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yesterday

Columbia University Suspends 65 Students Following Anti-Israel Library Takeover

The protest resulted in 80 arrests, campus bans, injuries to public safety officers, and federal visa reviews, marking the latest escalation of campus tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Brooklyn College's campus is seen in Flatbush in 2024.
Protestors in police custody as they are removed from the Butler Library on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Kerry Burke / New York Daily News)
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Overview

  • Columbia University has placed 65 students on interim suspension and barred 33 individuals from campus after the Butler Library occupation on May 7, 2025.
  • About 100 protesters, organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, renamed the library 'Basel Al-Araj Popular University' and distributed pamphlets promoting Palestinian resistance.
  • The NYPD arrested 80 protesters, with 78 charged with criminal trespass and two issued summonses; two Columbia Public Safety officers sustained injuries during the incident.
  • Federal authorities, including Homeland Security Investigations, are reviewing the visa statuses of those arrested, with one visa already revoked for a Syrian-born graduate student involved in the protest.
  • Protesters issued demands for Columbia to divest from Israel, ban police and ICE from campus, and grant amnesty to participants facing disciplinary actions.