Columbia University is barring two pro-Palestinian student groups from holding campus activities for the remainder of the fall semester, college officials announced Friday.
Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace will lose university funding and the eligibility to hold events on campus. The student groups will need to demonstrate a “commitment to compliance with university policies” and meet with college officials to lift the suspension at the end of the term, which finishes Dec. 22.
“This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” read a statement from Gerald Rosberg, chair of the campus safety committee.
“During this especially charged time on our campus, we are strongly committed to giving space to student groups to participate in debate, advocacy, and protest. This relies on community members abiding by the rules and cooperating with University administrators who have a duty to ensure the safety of everyone in our community,” it continued.
The student groups did not return a request for comment, but the Council on American-Islamic Relation’s New York chapter condemned the measure as an attack on “constitutionally protected free speech.”
“Once again, we are witnessing the suppression and silencing of pro-Palestinian voices on campus,” said Executive Director Afaf Nasher in a statement. “SJP and JVP are dedicated to holding institutions, including institutions of higher learning, to account for their support of Israeli apartheid and genocide of the people of Gaza. This brave, principled stance seems to bother the administration of Columbia University.”
The move comes against a backdrop of ongoing turmoil on the Ivy League university’s Manhattan campus since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel Oct. 7. Columbia has lost financial backing as protests over the Israel-Hamas war that followed have roiled the school.
In recent weeks, major donors and active alumni have severed ties with the university, including businessmen Leon Cooperman and Andrew Weisman, over its response to the conflict and rippling effects on campus. Columbia also suspended its annual 24-hour fundraiser, Giving Day, citing that it was not an “appropriate time to move forward” last month.
Columbia students have reported several incidents of antisemitism, including an assault on campus being charged as a hate crime and a swastika found in a school bathroom. University officials have also faced criticism for their handling of a Columbia professor who published an article calling Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks a “stunning victory,” as a petition for his ouster has reached over 73,000 signatures.
Before the student groups were suspended, students engaged in pro-Palestinian activism have been subject to doxxing attacks and harassment, where their names and faces were listed on a digital billboard truck as “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites.”
On Thursday, hundreds of students were participating in a walkout on campus, when an unidentified person began screaming antisemitic and racist profanities — including “death to Jews” — and tried starting fights with multiple students, according to student newspaper Columbia Spectator. The protesters were reportedly quick to condemn the hate speech.
Spokespeople for Columbia declined to comment on if the university had identified the individual, and whether were affiliated with the university or either suspended student group. Campus gates had been shuttered to non-Columbia affiliates ahead of the rally.
Protesters staged a “die-in,” laying down on the Low Library steps and surrounding plaza, social media posts show. The demonstration also included an art installation, where Columbia’s famed Alma Mater statue holds a Palestinian flag and seven seemingly bloody baby-sized forms lined up on a step.
The decision comes days after Brandeis University became the first known private university to ban its campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a move that was quickly condemned by free speech organizations including PEN America and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Zach Greenberg, who focuses on student organizations and campus rights advocacy at the foundation, said the organization will be investigating Columbia’s decision and its implications for free speech on campus.
“Columbia is alleging the group did violate their policy for hosting an event on campus,” he said. “If they [the rules] are generally applicable to all the groups, and clear and published in the code of conduct, students have to abide by them.”
He urged universities to protect student safety and destruction on campus, while also accounting for student rights.
David Friedman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, called the disciplinary action “a good start.”
“Let’s hope this becomes permanent,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
