Anti-Israel activists chained themselves to a Columbia University entrance gate on Wednesday afternoon in a protest on the belief that a member of the board of trustees reported Columbia University Apartheid Divest leading member Mahmoud Khalil to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
At least four activists affiliated with Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace chained themselves to the St. Paul’s Chapel gate, according to the protest group and Columbia Office of Public Affairs. Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition claimed that seven students were involved, six Jewish and one Palestinian student.
The chains and bindings were removed by security personnel, and the students were removed from the campus area. Columbia PSC charged that the security guards were most aggressive with the Palestinian student.
"We will follow the process established in the Rules of University Conduct for enforcing violations," said Columbia. "Our focus is on preserving our core mission to teach, create, and advance knowledge while ensuring a safe campus for our community."
JVP explained the incident in an Instagram statement, demanding more information in relation to a March 10 Forward article in which pro-Israel activist Ross Glick claimed that members of the Columbia board had reported Khalil to officials. Khalil was arrested on March 8, and his green card was revoked over his support for Hamas and leading belligerent protests on campuses.
"We demand to know the names of the Columbia trustees who gave Mahmoud's name to ICE," said JVP.
Columbia denied that any member of its leadership had ever requested the presence of ICE agents near its campus.
Other activist groups join JVP in protest
Other activist groups joined the effort, with Within Our Lifetime calling on X for activists to join the protests against Columbia, which it claimed was complicit in a supposed genocide in Gaza.
"Stand with them—we must escalate now!" WOL urged on social media. "The time for neutrality is over. Join Columbia students in the fight for liberation now!"
JVP said on Instagram that the board of trustees didn't have the students at heart and only served their alleged business interests invested in defense firms. The group asserted that acting president Claire Shipmen's replacement of former interim president Katrina Armstrong last Friday was a "de facto coup by the trustees" in response to the federal government's March 7 cancellation of $400 million in grants and contracts with the university.
"Our trustees have forsaken all forms of shared governance and transparency to endanger our peers," JVP said in reference to Khalil, whose deportation is still being litigated.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that US District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled that the activist’s case could be heard in New Jersey rather than in the more conservative Louisiana, where he is currently being held.
As part of its agreement with the federal government, Columbia has resolved to expand its security system with specially trained patrol officers.
StandWithUs Center of Legal Justice and Columbia College alumna Yael Lerman said that the gate incident was yet another act of unchecked intimidation that had created a hostile campus environment, with the exception that Columbia took action on Wednesday to restore order.
"That action didn’t come voluntarily — it was the result of mounting pressure including a federal crackdown and legal challenges like ours," said Lerman, referencing a lawsuit filed last February over the university's alleged indifference to the hostile climate for Jews and Israelis. "It should never have required this much to compel the university to uphold basic standards of safety and accountability.”
