‘Immediately Vacate’: Columbia Chaos Continues As Protesters Occupy Hamilton Hall
Topline
Columbia University closed its Morningside Heights campus to most students and faculty on Tuesday after protesters occupied Hamilton Hall earlier that morning, further escalating the conflict between administrators and protesters, with another school on campus instructing its students to “immediately vacate” its building.
Hamilton Hall was previously occupied by student protesters in 1968. Getty Images
Key Facts
In an email statement sent to Forbes, Columbia University spokesperson Ben Chang confirmed student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall—a building that was also occupied by students during the 1968 anti-Vietnam War protests.
Columbia’s Journalism School also told students to “immediately vacate” its main building at Pulitzer Hall due to “safety concerns related to the situation on campus,” according to an email sent to students Tuesday morning obtained by Forbes (the school has not returned a request for comment from Forbes).
The protesters are part of an “autonomous group” that plans to occupy the building until all of their demands are met, Columbia University Apartheid Divest said in a statement posted on X early on Tuesday morning, and renamed the building “Hind’s Hall,” after a six-year-old Palestinian child who was killed in Gaza.
“The safety of every single member of this community is paramount,” Chang said, adding that “in light of the protest activity, we have asked members of the University community who can avoid coming to the Morningside campus to do so.”
Only students living in on-campus residential buildings will have access to the Morningside Heights campus, Chang said, and the campus will also be closed to faculty members unless they are deemed essential staff—such as security guards, dining hall workers and building maintenance.
“This access restriction will remain in place until circumstances allow otherwise,” Columbia’s Emergency Management Team told staff in an email sent to faculty obtained by Forbes.
Key Background
Tuesday’s shutdown comes only one day after Columbia administrators put more pressure on student protesters at the solidarity encampment located on the college’s lawn. The university’s administration gave protesters a 2 p.m. deadline to disperse from the encampment before it would begin issuing suspensions for students involved in the protest. “You may lose the semester. If you are scheduled to graduate, you are no longer eligible,” the university told protesters in a notice obtained by student newspaper Columbia Spectator. The encampment was not dismantled by 2 p.m., and a group of professors joined the protesters to block access to the encampment at the deadline. Chang told the Spectator that Columbia began suspending students that stayed in the encampment past the deadline last night, however it is unclear how many students have been issued suspensions. Although Columbia previously called the NYPD to help disperse an encampment on April 18, leading to the arrests of over 100 protesters, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a statement issued on Friday the move was “counterproductive, further inflaming what is happening on campus.” The NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information’s office told Forbes no students were arrested at Columbia University on Monday.
What To Watch For
Columbia’s commencement ceremony is scheduled for May 15, and typically takes place on the lawn of the Morningside Heights campus. It is unclear whether the protests will disrupt the ceremony, and Columbia did not return a request for comment on whether the ceremony would still take place.
Further Reading
MORE FROM FORBESColumbia Starts Suspending Protesters After Ordering Pro-Palestinian Encampment DispersedBy Molly Bohannon
