Student protests at Columbia University escalate with Hamilton Hall occupation

• Student protesters have occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, according to reports.
• The occupation follows Columbia's announcement it would not divest from Israel.

Student protesters at Columbia University have barricaded Hamilton Hall, one of the main buildings on the campus in New York City, with several reportedly inside.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, protesters declared they had taken over Hamilton Hall, flying a Palestinian flag from the building's windows. An NBC News reporter said windows had been smashed, and dozens of people had entered the building.

CNN reported that about 200 student protesters had barricaded the building's entrance, with about a dozen people inside. John Towfighi, a CNN staffer and Columbia student, told the outlet there was no visible police presence.

An NYPD spokesperson told NBC that officers were "outside the campus, not on the grounds" just before 2 a.m.

The Columbia Spectator student newspaper reported that dozens of protesters had occupied Hamilton Hall, using metal gates, tables and chairs as barricades and zip-tying doors shut.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest issued a press release on X early on Tuesday, saying protesters would remain until the university met its demands of "divestment, financial transparency, and amnesty."

The group posted a video on X that appeared to show student protesters forming a human chain to protect those occuping Hamilton Hall.

Protesters who entered the building, where the dean's office is located, were reportedly heard chanting: "Disclose, divest. We will not stop, we will not rest."

On Monday, Columbia president Nemat Minouche Shafik released a statement announcing the university would not "divest from Israel." The university also ordered protesters to leave their encampment by a 2 p.m. deadline and threatened students who defied the order with suspension.

Shafik appealed directly to Jewish students in the statement, saying: "I know that many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks. Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy."

Columbia University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours. It's told staff and students to avoid the campus on Tuesday, The New York Times reported.

Columbia has faced unrest on campus for almost two weeks over Israel's war in Gaza. The protests began on April 17, the same day Shafik testified before Congress about antisemitism on campus.

Last week, the university began holding classes online because of the escalating protests.

The protesters say they are peaceful, but campus tensions have sparked concerns in the Jewish community. Rabbi Elie Buechler wrote to Jewish students to "strongly recommend" they leave campus for their safety, CNN reported.

The action is part of a wave of protests at a number of universities across the country in recent weeks over the Israel-Hamas war.

Correction: April 30, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the student group that issued a statement on X. It's Columbia University Apartheid Divest, not Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. The story has also been updated to clarify that classes were moved online last week.