(The Center Square) — Columbia University has expelled several students for their involvement in pro-Palestrinian protests last year as the Ivy League school faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration to crack down on antisemitism on campus.
In an email to students and staff, university officials announced that the expulsions were prompted by an investigation that also led to multi-year suspensions and the temporary revoking of some graduates’ degrees.
“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 university said in a Thursday statement. “Columbia is committed to enforcing the University’s Rules and Policies and improving our disciplinary processes.”
The discipline was based on the “severity of the offense and prior run-ins” with the school administration, according to the university, which didn’t identify them or say how many were disciplined as a result of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Department of Homeland Security agents executed search warrants on two Columbia University residences on Thursday night, Interim President Katrina Armstrong said in a letter to students and faculty, pointing out that nobody was arrested or detained when ICE agents searched the rooms of two students.
“Federal agents from the DHS served Columbia University with two judicial search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge authorizing DHS to enter non-public areas of the University and conduct searches of two student rooms,” Armstrong said.
The flurry of activity at the New York City school comes after the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student and Palestinian activist who helped organize last year’s protests. He was arrested Saturday in New York City by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He is being held in Louisiana by immigration officials seeking to deport the green card holder.
His arrest came days after President Donald Trump pulled back $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia, arguing that the school didn’t comply with anti-discrimination laws when it failed to protect Jewish students during last year’s often violent demonstrations.
Columbia was the scene of large-scale demonstrations last year by students and others who set up makeshift encampments and called for an end to the Israeli military’s war against Hamas in Gaza and a recognition of Palestinians’ territorial claims. The NYPD was called in to break up the protests and encampments on campus. Columbia’s then-president, Minouche Shafik, resigned during the week of the demonstrations.
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that he expects more people to have their student visas or green cards revoked by the Trump administration for engaging in “pro-Hamas activity” on college campuses.
“This is not fundamentally about free speech, and to me, yes, it’s about national security,” Vance told Fox News on Thursday. “I think we’ll certainly see some people who get deported on student visas if we determine that it’s not in the best interest of the United States to have them in our country.”
