Students Studying at Columbia Library Were Suspended for Protest They Took No Part In

A day after Columbia University called in the New York Police Department to arrest more than pro-Palestine protesters who had occupied a library reading room the university and its affiliate Barnard College suspended several students who had been present in the library The suspended students included students who happened to be studying in Butler Library at the time the occupation began as well as journalists The suspensions came amid final exams at the university Particular of the students who were not protesting have had their suspensions rescinded Barnard College informed suspended students that they would have to vacate their college housing within hours and that their meal cards would be voided The housing deadline was set to pass on Saturday but Barnard mentioned in a report that no one had been evicted yet The Intercept spoke to several people who were put under interim suspensions including a Barnard attendee who stated that she and another apprentice were suspended and given eviction notices before they had the chance to prove to the college that they had not been involved in the protest Hasty punishments and violations of due process are exactly what we would expect The stark and immediate punishments were meted out before the students were given a chance to respond in what faculty members call a clear violation of due process related to the sensitivities over protests against the university s ties to Israel amid its war on Gaza Hasty punishments and violations of due process are exactly what we would expect when we allow our disciplinary and community safety policies to be dictated by political forces that value repression more than our district s well-being Joseph Howley an associate professor of classics at Columbia University advised The Intercept Yannik Thiem an associate professor of religion at Columbia who taught various of the suspended students notified The Intercept The blanket move to interim suspend without a process to establish that the students veritably violated the rules in a way that warrants this kind of punishment and to evict them seem to be punitive measures that indicate that the students are presumed guilty until proven innocent At least six students from Columbia and Barnard including four journalists and according to a aspirant and faculty members two who were merely studying at Butler Library have had their suspensions and eviction notices lifted since the punishments were handed down Thursday Read our complete coverage Chilling Dissent Required about its suspensions punishments and accusations that due process was falling by the wayside a spokesperson for Barnard announced Barnard respects and supports a robust learner press As students present in Butler Library during the disruption have been established to be working as journalists we have notified them that their interim suspensions have been lifted As our review continues we will issue additional notifications as necessary Initial interim suspensions were based solely on the time students exited Butler Library the spokesperson commented Students who were able to demonstrate that they were not participants despite remaining in the library after being directed to leave have had their suspensions promptly lifted No scholar has been required to leave campus housing as a development of an interim suspension Intense and Intimidating Among the students who had their suspensions reversed was Samra Moosa a -year-old Barnard College candidate Moosa spent the morning of May working on her assignments in Butler Library s reading room Around p m just after Moosa had returned from a lunch break around protesters began a pro-Palestine protest in the library Shortly after Columbia-employed campus measure officers arrived Moosa tried to leave when the protesters came in but stated the main exits were blocked by both protesters and campus safety The atmosphere promptly became very intense and intimidating Moosa mentioned We clearly witnessed Constituents Safety pushing and being very aggressive towards trainee protesters and obviously in my mind there s no way I m leaving through the front doors with Masses Safety literally pushing at anyone Moosa disclosed she was also worried that as a brown woman Columbia s Constituents Safety might assume she was a protester Several students Moosa announced kept studying around the reading room as the protest continued Others attempted to leave through the exits but were required to show their IDs first I complied because I literally was a aspirant just studying Shortly after p m as the protest continued Moosa attempted to leave through a side exit of the reading room Along with other students trying to leave she was informed by a measure officer that she would have to show her ID in order to leave So I complied because I literally was a attendee just studying and I evidenced her my ID Samra explained On her way out Moosa disclosed the Populace Safety officer snapped a photo of her ID Moosa mentioned she left the library of her own accord never receiving any order verbal or written to evacuate the library while she was in the building At p m about two hours after leaving the library a university-wide email alert came from Columbia Masses Safety Alert Butler Library is closed and the area must be cleared No Evidence On May the day after the protest Moosa received an email from Barnard Dean Leslie Grinage that she had been suspended effective at once The decision stated the email which was reviewed by The Intercept stemmed from information received from Columbia University Populace Safety that Moosa was involved in a disruption at the library the day before Within hours Moosa would have to evacuate her on-campus housing We understand that losing access to the residence hall you are assigned to the email continued is inconvenient and may pose a hardship Barnard added that if complying with the -hour deadline presents a hardship they might provide additional flexibility and backing in leaving the residence hall A well-placed source with knowledge of the