From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Anti-Israel Columbia students take over campus library
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
Anti-Israel student activists at Columbia University occupy the university’s main library, escalating the campus conflict yet again amid heavy pressure on the university from the Trump administration.
The campus coalition of protest groups, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, sends out a video of the protest on Telegram. The clip shows masked protesters chanting “Free Palestine” to the beat of a drum, led by a demonstrator standing on a table.
In an emailed statement, the group says it has “flooded” the library.
“The flood shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia’s profits and legitimacy. Repression breeds resistance,” the statement says.
The group issues demands, including “full financial divestment from Zionist occupation, apartheid and genocide,” a boycott of “complicit institutions,” and amnesty for all students and staff “targeted” with disciplinary procedures.
The takeover occurs during days set aside for studying ahead of the university’s final exams next week.
The university commencement is scheduled for May 21. Last year’s commencement was canceled due to protests.
BREAKING: THE BASEL AL-ARAJ POPULAR UNIVERSITY HAS JUST LAUNCHED, RECLAIMING BUTLER LIBRARY FOR THE PEOPLE pic.twitter.com/FHKRvgJThG
— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) May 7, 2025
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