Columbia University suspends, expels nearly 80 students over Gaza protests
The student activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which has called for the school to cut all financial ties with Israel, said in a statement that nearly 80 students have now been either expelled or suspended for up to three years over their involvement in antiwar protests.
On Tuesday, Columbia said in a statement that its latest punishment of students relates to 'disruption of Butler Library in May 2025 and the encampment during Alumni Weekend in spring 2024″.
'Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences,' the university wrote.
The CUAD group said the university's sanctions on students 'hugely exceed precedent for teach-ins or non-Palestine-related building occupations'.
'We will not be deterred. We are committed to the struggle for Palestinian liberation,' the group added.
The pro-Palestinian student encampments at Columbia University in 2024 helped ignite a global movement against Israel's unrelenting war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The protest sites were eventually broken up when Columbia University allowed hundreds of New York City police officers on campus, leading to dozens of arrests.
Despite the university's harsh crackdowns, student protesters occupied the Butler Library during final exams in May this year, demanding divestment from companies linked to the Israeli military and expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Columbia University's Judicial Board confirmed it issued expulsions, suspensions and degree revocations after what it called a disruption during 'reading period'. It did not say how many students were expelled but said that this was 'the final set of findings from that period'.
The Ivy League university is in negotiations with US President Donald Trump's administration to restore some $400m in federal funding. The Trump administration cut funds to the New York City-based institution over what it claimed were failures to 'meaningfully protect Jewish students against severe and pervasive harassment'.
Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, a former trustee, was booed by students during a May graduation ceremony for her role in cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests.
Fellow Ivy League institution Harvard University, which has also been targeted with billions in funding cuts by the government, has pushed back against pressure to change its policies by taking the Trump administration to court.
The latest disciplinary measures announced by Columbia against students came on Tuesday as Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip continued to cause widespread starvation, with at least 15 people, including a six-week-old baby, dying from hunger and malnutrition within a 24-hour period, according to health officials.
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protest leader targeted for deportation by the Trump administration, met with lawmakers in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, more than a month after he was released from immigration custody in Louisiana, where he was being held amid a pledge by the US president to deport pro-Palestinian activists.
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The United States's prestigious Columbia University has punished nearly 80 students who took part in protests against Israel's war on Gaza with expulsions, one-to-three-year suspensions, and degree revocations. The University's Judicial Board stated on Tuesday that it had completed disciplinary hearings for the May 7, 2025, Butler Library demonstration on its campus and the May 31, 2024, 'Revolt for Rafah' encampment during the university's annual alumni weekend. In 2024, pro-Palestinian student encampments at Columbia University became a flashpoint for a global wave of campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The movement drew national attention before university administrators called NYPD officers to dismantle the camps, resulting in dozens of arrests. 'Suspension from Columbia for protesting genocide is the highest honour,' said Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), an umbrella coalition of student groups, in a post on X. 'We reject that Columbia has any reputation worth upholding and we categorically state that we do not wish to uphold it,' the student body said. So, why has Columbia expelled these students? And why has the Trump administration clamped down on universities? What has happened? Columbia University has disciplined nearly 80 students for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests – to 'separate them from the University'. The disciplinary action follows a series of demonstrations on campus, including a student-led occupation of Butler Library during final exams on May 7 earlier this year. The NYPD arrested 78 individuals that day. The protests are part of a call for the university to divest from companies linked to the Israeli military, cut all financial ties with Israel, and express solidarity with Palestinians amid the continuing war in Gaza. 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Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced it would withhold approximately $400m in funding for Columbia University, citing the institution's alleged failure to adequately address anti-Semitism amid pro-Palestinian protests on campus. That move prompted Columbia to concede to a list of demands laid down by the government in return for negotiations to reinstate its funding. Among other concessions, the university agreed to ban face masks and to empower 36 campus police officers with special powers to arrest students. What has Columbia said? In a statement published on Tuesday, the University stated that the disruption at Butler Library during reading period had affected hundreds of students and subsequently led to the interim suspension of Columbia participants. The University said sanctions would include probation, suspensions ranging from one year to three years, degree revocations, and expulsions. 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Quoting a testimony from students' July disciplinary hearings, the group reiterated: 'Every university in Gaza has been destroyed. Hundreds of academics have been killed. Books and archives have been incinerated. Entire families have been erased from the civil registry. This is not a war. It is a campaign of erasure.' 'We will not be deterred. We are committed to the struggle for Palestinian liberation,' the statement quoted students in conclusion. Why has Trump clamped down on universities? The antiwar protests against Israel's war on Gaza, which spread across US university campuses from Columbia and UCLA to Harvard, last year have drawn comparisons with the anti-Vietnam War era, when student activism directly challenged US foreign policy. Trump has capitalised on this by painting students as part of a left-wing, anti-Semitic revolt and clamping down on universities, particularly 'elite' institutions. The administration argues that universities have failed to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence during demonstrations, citing incidents of encampments and chants deemed anti-Semitic. Since early 2025, the administration has targeted more than 50 universities, including Columbia, with investigations by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. This has been coupled with executive orders and actions, such as freezing billions in federal research grants and threatening to revoke tax-exempt status or accreditation, as seen in demands placed on Harvard and Columbia. Harvard's rejection of demands that its programmes be audited for 'ideological capture' led to billions of dollars in federal funding being frozen. The administration also threatened to bar international students from Harvard, citing 'national security' and high campus crime rates, which underscores the White House's chokehold over the universities. 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