The pro-Hamas students at Barnard College are at it again. For those who missed the backstory, here it is. Last week this group, which is called CUAD, occupied an administrative building to protest the expulsion days earlier of two of their fellow activists. The expulsion was in response to a classroom disruption that happened on the first day of the semester.
In an effort to get the school to reverse course on the expulsions, CUAD demanded a meeting with Barnard President Laura Ann Rosenbury. And after hours of chanting and drumming that disrupted classes in the building, they agreed to a meeting the following day. But that meeting never happened. President Rosenbury said she would only sit down with three representatives from the group if they removed their masks. They refused. And then she expelled another student over a building takeover that happened last spring.
Unlike some other university administrators, President Rosenbury seems to be taking a harder line. Monday she wrote an opinion piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education titled "When Student Protest Goes Too Far."
On the first day of classes this January, four masked individuals threatened both our educational mission and our community by disrupting a History of Modern Israel course at Columbia in which several Barnard students were enrolled. This disruption was not designed to expand thinking or advance civil discourse. Instead, it was a calculated act of intimidation, with the disruptors taunting and loudly speaking over the professor, distributing antisemitic flyers, and refusing to join the discussion even when the professor graciously invited them to sit in on the class.
This wasn’t an isolated incident but an escalation of an ongoing threat to our community. Over the last year and a half, an unauthorized group of anonymous individuals calling themselves Columbia University Apartheid Divest have exploited the conflict in the Middle East to try to tear our campus community — our Barnard home — apart.
They operate in the shadows, hiding behind masks and Instagram posts with Molotov cocktails aimed at Barnard buildings, antisemitic tropes about wealth, influence, and “Zionist billionaires,” and calls for violence and disruption at any cost. They claim Columbia University’s name, but the truth is, because their members wear masks, no one really knows whose interests they serve.
After recounting the building takeover last week, President Rosenbury said this:
Even though all of the disruptors wore masks, we now know the identity of many of them and are continuing to identify the rest. We will vigorously pursue discipline and other remedies against those who forcibly and illegitimately entered the building, damaged or destroyed property, disregarded our community expectations, and violated many policies and rules...
Disrupting classes and defacing buildings to intimidate and divide our community is not academic exploration. It is a betrayal of the goals and sanctity of higher education.
As the only administrator who has actually expelled students thus far, I think she means it. Naturally, the pro-Hamas extremists of CUAD don't care. Today they escalated once again by taking over the lobby of Barnard's library and pronouncing it a "liberated zone" (shades of CHAZ/CHOP). Here's their Instagram post:
The caption reads:
JOIN US NOW MILSTEIN LIBRARY LOBBY! STUDENTS RELAUNCHED THEIR SIT-IN AFTER ADMIN SABOTAGED NEGOTIATIONS, LOCKED DOWN CAMPUS.
Wear a mask and keffiyeh, don’t tap ID, and be brave!
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE WAS A PROMISE! Despite Barnard militarizing campus and inviting NYPD to patrol our academic buildings, we have successfully relaunched our sit-in against the expulsions!
Disruption until divestment! Resistance until return! Agitation until amnesty!
Today, we are here to demand Dean Grinage REINSTATE THE EXPELLED STUDENTS IMMEDIATELY. We are here today in honor of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinians under zionist occupation and genocide. We fight for amnesty so we can escalate for Palestine!🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Nothing will deter us, we will not stop and we will not rest no matter how these institutions try to crush us.
This space is ours as long as we’re here, take back our university. Free Palestine
And here are some photos and video from the scene.
The protesters pic.twitter.com/FHSiItHijC
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
They hung up a puppet of the president.
Protesters at Barnard have HANGED a puppet of President Rosenbury. This is violent imagery, unequivocally. pic.twitter.com/t18XZ6prgY
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
And also a wanted poster of the Dean of Students.
They’ve put up a wanted poster targeting the dean who negotiated the last sit-in: pic.twitter.com/Bxp4xhcC27
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) March 5, 2025
There's no question about what they hope to do here.
INSIDE @BarnardCollege PROTEST RIGHT NOW! pic.twitter.com/ersRVS4Yh0
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
As they did last week, Barnard handed out written warnings that students were violating school policies. This may seem ineffectual but in this case I think Barnard is doing what major corporations do when preparing to fire someone. They are creating a written record so no one can later claim they a) didn't know and b) weren't warned that their behavior was unacceptable. They have been warned now. If they choose to ignore that warning, that's going to come up later when they are suspended/expelled.
