to undergo an ID check.
The new academic year at Columbia University commenced just weeks following the resignation of its president, Minouche Shafik, who faced significant criticism for her management of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.
The university was criticized for employing harsh measures against pro-Palestinian students demonstrating against the genocide in Gaza. Shafik approved the intervention of New York police to disperse their encampments on campus.
The university’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, has initiated listening sessions to alleviate tensions and has distributed new protest guidelines designed to minimize disturbances.
She has also held discussions with students from both perspectives, assuring them that she would strive to balance their rights to free speech with the need for a secure educational setting.
Nonetheless, student groups have committed to intensifying their efforts, potentially setting up encampments, until the university severs its connections with companies associated with Israel.
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student who acted as a spokesperson for campus protesters during discussions with the university, stated, “The students will persist in their resistance as long as Columbia invests in and profits from what they perceive as Israeli apartheid.”
The newest updates arise as US universities have implemented stringent regulations to limit criticism of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, coinciding with the start of the fall semester. This follows a surge in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at American universities during the previous academic year.
This has sparked significant outrage on social media among students and supporters who view these recent actions as attempts to suppress the pro-Palestine student movement.
Columbia University in New York City served as the birthplace for pro-Palestine protests on US college campuses.
The demonstrations kicked off on April 17 and quickly expanded to other university campuses across the United States, marking a student movement unprecedented in this century.
The demonstrators calling for a halt to the US-supported conflict faced severe police brutality.
On October 7, Israel initiated a military offensive on Gaza following Hamas’s unexpected Operation Al-Aqsa Storm. This move by the Palestinian resistance movement was in retaliation for the longstanding violence and destruction inflicted on Palestinians by the Israeli regime.
Since the beginning of the offensive, the Tel Aviv authorities have resulted in the deaths of at least 40,819 Palestinians and the injury of nearly 94,291 individuals.
