(C) Common Dreams
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Columbia Students Arrested Over Campus Rally May Face Other Consequences [1]
['Troy Closson', 'Anna Betts', 'More About Troy Closson', 'More About Anna Betts']
Date: 2024-04-20
They said that after being loaded onto buses with their hands tied, they had sung all the way to police headquarters. Many expressed a renewed belief in their cause, and were glad that the eyes of the nation were on Columbia and Barnard, its sister college.
The protests, the arrests and the subsequent disciplinary action came a day after the congressional testimony this week of Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, at a hearing about antisemitism on campus. Columbia has said there have been a number of antisemitic episodes, including one attack, and many Jewish students have seen the protests as antisemitic.
Responding to aggressive questioning from the House committee, Columbia officials said some of the protesters on campus had used antisemitic language that might warrant discipline.
But on campus fury was building. The administration called in the Police Department to quell the protests. Arrests — at least 108 — soon followed.
The aggressive response left students shaken — but also, they say, energized.
Among the protesters, whose demands included that Columbia divest from companies connected to Israel, was one particularly high-profile name: Isra Hirsi, a Barnard student who is the daughter of Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/20/nyregion/arrested-columbia-students-suspended.html
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