A judicial panel imposed various sanctions against the people who occupied Hamilton Hall last spring to protest the war in Gaza.
La Columbia University expelled or suspended some students who occupied a campus building during the pro-Palestinian protests in 2024 and temporarily revoked the diplomas of other graduates, officials said Thursday.
The university reported in a campus-wide email that a judicial board imposed various sanctions against the students who occupied Hamilton Hall last spring to protest against the war in Gaza.
Columbia did not specify how many students were expelled, suspended, or had their degrees revoked, but indicated that the results were based on an “assessment of the severity of the behaviors.”
The culmination of the months-long investigation comes as the university reels from the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a well-known Palestinian campus activist, by federal immigration authorities last Saturday, in what President Donald Trump called the “first of many” similar arrests.
At the same time, The Trump administration has stripped the university of more than $400 million in federal funds. for what he describes as a failure in the fight against anti-Semitism on campus. Congressional Republicans have specifically pointed to the lack of discipline against the students involved in the Hamilton Hall takeover as evidence of the university's inaction.
The occupation of the building followed a tent encampment that inspired a wave of similar protests on college campuses across the country.
On April 30, 2024, a small group of students and their allies barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall with furniture and padlocks, in a major escalation of protests on campus.
At the request of university authorities, hundreds of New York cops They stormed the campus the following night, arresting dozens of people involved in both the occupation and the encampment.
In a court hearing held in June, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office declared that it would not file criminal charges against 31 of the 46 people initially arrested for breaking into the administrative building.
However, the students still faced disciplinary hearings and possible expulsion from the university. Some faced provisional suspensions.
The final sanctions announced Thursday were the result of a lengthy process that included hearings for each student, conducted by the Columbia Judicial Board, which has a long history.
Separately, a newly created disciplinary board has filed a number of new cases against students, including Mahmoud Khalil, who have voiced criticism of Israel, which has sparked alarm among free speech advocates. Khalil was not among the protesters accused of taking over Hamilton Hall.
The announcement of the expulsion received praise from some teachers, such as Gil Zussman, director of the electrical engineering department and member of the Columbia Task Force on Antisemitism.
“Finally demonstrating that violating university regulations has consequences is an important first step toward returning to the fundamental missions of research and teaching,” he said in a post on the social media platform X.
(With information from AP)
Source: INFOBAE
For every ten students involved who are falsely "free" or without a "correct" trial, one letter should be removed from the name of Columbia University. Likewise, for every university in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, etc. For terrorism, no university withdrawal represents an effective change.
"For every ten students involved who are to be falsely 'free' or without a 'proper' trial, one letter should be removed from the name of Columbia University. Likewise, for every university in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, etc. For terrorism, no university withdrawal represents an effective change."
The above "statement" should be printed, in smaller print, on the diploma of every student involved, and even in the statutes of every university involved in the anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, and anti-American riots that occurred from 2020 to 2024.
Publish and comply.
That pro-terrorist Khalil is not a bona fide student or resident, but a defender of murderous terrorists like those of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the tyrannical ayatollahs. For that reason, he abuses freedom of expression as an excuse to commit the crime of antisemitism. They must find a way to sustain himself, as he may be financed by terrorists like those mentioned above. He must be expelled from the US.