Columbia University has disciplined nearly 80 students for participating in a May pro-Palestinian protest at the university’s library, a student group said Tuesday.
In a lengthy statement released on Tuesday, the university confirmed that it was punishing an unspecified number of students who participated in the protest at the school’s Butler Library, where at least 80 people were detained, as well as a similar demonstration during its annual alumni weekend last year.
Columbia said it would not release the “individual disciplinary results of any student,” but noted that “sanctions from Butler Library include probation, suspensions (ranging from one year to three years), degree revocations, and expulsions.”
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a student group that advocates for the university to divest its ties to Israel, said in a statement that nearly 80 students were informed on Monday afternoon that they were suspended for one to three years or expelled for participating in the May protest.
The student group claimed that the disciplinary letters required suspended students to submit apologies to the university to return to campus — or face expulsion.
Columbia University did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. In its Tuesday statement, the institution said, “Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community.”
“Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences,” the school statement said.
The Ivy League school’s disciplinary crackdown comes several months after the Trump administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research grants to the university.
Following those cuts, Columbia implemented a long list of new policies at the request of the Trump administration to begin negotiations on restoring federal funding.
The university agreed to adjust its disciplinary process, ban masks at protests in most cases, and hire dozens of new security officers, among other measures, according to a document the university stated it shared with the federal government and posted on its website.
Some of Columbia’s students previously told NBC News that protesting on the campus in recent months had become “dangerous” following the university’s agreement with the Trump administration and the detainment of student activist Mahmoud Khalil by immigration authorities.
Dozens of demonstrators occupied a room in the university’s Butler Library during the May protest, as students were studying for their final exams. Protesters wore keffiyehs, chanted slogans, and clashed with police and campus security officers, according to video of the demonstration posted on social media.
Police officers prevented the demonstrators from leaving the library without presenting identification for some time before they began arresting students, the videos show.
The protest resulted in the detainment of at least 80 people, according to the New York Police Department. Two campus security officers were injured during the protest, the university said at the time, due to a crowd surge.
Columbia took similar disciplinary action in March for pro-Palestinian protests that took place on campus last year. It issued “multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations and expulsion” for students who overtook a university building, Hamilton Hall, at the height of last year’s protests.
