April 30, 2024
Why Students at Columbia University Are Occupying Hamilton Hall
By Finn Cooley
Pro-Palestine students have taken over the same building that anti-Vietnam War and anti-gentrification protesters occupied in 1968.
On April 29—nearly two weeks after the initial Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia—University President Minouche Shafik released a statement saying that the school “will not divest from Israel.”
Organizers started negotiations with administration after setting up their encampment. But when the university announced that it would evict and suspend students staying in the encampment after 2 PM on April 29, organizing coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said that they had frozen talks until the university “comes to the table in good faith.”
The school was “toying with us,” said one organizer, whose name is withheld to protect him from potential retaliation. “Nothing concrete came out; they barely budged on anything,” he said. But the students decided to keep fighting. “What is there that we can do to escalate—to say we mean business?’”
