Columbia University has expelled, suspended or revoked degrees of students who occupied a campus hall during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April 2024, the university said on Thursday.
Students were issued with punishments based on the “severity of behaviour at these events” and past infractions, if any, a statement from Columbia read.
The move is the university’s response to a crackdown on student activists in the United States who led pro-Palestine demonstrations last year amid Israel’s war on Gaza, and called for their schools to cut financial ties with Israel.
It also comes after the government cut $400m in federal funding for Columbia on March 7. The university was one of 60 institutions threatened with further cuts in a letter from US authorities this week.
Here’s what we know about the threat to Columbia and how it has responded:
What does the US government’s letter to Columbia and other universities say?
On March 10, the US Department of Education sent letters to 60 institutions, informing them they were under investigation for “antisemitic harassment and discrimination” and warning them of potential law enforcement actions if they don’t “protect Jewish students”.
Prominent institutions such as Columbia, Harvard and Princeton were among the schools which received the notice. All 60 schools benefit from US federal funding.
The letter cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which the education department said mandates universities to “protect Jewish students on campus, including (by providing) uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities”.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was quoted as saying in the missive: “The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better.”
SHALOM COLUMBIA: The Trump Admin, led by @USEDGO and the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @Hhsgov& @Usgsa), has canceled ~$400M in federal grants to @Columbia over its failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. pic.twitter.com/CavoXbhhvx
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 7, 2025
Earlier, on March 7, the Department of Education announced a $400m funding cut to Columbia specifically, citing a “failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment”.
The school was a major hub during a wave of campus protests that swept the US last year as Israel’s war on Gaza escalated. On April 30, a group of students, staff and alumni occupied Hamilton Hall, an academic building on campus, before being forcibly cleared by New York police on request of the university’s leadership.
How has Columbia responded? What action has it taken against students?
Columbia has not publicly responded to the letter from the education department.
However, in a statement to staff and students on March 10, Columbia’s interim president Katrina Armstrong said funding cuts would impact “research and critical functions of the University”, and would affect staff and students. About a quarter of the university’s more than $6bn yearly operation costs are met by federal grants.
Then, on Thursday, Columbia announced that students involved in last year’s Hamilton Hall protest have received multiple-year suspensions or outright expulsions following the university’s investigations. The months-long process was carried out by the school’s University Judicial Board, and included hearings for each student involved.
“Columbia is committed to enforcing the University’s Rules and Policies and improving our disciplinary processes,” the university said.
March 13, 2025 University Statement Regarding UJB Determinations: https://t.co/C8Hn518ZId pic.twitter.com/dgr71AzMeX
— Columbia University (@Columbia) March 13, 2025
Others who have since graduated will have their degrees revoked, it added. The names and precise number of students sanctioned by the judicial board were not revealed.
According to The Associated Press news agency, several other students have been notified by university officials that they are also under investigation for sharing social media posts in support of Palestinian people or joining “unauthorised” protests.
‘Dangerous times’: How have students and others reacted?
In an opinion published in the university’s publication Columbia Daily Spectator in February, a body of student workers accused the university’s leadership of not taking a stand.
“The Student Workers of Columbia sent you a letter asking for assurance that Columbia would protect noncitizen students, faculty and staff. In response we received a vague reply from your office, which seemed to reference a completely different topic. Rather than standing up for the Columbia community, the University’s leadership has stood by or, worse, accelerated and enabled these threats,” the body wrote.
Columbia University authorities this week warned students at the institution’s journalism school about posting on social media, according to reporting by The New York Times. Non-US citizens were especially warned to avoid publishing about Gaza or Ukraine.
“If you have a social media page, make sure it is not filled with commentary on the Middle East,” the journalism school’s dean, Jelani Cobb told students. “Nobody can protect you … these are dangerous times,” he added.
“History shows that a university that does not advocate for the academic freedom of its own members is opening itself to further attacks on academic freedom in the future,” said historian Eraldo Souza dos Santos, who is currently affiliated with Cornell University.
“Columbia seemingly not only ignored Khalil’s calls for protection, but also has been willing to collaborate with the current administration in its efforts to criminalise dissent on campus.
“It should, instead, be trying, within its own capacities, to offer legal and public-facing support to a generation of students who belong to the same long struggle against segregation and apartheid that took shape between the 1960s and 1980s,” he told Al Jazeera.
What happened in the lead-up to all this?
Authorities have also cracked down directly on students involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student who acted as student negotiator with university authorities until his graduation in December, was arrested and detained by immigration authorities on Saturday, March 11.
Khalil is Palestinian and was raised in Syria. He holds permanent residency in the US and is married to a US citizen, but now faces deportation. Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer told reporters that he was inside his Columbia University-owned home when officials of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency arrived to take him into custody.
Posting on his Truth Social platform after Khalil’s detention, Trump said it would be the “first arrest of many”.
Republicans in the US Congress have scrutinised and criticised Columbia’s disciplinary process since the Hamilton Hall event. In a February letter to the institution, Republican representatives demanded that Columbia hand over records of students involved in campus protests or face funding cuts.
This week, Khalil and seven other unnamed students at Columbia and the affiliated Barnard College filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Manhattan in an attempt to permanently block a US congressional committee from obtaining student records from the institutions.
Meanwhile, protesters have been gathering in support of Khalil. On Thursday, dozens of demonstrators who flooded the lobby of Trump Tower in New York with banners that read “Free Mahmoud,” were arrested by police.
