An anti-Israel protest that had seized a Barnard College building on Wednesday ended after a bomb threat, which activists claimed was a ruse to remove them from the site.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest swore on Instagram Thursday to renew protests after the New York Police Department cleared the demonstrators from the Milstein Center.
פעילי BDS אנטי-ישראלים באוניברסיטת קולומביה יצאו להפגין נגדי כדי לנסות למנוע ממני לדבר בפני סטודנטים. הם נכשלו. משך שעתיים שוחחתי עם מאות סטודנטים על המלחמה הצודקת שאנו נלחמים מול כת טרור איסלאמיסטי נוראי ועל זכותנו על הארץ (הסברתי במונח נפוץ שלהם, שאנחנו היהודים Indigenous… pic.twitter.com/OmtyOGqo5H
— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) March 5, 2025
“We must stand against this latest wave of repression and criminalization as a united student body,” CUAD said. “We will not back down.”
Barnard College President Laura Ann Rosenbury said that activists were evacuated so that the NYPD could search for a bomb and assess the threat.
ALL OUT TO THE COLUMBIA GATESColumbia/Barnard Hillel is hosting former Prime Minister of Israel and WAR CRIMINAL Naftali Bennett TONIGHT! ❌ pic.twitter.com/UL9HYlrKue
— Drop Hillel (@drophillel) March 4, 2025
“Barnard staff in the building immediately notified the masked disruptors about the bomb threat and once again told them to leave. Many of them still refused to leave. Our staff, at risk to their own personal safety, remained in the Milstein lobby, urging the masked disrupters to take the threat seriously. Even when the College activated the fire alarm, the masked protesters put our entire campus at risk by refusing to leave,” Rosenbury said in a Wednesday statement. “The decision to request NYPD assistance was guided and informed entirely by the absolute obligation we have to keep every member of our community safe.”
CUAD dismisses demands, says bomb threat is a "ruse"
CUAD dismissed the bomb threat as a ploy to remove activists, labeling it on social media as “fake.”
During the evacuation, the NYPD said nine people were taken into custody, given desk appearance tickets, and charged with obstructing governmental administration, trespass, and disorderly conduct.
Rosenbury said that she had spoken to the protesters over the phone and was willing to meet with them if they removed their masks. This offer was rejected, with CUAD saying on Instagram that they would remove their masks if Barnard disclosed any Israeli financial ties to the activists.
THE DEMANDS for disclosure, divestment, and amnesty for three expelled students were the same that demonstrators insisted on during last Wednesday’s Milbank Hall occupation. The previous protest was held after the expulsion of two activists for their January 21 disruption of a Columbia Israeli history class. Last Friday, a third student was supposedly expelled, according to CUAD, for their involvement in the April occupation of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. CUAD asserted on social media Tuesday that the decision on the several-months-long disciplinary process was both an act of intimidation against participants of last Wednesday’s protest and an attempt to placate a recently announced Justice Department antisemitism task force probe of Columbia.
“Expel one of us, and a hundred more rise up!” CUAD said in a social media post on Tuesday.
The keffiyeh-clad students who entered the Milstein lobby on Wednesday demanded a meeting with Dean Leslie Grinage. A mock wanted poster of Grinage posted on Wednesday proclaimed that she was sought “for the wrongful expulsion of pro-Palestinian students.”
“Intifada, intifada,” the activists chanted and drummed, according to CUAD Instagram videos.
Rosenbury said that the events had been “unsettling and disturbing, and these continued disruptions take a toll on our community. The desire of a few to disrupt and threaten cannot outweigh the needs of the students, faculty, and staff who call our campus home.”
The Columbia Public Affairs Office said that it was monitoring the escalating situation at its affiliate institution, lambasting the disruption of academic activities as unacceptable.
Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace also called for a protest against a Columbia Hillel lecture by former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday. Columbia said that they had coordinated with the Jewish campus group, and the event was well attended and without disruption.
“We understand groups from outside our Columbia community also protested in public spaces outside the University’s gates, which the NYPD was responsible for managing,” said Columbia.
School of International and Public Affairs Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo was allegedly harassed as she entered the campus. A video posted on Instagram by CUAD shows Yarhi-Milo being heckled by an activist who asserted that she had “blood on her hands.”
CUAD asserted that SIPA was involved with hosting Bennett, which supposedly resulted in the library being locked down.
Columbia said the behavior was unacceptable, and the heckler was identified and is facing disciplinary action.