A group of Columbia professors say they have "lost confidence" in the president.
Anti-Israel Columbia student protesters
The university chapter of a teaching organization said it would "fight to take back our university." The students were not intimidated by the repression of their protest.
Dozens of Columbia University student protesters gathered outside Friday, just across the street from where university officials demolished their encampment the day before. Some students stayed there all night. Others, including some who were arrested on Thursday, arrived recently.
A day after Colombian President Nimat Shafiq called in police to arrest nearly 100 students and dismantle their camp, the activists showed little sign of losing steam. There were piles of blankets and deliveries of bottles of water and food.
Dr. Shafiq's decision was criticized on Friday by the university chapter of the American Association of University Professors, a professional teaching organization.
"We have lost confidence in our president and our administration, and we are committed to fighting to take back our university," the group said in a statement Friday.
Additionally, a pro-Palestinian coalition of faculty and staff at Columbia, Barnard and Teachers universities called on faculty to boycott academic and graduation ceremonies until the university ends student suspensions and withdraws funding from Israel. including other demands.
But not all teachers agreed with the criticism. Vincent A. Blasi, a Columbia law professor who has spent decades studying civil liberties issues, said the university has put in place a "reasonable" policy to control protests and punish students who violate it. There is full right to punish.
"It's clear to me that they have not violated anything here," he said. "You can argue who you should sympathize with, but in my opinion, I believe students have no First Amendment right to be in that place."
The new protest camp at Columbia officially broke university rules. And some of the slogans — "We don't want any Zionists here" and "Israel is an apartheid state" — are the same slogans that President Shafiq suggested were "creating an environment of harassment and intimidation for many of our students." are."
But there appears to be a pause in law enforcement, at least for the moment, as university administrators consider whether to suspend and fine more students for a movement that clearly has considerable support on campus. Must be arrested. A student organizer said Friday that campus security has told protesters that as long as they don't set up tents, they can remain there as an informal gathering.
"Our community has been protesting on campus since October and we expect that activity to continue," university spokeswoman Samantha Slater said. "We have rules about when, where and how they apply to protest activity, and we will continue to enforce them."
Demonstrators also gathered outside the university gates on Friday, with one chanting: “We are Hamas.” The nearby headquarters of Hillel, a university Jewish organization, was almost empty, unusual for a Friday afternoon.
Daniel Geren, 21, was one of the few students there. He described himself as half Ashkenazi Jew and half Yemeni and criticized members of Congress who questioned Dr. Shafiq on Wednesday. "It was very frustrating to watch," he said of the congressional hearings. "Many non-Jewish and uninformed congressmen ask our non-Jewish president about matters that are apparently not clear to them."
Two students who took part in Friday's protest said they were among those arrested on Thursday. Officially, the university said all students at the camp have also been suspended, in which case they will be banned from campus. But administrators still had to notify them individually via email, the students said.
According to Columbia, suspended students cannot attend classes or attend coursework, jeopardizing their ability to finish the semester. Campus IDs are disabled, classrooms and dining halls are inaccessible. But a spokesperson said suspended students can go back to their hostels.
Maryam Alwan, an arrested student, described in an interview how protest organizers had carefully prepared security plans before the police intervened.
After learning that the police had entered the campus, the demonstrators sat in two concentric circles. “Some people were crying, others were completely quiet,” Alwan said. They tied their hands and then put them on buses. They spent about eight hours at police headquarters before being released on criminal trespass charges.