mediation proceedings between the university and those present inside Butler Library communicated The Intercept that the working assumption that day was that the students who presented their IDs and identified themselves while leaving the library would get due process if disciplinary proceedings were initiated The source requested anonymity over concerns of retaliation The suspension according to Grinage s email was instituted because of alleged violations of Barnard s Trainee Code of Conduct which governs typical disciplinary proceedings The email went on however to suggest that the punishments were separate from the normal processes This interim suspension does not replace the Barnard Scholar Code of Conduct process which will begin as soon as manageable it disclosed The College has not yet made a determination about your responsibility for any alleged violations of the Code at this time or the resulting sanctions if you are uncovered responsible Moosa who is Muslim replied to Grinage in short order requesting that her suspension be lifted I am deeply concerned that I have been mistakenly and unfairly identified as a protest participant she wrote I believe this may be due to assumptions based on my appearance ethnic background and religion To be clear I did not participate in the protest nor did I engage in any disruption She added that on the contrary she had acted responsibly to remove herself from the situation as soon as it was safe to do so Moosa met on Friday afternoon with Grinage less than hours after she d received the initial suspension notice and just hours before her scheduled eviction It s as if she has no evidence she has nothing on me but they re actively trying to find something At the meeting Moosa mentioned she read to Grinage from a prepared comment This accusation has caused me vital emotional distress and disrupted my ability to complete my final assignments As a Muslim woman I feel that Barnard has repeatedly failed to create a safe and supportive atmosphere for students like myself It is unacceptable for the College to claim inclusivity while subjecting students of color to racial profiling and false accusations By the time evening fell Moosa had still not received a judgment on her affair She had begun packing up her dorm room At p m Moosa received an email from Grinage that her suspension had been withdrawn Moosa however was not in the clear Barnard reserves the right to reimpose interim sanctions and or initiate charges regarding this matter at any point in the future wrote Grinage For Moosa the email read like a threat It s as if she has no evidence she has nothing on me Moosa disclosed but they re actively trying to find something to pin me to the protests Trump Crackdown The Butler Library protest and sweeping responses came amid an all-out assault against universities particularly Columbia which has been flashpoints of campus protests against Israel s war on Gaza by the Trump administration Decrying virtually any pro-Palestine position as anti-Jewish animus the administration formed a Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism to lead its crackdown Among other controversial measures such as demands on its Middle East studies department that faculty members stated flew in the face of academic independence the administration withdrew hundreds of millions in funding from Columbia On the same day that Columbia and Barnard reported the suspensions including those targeting non-protesters and attendee journalists the Trump administration s task force heaped praise on the university administration and Claire Shipman its new acting president for their response to the protest The task force disclosed it was encouraged by Acting President Shipman s strong and resolute announcement regarding the unlawful violent and disgraceful takeover of Butler library and that she had met the moment with fortitude and conviction The task force added that it was confident that Columbia will take the appropriate disciplinary actions for those involved in this act Howley the classics professor linked the school s heavy-handed response to the protests to the threats over its funding It turns out a university might not be able to uphold its own values when authoritarians hold a billion-dollar gun to its head he disclosed It turns out a university might not be able to uphold its own values when authoritarians hold a billion-dollar gun to its head In a video circulated Wednesday evening Shipman mentioned she had confidence the disciplinary proceedings will reflect the severity of the actions The Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors disclosed in a comment on Thursday that there is a countervailing and urgent need to ensure due process for all parties Barnard treats students guilty before they have a chance to prove themselves innocent a professor at the school who requested to not be named due to concerns over retaliation informed The Intercept It is the the majority cynical interpretation of due process under their own more likely than not standard that they insist is educational and not punitive The hasty suspensions and evictions with lapses in due process are not new to Barnard Following the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia last April Barnard suspended at least students and evicted them from their dorms barred them from campus and revoked their access to campus dining Chosen suspended students were given a mere minutes to pack up and leave their housing Their suspension notices had explained that a campus guard official will escort you to your room and you will have minutes to gather what you might need Such precedents at Columbia and Barnard have left students especially uneasy Moosa disclosed that given the manner in which Barnard acted she feels that the college is still holding the threat of suspension over her head I don t feel relieved she commented of having her suspension revoked I haven t done anything to prove to this college that I am a danger to this campus The post Students Studying at Columbia Library Were Suspended for Protest They Took No Part In appeared first on The Intercept