No housing, no graduation: What suspension means for pro-Palestine protesters at US colleges

“Disclose, divest. We will not stop, we will not rest.”

These chants rang clearly and loudly at Columbia University even as the officials of the institution began to suspend students , who defied a deadline to leave a pro-Palestinian camp set up to protest the war in Gaza.

Even Cornell University located in New York has suspended students, who refused to leave the pro-Palestinian encampment at the campus.

But what happens to the suspended students? What are the repercussions they face?

Columbia suspensions

On Monday afternoon, Columbia University in the US — which has been at the heart of pro-Palestinian protests that have upended college campuses across the United States — announced the suspension of students who defied a 2 pm deadline to clear the encampment on campus.

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According to a Los Angeles Times report, at least 120 tents remained up as the deadline passed, with protesters chanting, clapping and drumming. The New York Times further reported that some of the students had seized Hamilton Hall, with dozens linking arms and blocking the main entrance.

The suspensions began soon after Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced that negotiations over the encampment between faculty and students were not able to reach an agreement.

Ben Chang, vice president for communications and a spokesperson for the university, said after the deadline passed: “We have begun suspending students.”

However, it was unknown how many students had been suspended.

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Columbia has been embroiled in pro-Palestine protests for the past two weeks. In fact, it was the first institution struck by protests on 17 April, with students demanding that the school divest from investments that support weapons manufacturing and Israel amid the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, in which more than 34,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip.

Cornell follows suit

And hours after it was reported that Columbia was taking action against its students, news came in that Cornell University had also begun suspending students.

Cornell president Martha E Pollack in a statement said that students would be suspended as they refused to move their encampment to an alternate location. “Last Thursday, a group of individuals formed an encampment on the Arts Quad. A student group had previously requested permission for an art installation there, consistent with our policies; however, they were dishonest in their request, stating that there would not be tents and that the art installation would be removed by 8 pm on Thursday.”

She added that her team approached the students participating in the encampment with an alternate location. However, despite giving them hours to make a decision, they chose not to move, following which the authorities moved forward with a first set of immediate temporary suspensions.

This action comes after four others had been suspended on 26 April for the same reason. Authorities notified them they have been “temporarily suspended” from Cornell. Two of them are international graduate students. Two are American undergraduates.

Implications for students

The suspensions will deliver a huge blow to students. At Columbia, those who are being suspended will face stern action. This includes being restricted from all Columbia campuses and property and ineligible to participate in classes and academic or extracurricular activities.

“You are not permitted to complete the Spring 2024 semester, including participate in classes or exams in-person or remotely or otherwise submit assignments or engage in any activities affiliated with Columbia University,” a Columbia notice on campus reads. “You may lose the semester. If you are scheduled to graduate, you are no longer eligible.”

At Cornell, a student who was suspended, later identified as Nick Wilson, told the Cornell Daily Sun that he had been suspended with three others. He stated that he had been withdrawn from his courses, and was restricted from entering campus for an unspecified grace period. Moreover, the University had tried to evict him from his home on campus. However, owing to support from the faculty, the administration allowed him to remain in residence for the semester.

Democrat leader Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was also quoted as telling media outlets that she was “basically evicted” after she was suspended from Columbia University’s Barnard College for participating in pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Hirsi recounted the moment she received notice of her suspension in a Teen Vogue interview.

“An email we received said we had 15 minutes to go get our s**t if we wanted it, and we’d have to go with a public safety escort.”

She added that she didn’t want to do that, but added: “Where am I going to sleep? Where am I gonna go? And also all of my s**t is thrown in a random lot. It’s pretty horrible.”

For international students facing suspension, there is the added fear of losing their visas, said Radhika Sainath, an attorney with Palestine Legal. “The level of punishment is not even just draconian, it feels like over-the-top callousness,” Sainath was quoted as saying to AP.

And it’s not just suspended students that may be affected. At Columbia, the president said the decision to not clear the encampment would also affect the 15 May commencement programme.

In fact, pro-Palestine protests across US universities have affected several activities on campus. For instance, the University of Southern California president Carol Folt called off the school’s main commencement ceremony amid the demonstrations.

Students Speak

However, some protesting students seemed unfazed by the strict action, saying they wouldn’t move.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition organising the encampment protest, said in a statement: “These repulsive scare tactics mean nothing compared to the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians. We will not move until Columbia meets our demands or we are moved by force.”

The group also slammed the university’s “threat to mass suspend, evict and possibly expel students” with just hours’ notice as a violation of the school’s rules.

Protests continue unabated

While Columbia and Cornell is taking action against the protesting students, there seems to be no stopping the pro-Palestine agitations from growing bigger and wider across the United States as well as the world.

At the University of Texas , dozens of people were arrested, with news reports stating that around 40 people were arrested, with reports of police using flash bangs, mace, and other chemical munitions during the arrests.

Similarly, at the Tulane University in New Orleans, six protesters were arrested after tents were set up on the campus. “Today, participants in a protest that was unregistered and unsanctioned by Tulane University stormed university property and erected tents on the edge of the lawn in front of Gibson Hall near the sidewalk,” said Kirk Bouyelas, Tulane’s associate vice president for public safety.

After university police warned protesters not to enter school property, they began arresting people and clearing tents, Bouyelas said.

At Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, the police were called in and seen arresting students. The action came as protesters gathered near the university’s library in an area they called a “liberation zone”. Video showed officers in riot gear apprehending individuals.

At Yale, the authorities said in a statement that while it supported peaceful protests and freedom of speech, it did not tolerate policy violations such as the encampment. School officials said that the protest is near residential colleges where many students are studying for final exams and that permission must be granted for groups to hold events and put up structures on campus.

With inputs from agencies