Deadline to End Columbia Encampment Passes With No Sign of Police on Campus

A midnight deadline set by Columbia University late on Tuesday for an encampment of student protesters to disband passed without signs of police moving onto the campus to quell the pro-Palestinian demonstration that has upended campus life and challenged the school leadership.

The university had earlier said it was in talks with student organizers to reach an agreement by the deadline, after which the school would consider “alternative options” for clearing the lawn. Some of the protesters began taking down tents and gathering belongings, moving them into nearby buildings, while others pledged to continue their demonstration during a frenetic hour of activity as students counted down to midnight.

As word circulated that the deadline had been pushed back to Wednesday morning, many moved tents back onto the campus lawn. Others streamed off campus. Police officers could be seen around 116th street, outside campus, but did not appear to engage with protesters.

The university declined to comment on whether the deadline had been extended.

Nearly a week ago, Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, took the extraordinary step of enlisting city police in riot gear to arrest more than 100 activists who had refused to leave the tent village of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. That touched off criticism from all sides about her handling of the campus protests. After the encampment was cleared, a larger one re-emerged.

When Dr. Shafik’s letter about the midnight deadline landed in students’ inboxes around 10 p.m. Tuesday, protesters and others who were gathered outside the campus gates began reading it out loud. Student organizers announced to the group of protesters that they expected a police sweep overnight and asked fellow students to wear a red band if they were willing to be arrested and a yellow one if not.

A student group, which has been suspended by the university, said in a statement that school administrators had threatened to call in the National Guard if protesters did not disperse. A spokeswoman for Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York pointed to her earlier comments that she had no plans to call the National Guard.

All the while, some students remained focused on schoolwork inside the university’s Butler Library.

After months of demonstrations on campuses protesting the war in Gaza, the unrest has reached a fever pitch in the final weeks of classes at some of the country’s most storied academic institutions. On Monday, police were called in to make arrests at Yale and New York University. Encampments have also sprung up at Tufts, Emerson and the University of California, Berkeley.

Administrators have been struggling to balance students’ free speech rights and the need to protect Jewish students. Some demonstrations have included hate speech, threats or support for Hamas, the armed group based in Gaza that led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, sparking the war.

At Columbia, some faculty members circulated a draft resolution to censure the president over what they called an “unprecedented assault on student rights.” At least one major Jewish donor cut off support, saying the university was not doing enough to protect students.

Speaker Mike Johnson said he would meet with Jewish students at Columbia University on Wednesday and talk about the “troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses,” according to a news release.

Santul Nerkar, Katherine Rosman and Ed Shanahan contributed reporting.