Columbia University suspended 65 students on Friday after they overtook the Butler Library on Wednesday in an anti-Israel protest.
“At this time, more than 65 Columbia students are on interim suspension pending further investigation,” a spokesperson said.
In addition, 33 people, including some from affiliated institutions, have been barred from Columbia’s campus.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest helped organize the takeover, in which about 100 people hung signs labeling the library a “liberated zone” and temporarily renaming the library “Basel Al-Araj Popular University.” Al-Araj is an alleged terrorist who was killed in 2017 by the Israel Defense Forces.
The protesters handed out pamphlets celebrating Al-Araj as a strong proponent of the Palestinian resistance.
“At the original Popular University project in the West Bank, Basel al-Araj taught about the Palestinian resistance and insisted that knowledge must serve liberation, not empire,” the pamphlet shared by CU Apartheid Divest stated. “Today, we teach each other the stories our universities refuse to tell. We feed each other, protect each other, learn with and from each other. The Popular University is not only a demand for divestment.”
The pamphlet also included a list of demands calling on the university to divest from Israel and to keep police and ICE agents off campus.
Columbia President Claire Shipman called on the New York Police Department to clear the building after the protesters, whom she accused of forcing their way into the building, refused to disperse. Shipman said the anti-Israel protesters created a “safety hazard” and refused to identify themselves.
Authorities arrested a total of 80 anti-Israel protesters, with 78 of those arrested ordered to make a desk appearance for criminal trespass, and two of the protesters were issued a summons.
During the arrests, two police officers were injured in a situation Shipman called “outrageous.”
“Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries during a crowd surge when individuals attempted to force their way into the building and into Room 301,” Shipman said in a statement to Fox News. “These actions are outrageous.”
In response to the Wednesday evening takeover, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department will be reviewing the visa statuses of those involved.
“We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library,” Rubio wrote in a post on X. “Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.”
Already, the State Department has revoked the visa of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil for his involvement in and organization of anti-Israel protests. The Syrian-born graduate student is currently suing the federal government over free speech concerns in a fight against his deportation.
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The Trump administration has been cracking down on antisemitic actions, which have been prevalent at many of these anti-Israel protests. In March, more than $400 million in federal funding was revoked from Columbia University.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Columbia University for comment.