Columbia University has reportedly finally announced disciplinary action against the pro-Hamas students who seized Hamilton Hall and terrorized Jewish students on campus last April.
“Today, the Columbia University Judicial Board determined findings and issued sanctions to students ranging from multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions related to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring,” the school announced Thursday.
However, the school refused to say how many students were disciplined, name the perpetrators or identify what specific punishment each one received.
BREAKING
NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University says it has expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian protests last spring, and had temporarily revoked the diplomas of some students who have since graduated.
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) March 13, 2025
What prompted the school to finally lay down the law? The Trump administration’s decision earlier this month to cancel $400 million of the school’s grants and contracts over its failure to protect Jewish students.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses – only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement last week.
“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer,” she added.
NEWS: ED & fellow members of the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @HHSGov, & @USGSA) announced the cancelation of ~$400M federal grants to @Columbia due to their continued inaction to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. https://t.co/BUxTNm0T3Z pic.twitter.com/T8lQtbRqlD
— U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) March 7, 2025
The administration stressed though that this was just the “initial” round of cuts and that more cuts in funding — the school reportedly holds over $5 billion in federal grant commitments — would be pursued in the future based on how Columbia University proceeded going forward.
“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism. This is only the beginning,” Department of Justice attorney Leo Terrell said in a statement.
“Canceling these taxpayer funds is our strongest signal yet that the Federal Government is not going to be party to an educational institution like Columbia that does not protect Jewish students and staff,” he added.
Several other federal agencies meanwhile wrote a letter to school officials offering to restore their funding if they took disciplinary action against the Hamasniks who’d participated in the Hamilton Hall takeover.
“The University must complete disciplinary proceedings for Hamilton Hall and encampments,” the letter read. “Meaningful discipline means expulsion or multi-year suspension.”
BREAKING: the government has delivered its list of necessary actions that @Columbia must take to restore federal funding.
This is a strong list. Today we got discipline. Columbia should keep it up to make meaningful change on campus and get the federal money back. pic.twitter.com/WrLFrCYeto
— Elisha (Lishi) Baker (@LishiBaker) March 13, 2025
Dovetailing to the present, several school officials and even teachers celebrated the school’s decision to dole out punishment.
“This ruling is an important first step in righting the wrongs of the past year and a half,” Columbia Barnard Hillel executive director Brian Cohen tweeted. “I am grateful to the rules administrator and other members of the administration for their roles in ensuring these cases were resolved.”
Columbia faculty member Gil Zussman, a member of the school’s Task Force on Antisemitism, also praised the move by Columbia.
Look:
.@Columbia students expelled and suspended for taking over Hamilton Hall last spring. I commend the University Judicial Board for making these tough decisions, the Rules administrator for his work and the university administration for navigating this very complex process. 1 /2 pic.twitter.com/JLwItbvBNI
— Gil Zussman (@gil_zussman) March 13, 2025
It is really sad that we are at a situation in which such decisions need to be made. However, finally demonstrating that breaking university rules has consequences is an important first step towards going back to the core missions of research and teaching. 2/2
— Gil Zussman (@gil_zussman) March 13, 2025
All this comes amid the ongoing deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student accused of both overseeing last year’s campus “protest” and also defending/promoting Hamas.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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