Columbia University expelled or suspended some students yesterday, Thursday, March 13, after they took over a campus facility during pro-Palestine rallies last year, according to the Associated Press.
The college has also revoked the diplomas of students who graduated for their involvement in the student protests.
In a campus-wide email, the university said that a judicial board had ordered action against students who occupied Hamilton Hall in 2024 to protest Israel’s war on Gaza.
The decision to suspend, expel, or revoke degrees was based on an "evaluation of the severity of behaviour."
On April 30, 2024, a group of university students barricaded themselves inside Columbia's Hamilton Hall after setting up tent encampments on campus in protest. They rechristened the hall “Hind’s Hall”, in remembrance of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the Israeli Defence Force in January (IDF), 2024.
The next day, New York Police raided the campus and arrested scores of students, who were then subjected to disciplinary hearings.
The Manhattan district attorney's office stated it would not file criminal charges against 31 of the 46 people arrested on trespassing allegations. However, other students are likely to face penalties in addition to their suspension, expulsion, or revocation of degrees.
The suspensions and expulsions come amid a government crackdown on student activists, whom they have designated as liable for arrest and deportation for allegedly inciting "antisemitic" sentiments against Israel.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student, was the first of several detentions targeting student activists.
Columbia University has also been stripped of more than USD 400 million in federal funds under the new Trump administration for failing to regulate alleged "antisemitic" actions during campus protests.
House Republicans have also slammed the university and demanded that the disciplinary records of the students who participated in the protests be released.
Mahmoud Khalil and seven other students have filed a lawsuit to prevent a Congressional committee from accessing these records.
