Columbia University’s Fall Semester Begins with Student Protests, Heightened Security and a Sit-in

by Paras Abbasi

With amped-up security and long lines of students waiting to tap into campus, the first day of the 2024 Fall semester at Columbia University was like no other. On September 3, several students participated in a protest outside Columbia University’s gates on 116th and Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. The demonstrators urged the students not to attend classes accompanied with chants like, “Columbia have some shame, all our martyrs have a name,” “Free free Palestine,” and “NYPD KKK IOF they’re all the same,” among others.

The picket started around 9:30 in the morning and ended around 2:30 in the afternoon. During the picket, the protesters distributed flyers explaining their stance on the complete divestment of Columbia from Israel. The New York Police Department used barricades to confine the protesters to a smaller area and arrested two students outside Barnard for obstructing the sidewalk.   

(Photo/Protests outside Columbia University’s Gates on Amsterdam Avenue/Tarang Jain)

The security alert level was raised to code ‘Orange,’ restricting access to only CUID holders and pre-registered guests. Throughout the morning, a long line of students waited outside the 116th and Broadway gates to be tapped into campus, and a helicopter hovered around the campus premises for hours. 

Around noon, red paint was poured on the Alma Mater statue, which Columbia cleaned soon after. 

The Palestine Working Group SIPA and Columbia University Apartheid Divest have announced plans for a sit-in today (September 4) at 1 PM on the fourth floor of the International Affairs Building, coinciding with Hilary Clinton’s class ‘Inside the Situation Room.’ They have called for a walkout from Clinton’s class. “Tell Columbia & SIPA we will not stand for genocide, propaganda, and the militarization of our campus! We call on all students to walk out of Hilary’s sham class,” PWG and CUAD shared on their Instagram. It remains unclear whether Clinton will co-teach today’s class.  

Paras Abbasi (MPA ‘25) is the Managing Editor for The Morningside Post.