Columbia students spark uproar with library takeover, and renew calls for divestment from Israel
Columbia University student protesters have drawn both praise and criticism after 75 were arrested by the New York Police Department for occupying a room in Butler Library, an escalation in their call for the university to divest from Israel.
On Wednesday afternoon, one hundred university students, led by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad), took over the Lawrence A Wien Reading Room in Columbia’s main campus library, “renaming” it the “Basel Al-Araj Popular University”.
BREAKING: THE BASEL AL-ARAJ POPULAR UNIVERSITY HAS JUST LAUNCHED, RECLAIMING BUTLER LIBRARY FOR THE PEOPLE pic.twitter.com/FHKRvgJThG
— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) May 7, 2025
Cuad released a statement on Substack as the “Emergency Rally” began, stating that “as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy”.
“If Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus,” the statement continued.
The action took place in one of the most populated buildings during finals week, Butler Library, which is named after former Columbia president Nicolas Murray Butler, a man that Cuad accuses of being “a shameless Nazi sympathizer” who “limited the number of Jewish people who could attend Columbia, and expelled students who protested against Columbia's ties with the Nazis”.
“The people renamed the library today to honor the martyred Palestinian revolutionary Basel al-Araj, whose writings on the Palestinian resistance and on the nature of war guide revolutionaries around the world today.”
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The demands of the sit-in were similar to those during the Gaza solidarity encampment last year, including the university’s divestment from Israel, an academic boycott of Israeli institutions (specifically the cancellation of Columbia’s Tel Aviv Global Center) and amnesty for students and faculty who were being disciplined for their involvement in protests.
Tensions rose both in the room and outside of the library as public safety officers attempted to clear out the sit-in. Both students and officers reportedly sustained injuries during the clashes.
“He's literally yelling for help.”
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 8, 2025
Public safety officers at Columbia University forcibly detained pro-Palestinian protesters on Wednesday.
A protester being detained by a group of officers was heard calling for help pic.twitter.com/aJpxX2h7oK
After a few hours, protesters attempted to leave the room, but public safety officers blocked the exit, requiring students to present their Columbia IDs or face arrest for trespassing, the Spectator reported. The students refused to comply with the demand, so they were not allowed to go.
New York City mayor Eric Adams announced a few hours later on X that the NYPD was entering the campus “at the written request of Columbia”.
The arrests of the 75 students make it the largest mass arrest on campus since NYPD arrested 109 protesters during a sweep of Hamilton Hall and the second Gaza solidarity encampment in April 2024.
In a video statement, the university’s president, Claire Shipman, said that she “had no choice but to ask for the assistance of the NYPD”, and that “Columbia unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all other forms of harassment and discrimination”.
Middle East Eye requested Columbia University's comment on the mass arrest but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
“Moreover, I am deeply disturbed at the idea that, at a moment when our international community feels particularly vulnerable, a small group of students would choose to make our institution a target," Shipman continued in her statement.
A student online responded to this line in a post on X, saying she was in “genuine disbelief” that Shipman was "blaming student protestors for the threat of ICE", referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This mass arrest comes two months after Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil was detained by ICE on campus, with many accusing Columbia of allowing the officers on campus.
Khalil remains in a detention centre in Louisiana, without being charged with a crime, as he awaits the decision of his deportation case.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded to the student action on Wednesday, saying that “the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library” would be reviewed.
“Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation,” he said in a post on X.
Although the students have received a large amount of condemnation from the university administration and US officials, they have also been praised by many.
Some students are using AI to coast and then start some dumb app. These brave students are risking their futures and taking action. We should all be so brave. https://t.co/OiPiY5A3PK
— Jacob Woocher (@jacobwooch) May 8, 2025
"May the student movement for Palestine never end— regardless of repression. All power to the Columbia students for reclaiming Butler Library in the name of Basel al-Araj. All power to all the students fighting imperialism in genocide," one social media user wrote on X.
Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd posted: "God bless the Student movement!!!"
Journalist Abubaker Abed, a Palestinian from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, responded to images and videos of the students' arrest online, writing: "The US is having its final days. That’s my belief. A nation that’s built on colonialism and imperialism as well as the blood of millions will never live on. Colonial projects will eventually vanish."
Along with offering words of support to the student protestors, many online are criticising Columbia for the continued use of the NYPD on campus.
Gaza has been deprived of food for over 60 days. Every day there are new images of emaciated Palestinian children starving to death. Meanwhile, if you protest against genocide, Columbia University will brutalize and hospitalize you. pic.twitter.com/RsCEqIec2o
— maryam alwan🇵🇸 (@maryamalwan) May 8, 2025
"This is getting beyond absurd at this shell of a self-destructing university. Every affiliate of Columbia should join the protesting students and put an end to this total administrative capitulation to fascism. Get the damn NYPD off campus. The board should be forced to resign," one social media user said on X.
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