Barnard administration distributed this letter to the protesting students. They responded by ripping it up. pic.twitter.com/YzQzCajhOg
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
An administrator of some kind tried to make space so other students using the building could get to class. She was told to shut up.
Protesters in Barnard yell shut up at the woman trying to ask them to move so that students can use the library and go to class. She says they have given warnings and will soon begin identifying students, but the protesters sing over her. pic.twitter.com/lGvVAaMuYl
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
President Rosenbury took the group by surprise by calling in and talking to them by phone. She once again offered to meet with up to three unmasked students.
Conversation between protesters and President Rosenbury on the phone. pic.twitter.com/CgANGWLJTj
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
As you can see, the students first refused to leave unless the expulsions were withdrawn and then refused to leave until the meeting with the president the next day. They held a vote but I think the fix was in.
Barnard protesters just voted to stay in the library for the rest of the night and until President Rosenbury comes back to campus tomorrow.
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
Barnard said over an hour ago they would begin identifying and punishing protesters. Why aren’t they following through on their word?? pic.twitter.com/s6OKIGgNYJ
The signed the library guestbook "Death to America."
The protesters at Barnard took the library’s guest book and defaced it with “DEATH TO AMERICA.” These protesters don’t just hate Israel, they hate the entire project of America, liberalism, and democracy. @realDonaldTrump, how do you feel about this? pic.twitter.com/wTX8mgOLfw
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
About an hour later a bomb threat was called in to the library but the pro-Hamas students refused to leave. They believe the threat was just a pretext to clear the building.
‼️BREAKING: Barnard admin attempt to clear sit-in by claiming there is a B*MB THREAT on the building!
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 5, 2025
Students are standing their ground and not taken in by admin LIES! pic.twitter.com/iYwZQ86LS0
— Eliana Goldin (@Eliana_Goldin) March 5, 2025
Police came on campus to clear the building because of the bomb threat. Was it just a pretext? Part of me hopes it was. I'm tired of seeing these vandals treated with kid gloves.
🚨JUST RECEIVED: WALKING INTO BARNARD NOW 30 SRG WITH ZIP TIES https://t.co/oVh5xYTbdI pic.twitter.com/n4Clkg0IyV
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 5, 2025
PIGS HAVE ENTERED THE DR. SAFIYA LIBERATED ZONE pic.twitter.com/RxJYkBlxYl
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 5, 2025
As always, leftists love nothing more than verbally abusing cops.
The pigs are pushing protestors and saying “This is the NYPD. There is a bomb threat.” pic.twitter.com/FxO0OmYrIh
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 5, 2025
PIGS ATTEMPT TO PUSH STUDENTS OFF LAWN, MET WITH RESISTANCE pic.twitter.com/dG3qctp1Gk
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 5, 2025
More chantinng. They are clearly energized at having someone to oppose.
PIGGIES PUSH STUDENT OVER TRASH CAN pic.twitter.com/fqqOse6yB1
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 5, 2025
Will anyone be arrested? Police have warned they may do so but I don't think it has happened yet.
The NYPD is responding to a bomb threat at the Milstein Center at Barnard College and is evacuating the building. Anyone who refuses to leave the location is subject to arrest. Please stay away from the area. pic.twitter.com/EBsX1QXwNu
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) March 5, 2025
I'll add updates if there's any more excitement. For now the library occupation looks like a failure.
Update: Looks like at least a few people have been arrested.
NYPD arrest a few protestors on @BarnardCollege's lawn after they refuse to leave while clearing the campus from a bomb threat. The vast majority of the protestors were let go, unidentified. pic.twitter.com/NpJrw78ytw
— Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 (@CUJewsIsraelis) March 5, 2025
Gov. Hochul is monitoring the situation.
Threats of violence are completely unacceptable — on a college campus or anywhere else in New York.
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) March 5, 2025
We are monitoring this situation closely and prepared to assist @NYPDNews however necessary. https://t.co/xUtDcJ7oUN
Maybe as many as a dozen people arrested but most of the pro-Hamas students appear to have been released.
🚨BREAKING: NYPD appears to be releasing protesters without identifying them. @NYCMayor @NYPDPC This is deplorable. We demand accountability. pic.twitter.com/clD72MtVvc
— Shoshana Aufzien🎗️ (@shoshanaaufzien) March 5, 2025
Join the conversation as a VIP Member