Columbia Hits Dozens Of Students With Suspensions, Expulsions For Anti-Israel Campus Takeovers

Columbia University suspended or expelled more than 70 students, some of whom took part in the anti-Israel library takeover in May and others who were involved in last year’s tent encampment on the New York City campus, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.

Around 50 of the anti-Israel students will be suspended for between one and three years, according to the Post, which cited multiple sources familiar with the matter. The majority of the suspensions are for two years, while only a “handful” of students were expelled.

The Ivy League school was in the national spotlight during the spring of 2024 as an anti-Israel demonstration-turned-riot rocked the campus. The punishments for the tent encampment and the library takeover were doled out on Monday following a review from Columbia University’s Judicial Board.

“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community. And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules,” a Columbia spokesman said in a statement. “Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences. The speed with which our updated UJB system has offered an equitable resolution to the community and students involved is a testament to the hard work of this institution to improve its processes.”

On May 7, anti-Israel protesters, many of them wearing masks and keffiyehs, stormed Columbia’s main library and occupied it for five hours while students tried to study for their final exams. The protesters chanted “Intifada revolution” and “from the river to the sea,” phrases calling for the destruction of Israel. Some of those who took part in the library takeover defaced walls and marked tables with tape. Two public safety officers were injured in the library storming. Columbia officials called in the New York Police Department to handle the protest, and more than 80 people were arrested, according to the Post.

RIGHT NOW AT COLUMBIA: Masked anti-Israel students just broke into the library during finals week.

Columbia Public Safety unsuccessfully attempted to stop them. pic.twitter.com/vBfkQFlwUW

— Eden Yadegar (@edenyadegar) May 7, 2025

WATCH: Anti-Israeli protesters have stormed the Butler Library at Columbia University and are now occupying it.

Make an example of these people.
pic.twitter.com/asiA8YMm3U

— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) May 7, 2025

The suspensions and expulsions announced on Tuesday come as the Trump administration pressures Columbia and other Ivy League universities to crack down on antisemitism on their campuses. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump cut $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia as the Education Department accused Columbia of ignoring “relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment.”

After the federal funding cut, Columbia agreed to do more to push back against radical anti-Israel demonstrations and radicalization on campus, such as empowering campus police and banning masks worn for anything other than health reasons.