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More than 100 pro-Palestinian students stormed the main library at Columbia University in New York on Wednesday, bypassing campus security, hanging Palestinian flags, beating drums and chanting “Free Palestine.” The demonstration, which took place during final exam study days, reignited tensions on campus and led to at least 70 arrests, with more expected. Two security guards were injured during the operation to regain control.
The protest marked one of the loudest actions yet in a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have roiled the university since last October. Masked demonstrators wearing keffiyehs entered Butler Library’s main reading room on the second floor—one of the campus’s central study spaces—and declared it a “liberated zone.” One banner read “Basel Al-Araj Popular University,” about a Palestinian activist killed in a 2017 clash with Israeli forces.
Videos shared on social media show protesters pushing a campus security officer to enter the library, placing flags on walls, climbing on tables, and chanting slogans denouncing “occupation, apartheid, and genocide.” Some protesters taped colored strips to desks and defaced walls. Just six security officers were present and reportedly struggled to remove the demonstrators.
“The library became the site of a loud protest, forcing hundreds of other students to evacuate during a critical study period,” a university spokesperson said. “This is a flagrant violation of campus rules during a sensitive end-of-semester time. We will take disciplinary action against all those involved.”
The university said protesters were asked to identify themselves and leave, and those who refused would be arrested. At least one person was taken into custody at the scene. According to the group behind the protest—Columbia University Apartheid Divest—at least 40 people were arrested.
The organization, representing dozens of student groups, said the library takeover aimed to “disrupt the legitimacy of Columbia and halt its complicity in imperial violence.”
Columbia University is currently under heightened scrutiny following the Trump administration’s decision two months ago to freeze approximately $400 million in federal funding due to alleged failures to address antisemitism on campus. Under mounting pressure, the university has pledged reforms, including restrictions on mask-wearing, expanded policing authority, and changes to the administration of Middle East and Palestine studies programs.
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Pro-palestinian protesters outside Hamilton Hall at Columbia University last school year
(Photo: Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
“It is unacceptable that Jewish students are being forced to evacuate the library or face humiliation during exam week,” said Brian Cohen, executive director of Columbia Hillel. “We are grateful to the security personnel who risked their safety to prevent the invasion. The university must act firmly to discipline all involved students, and local authorities must prosecute non-students accordingly.”
Eden Yadgar, a Middle Eastern studies student in the library at the time, said: “It’s a disgrace that these protesters were admitted to the university in the first place. They displayed incredible arrogance and ignorance.
Columbia’s administration is working to demonstrate to the White House that it is taking antisemitism on campus seriously, including agreeing to external oversight and bracing for the loss of hundreds of research positions due to budget cuts. Meanwhile, students are preparing for a graduation ceremony scheduled for May 21—one year after the previous commencement was canceled amid similar protests.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University
(Photo:: Alex Kent / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Also on Wednesday, the president of Haverford College was berated by Republican lawmakers in a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, with some suggesting the school should lose federal funding because of her refusal to discuss student discipline in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests.
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Wendy Raymond appeared alongside two other college presidents on Capitol Hill but was singled out as the only one who would not detail punishments for students and faculty accused of anti-Jewish bias. Asked repeatedly, Raymond said her institution does not publicize the outcomes of disciplinary processes.
Also appearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce were Jeffrey Armstrong of California Polytechnic State University and Robert Manuel of DePaul University. It was the latest in a series of hearings scrutinizing university presidents over their responses to allegations of anti-Jewish bias in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and a wave of protests that swept the nation’s campuses.