Columbia starts SUSPENDING students in anti-Israel encampment barring them from campus and student housing after hundreds refused Ivy League university’s demand that they vacate by Monday afternoon

Student demonstrators at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at colleges across the US, are being suspended after defying an ultimatum to leave the area.

Authorities at the prestigious New York university demanded that the protest camp be cleared by 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon or the students would face disciplinary action.

A few hours later, Ben Chang, Columbia’s vice president of communications, said the university had “begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus.”

Chang said the students were warned that they would be “suspended, ineligible to complete the semester or graduate, and barred from all academic, residential, and recreational spaces.”

Columbia University officials said talks with student protesters had failed and issued an ultimatum that they must dismantle their camp.

Students gather to march and protest in support of a campus protest encampment supporting Palestinians, despite a 2 p.m. deadline set by university officials to disband

But students involved in the encampment were reluctant to comply with the university’s request.

“These abhorrent scare tactics mean nothing compared to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians,” said a statement read by a student at a press conference after the deadline.

“We will not move until Columbia meets our demands or … is forcibly moved,” said the student, who did not want to give his name.

Protests against the war in Gaza, with its high number of Palestinian civilian casualties, pose a challenge for university administrators trying to balance freedom of expression with complaints that the rallies have turned into anti-Semitism and hatred.

Images of police in riot gear being called to several colleges to break up rallies have been seen around the world, recalling the protest movement that erupted during the Vietnam War.

Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, said in a statement Monday announcing the talks had broken off: “Many of our Jewish students, as well as other students, have found the atmosphere unbearable in recent weeks.

“Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy.”

“Anti-Semitic language and actions are unacceptable and calls for violence are simply abhorrent,” she said.

Pro-Palestinian protesters marched at 2 p.m. as the deadline to clear the camp came and went

Students involved in the encampment were unhappy to comply with the university’s request to leave the area and now face suspension

The students received a suspension warning if they did not meet the deadline

Students at Columbia were the first from an elite college to set up an encampment demanding the school divest from Israel during the war between Israel and Hamas.

A protester waves the Israeli flag at the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza

A protester carries a university disciplinary notice, overlaid with support for the Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University

Protest organizers deny accusations of anti-Semitism and say their actions target the Israeli government and its prosecution of the Gaza conflict.

They also claim that some incidents were engineered by non-student agitators.

As the school year comes to an end, administrators are also highlighting the need to maintain order on campus for exam studies.

“One group’s right to express their opinions should not come at the expense of another group’s right to speak, teach and learn,” Shafik said.

One graduate student protester, who asked to be identified only as “Z,” said, “It’s finals week, everyone is still working on their finals, I still have finals to do.”

“But at the end of the day, school is temporary,” the protester said.

President Joe Biden’s White House has also tried to walk a fine line in defending the right to protest while condemning reported anti-Semitism.

“We understand that this is a painful moment that Americans are facing, and that free speech must occur within the law,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.

However, Biden’s Republican opponents have seized on the issue, labeling the protests as anti-Semitic and threatening to withdraw federal funding if they are not stopped.

“What continues to happen at Columbia is an absolute shame. The campus is overrun with anti-Semitic students and faculty,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday on X, reiterating his call for Shafik to resign.