June 4, 2024
What Student Journalists at Columbia Really Learned
By Finn Cooley
In the classroom, professors taught the importance of the free press, at the same time as the administration stifled the work of student journalists and intimidated them through the NYPD.
ANNA OAKES, INDY SCHOLTENS, EMILY BYRSKI, ANGELICA ANG, CLAIRE ELANA DAVENPORT, and FAHIMA DEGIA
Over the past few weeks, student reporters at the Columbia Daily Spectator, WKCR, and elsewhere have been the main source of reliable information on Columbia University’s campus.
On April 17, the university became the center of international attention after pro-Palestine students established a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the East Butler lawn. As the protests grew, much of the press was turned away. Mainstream reporting by nonstudents often focused on the protesters outside the campus gates and misrepresented students’ demands.
Still able to access their campus, student journalists continued to cover the protests, writing dispatches for local and national outlets along with their regular coursework. But during a militarized police raid on a student-occupied building on April 30, they were pushed off school grounds or into Pulitzer Hall—where one of the most prestigious awards in journalism is housed—and threatened with arrest if they left.
We spoke to six student journalists at Columbia to find out what they’ve learned this semester and how their coverage will change as they head into the summer. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.
