Protesters at Columbia Occupy Hamilton Hall: College Protests Live Updates - The New York Times

Live Updates: Protesters Take Over Building on Columbia Campus

"The escalation in the protests came after university officials suspended students who had refused to leave a pro-Palestinian encampment. Columbia closed the campus to students who do not live there.

Updated 

April 30, 2024, 7:17 a.m. ET

1. 

   Protesters outside Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after the building was seized on Tuesday.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

2. Protesters inside Hamilton Hall.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

3. Demonstrators barricaded themselves inside Hamilton Hall.

   Alex Kent/Getty Images

4. A maintenance worker confronted demonstrators trying to barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall.

   Alex Kent/Getty Images

5. A pro-Israel counterprotester was blocked by pro-Palestine protesters outside Hamilton Hall.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

6. The scene at an encampment at Columbia after the university began suspending students who did not leave.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

7. Near the encampment at Columbia.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

8. Protesters moved a tent.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

9. On the Columbia campus.

   Bing Guan for The New York Times

10. A protester in a window of Hamilton Hall after it was seized.

    Bing Guan for The New York Times

Pinned

Protesters occupied a building on Columbia’s main campus early Tuesday, escalating tensions at the university after weeks of walkouts, encampments and outdoor gatherings by pro-Palestinian demonstrators that had led to suspensions and more than a hundred arrests.

Hamilton Hall, a building with a history of student takeovers, was seized shortly after demonstrators marched around the Manhattan campus to chants of “Free Palestine.” Hours earlier, administrators had begun suspending students who refused to leave an encampment. The university encouraged people not to come to the campus on Tuesday.

Protesters hold up signs while occupying a building on the campus of California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, in Arcata, Calif., last week.Andrew Goff/Lost Coast Outpost, via Associated Press

As student protests roiled many American campuses, the campus police at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, made arrests on Monday night and attempted to disperse pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have occupied a campus building for over a week.

The protesters took over Siemens Hall, which includes the university president’s office, last Monday and renamed it “Intifada Hall.” They fought an early attempt by the police to remove them and have rejected increasingly strong entreaties from officials to leave the building.

Tent encampment at

Columbia University

Faculty and staff

members guarding

access to the tents

Columbia

University

Tent

encampment

Columbia

University

Source: Google Earth

Note: Photograph taken Monday, April 29

By Leanne Abraham; Photograph by Bing Guan

April 30, 2024, 6:23 a.m. ET

Columbia announced that it would restrict access to the Morningside Heights campus to students who live in one of seven dorms on campus and employees who provide essential services. It is closing all entry points to the campus indefinitely, except the gate at 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

April 30, 2024, 5:53 a.m. ET

A student group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which organized the encampment on campus, said on social media that Hamilton Hall had been taken over by “an autonomous group” of “Columbia community members.” It said those protesters planned to remain in the building until the university conceded to C.U.A.D.’s demands, which include divestment from companies doing business in Israel. 

Police officers forcing students out of Hamilton Hall at Columbia in May 1968 during an occupation.Larry C. Morris/The New York Times

Hamilton Hall, the building at Columbia University that protesters occupied early Tuesday morning, has been occupied several times by student activists over the past half-century.

Here are some of the notable moments of student protest at the building.

April 30, 2024, 4:57 a.m. ET

Karla Marie Sanford

Reporting from Columbia University

It's been about four hours since protesters at Columbia University occupied Hamilton Hall, a building that has been at the heart of campus movements since the 1960s. In the moments after it was taken over early Tuesday, protesters used furniture to barricade doors, draped banners out of windows and shouted pro-Palestinian slogans.

Bing Guan for The New York Times

April 30, 2024, 4:57 a.m. ET

Karla Marie Sanford

Reporting from Columbia University

It’s unclear how many people remain inside the hall. The crowd outside has thinned, with about 20 students there. Another 20 are sitting or sleeping at Hamilton’s back entrance. Music that had been blaring all evening from protesters’ speakers has just stopped.

April 30, 2024, 4:44 a.m. ET

Liset Cruz

Reporting from Columbia University

Columbia University has just posted a message confirming that protesters have occupied Hamilton Hall. The statement advises members of the university community and non-essential workers to avoid coming to the Morningside campus today, and that access to campus may be restricted. “The safety of every single member of this community is paramount,” it says.

Student protestors gathered outside Hamilton Hall after the building was seized and occupied by protestors on Tuesday.Bing Guan for The New York Times

The occupation of a building on Columbia University’s campus on early Tuesday marked an especially tense 24 hours of pro-Palestinian protests across the country, as police in California started arresting protesters that had taken over at least one other building and threatened to do so at others.

Police had begun arresting demonstrators at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where they had occupied a building for more than a week. And at Portland State University in Oregon, students had taken over a library.

April 30, 2024, 4:06 a.m. ET

On the West Coast, police officers arrested some protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Demonstrators there had barricaded themselves in Siemens Hall and were told to leave the premises."

Protesters at Columbia Occupy Hamilton Hall: College Protests Live Updates - The New York Times