Hundreds of pro-Palestinian students occupied Columbia University‘s main lawn on Wednesday to demand the school divest from Israel, as university president Nemat Shafik was on Capitol Hill testifying about campus antisemitism.
Members of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment started staging their occupation around 4:00 AM Wednesday morning, setting up tents and claiming they would remain there until the school capitulates to its demands, according to student newspaper Columbia Daily Spectator.
The protesters brought signs with slogans such as “Israel bombs, Columbia pays.”
The protests began only hours before Shafik was set to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee in a hearing titled “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism,” and continued through her testimony.
“The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university
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