Columbia University has expelled several students for occupying Hamilton Hall last spring, as the school faces enormous pressure from the federal government to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters.
In a university-wide email Thursday, Columbia announced the outcomes of a months-long investigation also included multi-year suspensions and the temporary revoking of some graduates’ degrees. The levels of discipline were based on the severity of the offense and prior run-ins with the school administration, the university said.
“Today, the Columbia University Judicial Board determined findings and issued sanctions to students ranging from multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions related to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring,” read a statement from the university.
“Columbia is committed to enforcing the University’s Rules and Policies and improving our disciplinary processes.”
The announcement came a week after the Trump administration cancelled $400 million of its federal grants and contracts over allegations that Columbia had not done enough to protect Jewish students. As a condition to restore the funding, several agencies sent a joint letter directing Columbia to take disciplinary action against protesters and document compliance.
“The University must complete disciplinary proceedings for Hamilton Hall and encampments,” read the letter, posted by students to X. “Meaningful discipline means expulsion or multi-year suspension.”
Columbia became the epicenter for pro-Palestinian protests last spring when an encampment in support of Gaza launched copycat tent cities on American college campuses.
The demonstration came to a head in late April as protesters took Hamilton Hall, damaging property and trapping custodians inside. One officer accidentally discharged a gun, the NYPD said, while students documented injuries among nine of the dozens of protesters arrested inside the building. The investigations concluded earlier this week.
The escalation in disciplinary action comes as campus tensions are at a recent high following the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, an international-studies graduate students who served as a negotiator during last spring’s campus protests. Khalil, a green-card holder, has not been accused of a crime and was not among the protesters found in Hamilton Hall.
“Being expelled by a university that will profit from the murder of hundred of thousands of Palestinians, collaborate in the abduction and deportation of their student, and sanction police brutality on campus is actually an honor because I want no affiliation with evil like that,” read an X post from one of the expelled students.
The same student also faced disciplinary action for an event that featured as a speaker an alleged member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, the student newspaper Columbia Spectator reported.
Marco Postigo Storel via AP
Pro-Palestinian students block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after taking over it on April 30, 2024. (Marco Postigo Storel via AP)
Twenty-two students were impacted by the disciplinary action announced Thursday, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the campus protest group. The protesters arrested inside Hamilton Hall included 14 undergraduate students and nine graduate students, the university has previously said.
Another expelled student was the president of the student workers union at Columbia, the UAW confirmed.
“The shocking move is part of a wave of crackdowns on free speech against students and workers who have spoken out and protested for peace and against the war on Gaza,” read a statement from the union.
“It is no accident that this comes days after the federal government froze Columbia’s funding, and threatened to pull funding from 60 other universities across the country. It is no accident that this firing has occurred the day before contract negotiations begin.”
The expulsions technically marked the first for pro-Palestinian protest activity at Columbia. Across the street, the affiliated women’s school Barnard College recently expelled three student protesters for their participation in the Hamilton Hall takeover, or for disrupting a modern Israeli history class.
The discipline sparked an immediate uproar from student protesters, who in turn stormed both an administrative building and the Barnard library in a week. After a bomb threat at the second occupation, Barnard administrators called the NYPD onto campus, who arrested several activists for not complying with directions to leave, including some Columbia and Barnard students.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Pro-Palestinian protestors are pictured in Milbank Hall on the campus of Barnard College on Feb. 26. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
Together, Barnard and Columbia have expelled nine students as part of the pro-Palestinian protests that have engulfed campus since the Israel-Hamas war began, Columbia University Apartheid Divest said. Columbia declined to confirm numbers due to student privacy obligations.
“The reason Columbia represses us is because they recognize our power,” the group wrote on X. “They have seen our unyielding commitment to Palestine firsthand over the last year, and they are terrified!”
The disciplinary hearings were held within the last couple of months by an independent sanctioning body of faculty, students and staff, where protesters had the opportunity to defend themselves alongside two advisors, which could include an attorney. Students can appeal the sanctions.
Columbia declined to share if two employees, who were also arrested inside Hamilton Hall, remained with the university.
“This ruling is an important first step in righting the wrongs of the past year and a half,” said Brian Cohen, the head of the Hillel at Columbia. “I am grateful to the Rules Administrator and other members of the Administration for their roles in ensuring these cases were resolved.”
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