Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters took over Milbank Hall at Barnard College late Wednesday, demanding administrators reinstate two expelled students who disrupted an Israeli history class in a protest over the war in Gaza.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine began live-streaming the protest shortly after 4 p.m., as masked protesters chanted through megaphones and beat drums while calling on Barnard, an affiliate of Columbia University, to divest from Israel. The president’s office is located in the building.
The NYPD said they were present on public property to monitor the protest and remained nearby if requested by Barnard.
A demand letter posted to X called for the “immediate reversal” of both expulsions and the “abolition of the corrupt Barnard disciplinary process.”
“We will not stop until our demands are met,” read the memo.
Columbia became the epicenter for campus protests last spring after former Columbia President Minouche Shafik’s decision to call the police launched a series of copycat, pro-Palestinian encampments across the country. The demonstrations came to a head in April when protesters occupied an academic building, Hamilton Hall, spurring another call to the NYPD.
Over the weekend, student protest groups announced the expulsion of the two Barnard seniors who disrupted the graduate-level class, “History of Modern Israel,” on Jan. 21. The students carried flyers of a storm trooper boot crushing a Star of David and calls to “Burn Zionism to the Ground,” photos and videos on social media show.
In addition to the expelled Barnard students, another student at Columbia was suspended. Columbia University Apartheid Divest said the expulsions were the first for any pro-Palestinian protest activity on campus.
In Wednesday’s takeover, a Barnard worker closed the entrance to Milbank, where the student life dean’s office is also located, shortly after protesters began to gather, according to student newspaper Columbia Spectator.
Protesters hung the Palestinian flag and vandalized the walls, photos show. A video posted by a coalition of the student groups, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, showed a Barnard classics professor trying to negotiate with the protesters.
“It’s weird for me to be here. But I’m also, I happen to be on the floor, so that’s why I’m here,” said the professor, who on behalf of Dean Leslie Grinage offered a meeting with a maximum of three students.
“She’s scared of us,” called out one protester.
“Yes, I would not dispute that,” the professor responded.
More than three hours after the takeover began, Grinage stepped out of her office and was met with chants by the protesters.
“Shame!,” they cried.
In a separate clip, a student shouted: “They’re asking if the dean can go to the bathroom.”
The crowd responded “no,” before changing their tune. Outside the dean’s office, protesters had scribbled “boot lickers” on the wall.
Barnard spokespeople did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement, Columbia condemned the disruption as “not acceptable conduct” — but separated itself from the affiliated women’s college.
“Barnard College is a separate institution from Columbia University, although it is affiliated. Columbia is not responsible for security on Barnard’s campus,” read the unsigned statement.
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