Columbia University Begins Suspending Students After Asking Protesters to Leave Encampment

Columbia University has reportedly started suspending students involved in an anti-Israel encampment established on the campus grounds.

Vice President of Public Affairs Ben Chang revealed in a statement that the university had started the process of suspending students after giving them a 2:00 p.m. deadline to vacate the encampment.

“We have begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” Chang said in the statement.

In his statement, Chang revealed that suspended students will no longer be eligible to finish the semester or graduate.

Earlier in the day, Columbia University had distributed a letter to anti-Israel protesters taking part in the encampment informing them of a 2:00 p.m. deadline by which to “gather” their belongings and “leave the encampment.”

The letter explained that the encampment had created an “unwelcoming environment for members” of the community and adds that students are starting exams and preparing to graduate.

Over the top of the letter, the words, “Columbia will burn,” and, “I ain’t reading all that. Free Palestine,” were written in red ink.

Over the past week and a half, since an initial anti-Israel encampment was established at Columbia University, several others have been established at Yale University, George Washington University, Princeton University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California Los Angeles.

People rally on the campus of Columbia University which is occupied by pro-Palestian protesters in New York on April 22, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed in the United States since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel which left 1,200 people dead and over 200 people taken as hostages.

Breitbart News reached out to Columbia University for a statement but did not receive a response by the time of publication.