Amid alumni festivities, Columbia students reignite divestment from Israel campaign
Students set up ‘Revolt for Rafah’ encampment on South Lawn to draw attention to Gaza massacres, demand alumni withhold donations
NEW YORK CITY, June 1, 2024 — NEW YORK CITY, June 1, 2024 — At approximately 7 p.m. on May 31, around 70 students at Columbia University re-established their encampment on the South Lawn, naming it “Revolt for Rafah — Installment I.” This protest, coinciding with Alumni Weekend, is a direct response to the ongoing massacres in Rafah conducted by Israel, according to organizers.
The students’ demands are clear: as alumni are on campus and pledging donations, students are calling for the university to divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel, declaring Columbia as “complicit in the genocide in Gaza,” according to an organizer.
“Today, we are here because the alumni reunion is taking place this weekend. We strategically launched our installation to urge alumni to withhold donations until the university commits to divestment,” stated Serena, a student organizer at the encampment.
In a recent development, alumni have threatened to withhold approximately $67 million in donations unless Columbia drops disciplinary charges against student activists. The Intercept reported on Friday that Columbia altered its rules just hours before disciplinary hearings, leaving students insufficient time to prepare their defenses.
The encampment also responds to revelations by the Washington Post that a consortium of billionaires and business titans privately urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams in April to deploy police to quash pro-Palestinian protests at the university in an attempt to sway public opinion on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Students erected approximately 10 tents and draped banners over an existing large white tent prepared for Alumni Weekend, displaying messages such as “We’re back, bitches,” “While You’re Earning, Rafah’s Burning,” and “@alumni No Donations ‘til Divestment.”
The protesters are “an autonomous group of Palestinian students” and are supported by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), according to Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine’s Instagram page.
Serena, adorned in a Navajo Nation scarf overlaid with a Palestinian stole, declared the encampment “a testament to the frustration students nationwide feel regarding how their universities invest funds, their tuition, and the broader political system’s failures.”
Campus and public safety officers descended on the lawn, forcibly dismantling the tents an hour into the encampment’s relaunch. Protesters resisted by sitting in the tents and chanting “Shame.” One student, forcibly grabbed by an officer, shouted, “You are hurting me, stop,” and was left with visible red marks on their arms.
Organizers intervened, and the officers eventually departed. A student remarked that no prior warning had been given about the tent removal. An organizer addressed the crowd, highlighting the disparity in treatment between their tents and the large white tent set up for Alumni Weekend, quipping, “Even tents have white privilege.”
Students conducted a Shabbat dinner and various programs through the evening. “Hind’s Hall,” by Macklemore could be heard playing across the lawn.
This encampment follows two previous encampments and a building occupation, all forcibly shut down by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), resulting in numerous brutal arrests.
The first encampment, launched on April 17, was dubbed the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and ignited a global solidarity movement with over 130 encampments popping up in U.S. colleges in support of Gaza.
Protests at Columbia have consistently faced aggressive responses from both the administration and the NYPD.
On April 18, Columbia President Minouche Shafik authorized a police sweep of the peaceful encampment, leading to the arrest of 108 individuals. Despite this, hundreds mobilized, and the remaining protesters relocated to the adjacent lawn, where they stayed for nearly two weeks.
On April 30, after Shafik announced that Columbia would not divest from Israel and that negotiations had ended, protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, renaming it “Hind’s Hall” in memory of six-year-old Hind Rajab, killed by Israeli forces. Hind’s pleas for help were broadcast globally and mobilized many.
Less than a day later, Shafik authorized another NYPD sweep of “Hind’s Hall” and the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” resulting in 109 arrests, a campus lockdown, and barring some members of the press from reporting inside the campus.
As the encampment enters its second day, the students have said they have no intention of slowing down or stopping until Columbia meets their demands. “We refuse to have any more blood drip from our hands,” a statement posted on Columbia SJP’s Instagram read.
“We vow to disrupt all aspects of university life until it ends its role as an accomplice in genocide."
