Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest US college's expulsion of third student

WASHINGTON

A group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have occupied a university library in protest of the decision by Columbia University's Barnard College to expel a third student demonstrator for campus activism in support of Palestine.

Protesters launched their sit-in of Barnard’s Milstein Library on Wednesday afternoon, declaring it the Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya Liberated Zone. The physician was the director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital before he was abducted by Israeli forces in December.

"We have renamed Milstein Library in his honor to demand that the international community turn its eyes to Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's captivity and take action to secure his immediate release while he can still be saved," the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine group said on X.

The group further demanded that the college reverse this week's expulsions of the three student demonstrators, saying they "follow the recent firing of two transgender Barnard staff - one librarian and one medical receptionist - for speaking out for Palestinian liberation."

"Barnard's escalating repression of student activists reflects a larger crackdown on pro-Palestine speech and advocacy," it added.

Barnard is an affiliate of Columbia University, which said it is "aware of a disruption of Milstein Library."

"We are in touch with Barnard’s leadership and security team as they address the situation and will continue to monitor it closely. The disruption of academic activities is not acceptable conduct," Columbia said in a statement. "We are committed to supporting our Columbia student body and our campus community during this challenging time."

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) advocacy group decried the "discriminatory" expulsion of the Barnard student.

"Barnard College’s expulsion of a student for protesting the genocide in Palestine is not just an attack on that student’s rights — it is part of a larger, systematic effort to silence and punish anyone who dares to speak out against Israeli apartheid and genocide," said Afaf Nashe, the chapter's executive director.

“This politically motivated crackdown reveals the deep hostility university administrators hold toward student voices calling for human rights and justice," he added.

The Justice Department announced last week that Columbia would be among 10 universities that a federal task force would visit to determine if the schools "failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law" during last year's mass demonstrations against Israel's war on Gaza.

The task force was established by President Donald Trump in January. This week, he threatened universities with a cutoff in federal funding if they allow "illegal protests" on their campuses.

He did not identify which types of student protests he considers to be "illegal," but the warning came after he called pro-Palestinian protesters "anti-Semitic" in his January order.

"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," Trump said in an accompanying fact sheet for his executive order.