Protesters rally at Columbia University as president speaks on Capitol Hill

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian students occupied Columbia University‘s main lawn on Wednesday to demand the school divest from Israel, as university president Nemat Shafik was on Capitol Hill testifying about campus antisemitism.

Members of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment started staging their occupation around 4:00 AM Wednesday morning, setting up tents and claiming they would remain there until the school capitulates to its demands, according to student newspaper Columbia Daily Spectator.

The protesters brought signs with slogans such as “Israel bombs, Columbia pays.”

The protests began only hours before Shafik was set to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee in a hearing titled “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism,” and continued through her testimony.

“The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university policies,” a university spokesperson told the Spectator. “We are informing the students they are in violation of university policies and for their own safety and for the operation of the university they need to leave.”

The outlet reported that the school had already restricted main campus access to those holding university identification cards in anticipation of Shafik’s testimony.

New York City Police Department corrections buses were seen parked outside the protests, according to independent reporter Katie Smith on X.

The buses arrived around the same time NYPD public safety officers presented encamped protesters with a notice to disperse, according to an X post from another independent reporter at the scene, Talia Jane.

Footage from Jane’s account also shows students responding by saying, “All you fascists bound to lose.”

Counterprotesters also showed up to the event, some of whom had Israel regalia.

As the Washington Examiner reported, Shafik told the House committee that the school had ramped up the number of student misconduct cases since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and she noted that there were likely more cases open now than any time in the past ten years.

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Shafik said one of the top challenges facing Columbia and other schools is how to walk the fine line between suppressing speech and protecting students from harassment — and how to define what conduct rises to the level of harassment.

“Trying to reconcile the free speech rights of those who wanted to protest and the rights of Jewish students to be in an environment free of discrimination and harassment has been the central challenge on our campus,” she said, seeking clarification for when certain speech “crosses the line” of First Amendment protections.