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Colombian University was expelled, stopped or canceled degrees of students who occupied a campus hall during Palestin's demonstrations in April 2024, the University of Thursday announced.
The students were issued with penalties Based on the “gravity of the behavior of these events” and past violations, if any, said in a statement from Colombia.
This move is the University's repression response against student activists in the United States, who led the pro-Palestine demonstrations last year in the background The Israeli War of Gaza, And they called on their schools to reduce financial ties with Israel.
It also comes after the government has reduced $ 400 million in federal funding for Colombia on March 7th. The university was one of 60 institutions threatened with additional cuts in a letter from US authorities this week.
Here's what we know about the threat to Colombia and how she answered:
What does the US Government's letter say to Colombia and other universities?
On March 10, the US Department of Education letters sent Up to 60 institutions, informing them that they have been investigated by “anti -Semitic harassment and discrimination” and warn them of potential law enforcement action if they do not “protect Jewish students”.
Prominent institutions such as Colombia, Harvard and Princeton were among the schools that received the news. All 60 schools benefit from the US federal funding.
The letter indicates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which the education department said it requires universities to “protect Jewish students on campus, including (by providing) continuous access to campus facilities and education opportunities.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon was quoted in Missive: “The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying in elite US campuses continue to fear their safety against the backdrop of ruthless anti -Semitic eruptions that have severely violated the life of the campus for more than a year. University leaders have to do better. “
Shalom Columbia: Trump administrator led by @Usesgo and the Working Group to Combat Anti -Semitism (@Thejusticedept., @Hhsgov& @Usgsa), has canceled ~ $ 400 million in federal grants for @Columbia over his inability to protect Jewish students from anti -Semitic harassment. Pic.twitter.com/cavoxbhvx
– White House (@whitehouse) March 7, 2025
Earlier, on March 7, the Ministry of Education announced financing of $ 400 million specifically in Colombia, citing “failure to protect Jewish students from anti -Semitic harassment”.
The school was a major center in time Gaza's Israeli War escalate. On April 30, a group of students, employees and graduates occupied Hamilton Hall, an academic building on the campus, before being forcibly released by police in New York at the request of the university's management.
How did Colombia react? What actions did they take against the students?
Colombia did not publicly respond to the letter from the Education Division.
However, in a statement to employees and students on March 10, temporary President of Colombia, Catherine Armstrong, said that the reduction in funding would influence the “research and critical functions of the university” and would affect staff and students. About a quarter of the university's annual operating costs are respected by federal grants.
On Thursday, Colombia announced that the students participating in last year's Hamilton Hall protest had received many years of suspension or outspoken expulsions after university investigations. The monthly process was conducted by the University of Judicial Council at the school and included hearing for each student participating.
“Colombia is committed to implementing university rules and policies and improving our disciplinary processes,” the university said.
March 13, 2025 University Statement on Determination of UJB: https://t.co/c8hn518zid pic.twitter.com/dgr71azmex
– Colombian University (@Columbia) March 13, 2025
Others who have completed their degrees from then, she added. The names and the exact number of students sanctioned by the Judicial Council were not disclosed.
According to the Associated Press, several other students have been notified by university officials that they have also been investigated to share publications on social media in support of Palestinian people or to join “unauthorized” protests.
Dangerous Times: How did students and others react?
In an opinion published in the edition of the University of Columbia Daily Spectator in February, a body of student workers accused the university's management of not taking a position.
“Colombia student workers have sent you a letter asking you to assure that Colombia will protect non -dietary students, teachers and employees. In response, we received a vague answer from your office, which seems to be citing a completely different topic. Instead of standing up for the Colombia community, the university's leadership has stood by or, more bad, accelerated and enabled these threats, “the organ wrote.
This week, the University of Colombia's authorities have warned students at the Institution for the Social Media Publication School, according to The New York Times reporting. Citizens outside the United States were particularly warned to avoid publishing Gaza or Ukraine.
“If you have a social media page, make sure it is not filled with comments on the Middle East,” said the dean of the school of journalism, Jewished Cobb in front of the students. “No one 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 up for more attacks against academic freedom in the future,” says historian Erarade Susa Dos Santos, who is currently linked to Cornell University.
“Colombia at first glance not only ignores Halil's defense calls, but is also ready to cooperate with the current administration in her efforts to criminalize disagreement in the campus.
“Instead, he has to try, within his own capacity, to offer legal and public support to a generation of students who belong to the same long struggle against segregation and apartheid, which formed between the 1960s and 1980s,” he told Al Jazeera.
What happened in all this?
Authorities have also fell directly into students participating in pro-Palestin demonstrations.
Mahmoud Khalil, A student of Colombia, who acted as a student negotiator with the university authorities until his graduation in December, was arrested and detained by immigration authorities on Saturday, March 11.
Halil is Palestinian and raised in Syria. He has a constant residence in the United States and is married to a US citizen, but is now facing deportation. Halil's lawyer Amy Greer told reporters that he was at home at the University of Colombia's home when employees of the Immigration and Customs Agency (ICE) arrived to be arrested.
By publishing his social platform for his truth after Halil's detention, Trump said it would be “the first arrest of many.”
Republicans in the US Congress have considered and criticized the disciplinary process of Colombia after the event of Hamilton Hall. In a letter from February to the institution, Republican representatives requested Colombia to submit records to students participating in Campus protests or to face financing cuts.
This week, Khalil and seven other unnamed students in Colombia and the Barnard's related college filed a lawsuit in a Federal Court in Manhattan in an attempt to permanently block the US Congress Committee to receive student records from the institutions.
Meanwhile, protesters are gathering in support of Khalil. ThursdayDozens of demonstrators who flooded the Trump Tower lobby in New York with banners who read a “free hangover” were arrested by police.
