Columbia University said on Wednesday morning that it was making “important progress” in negotiations with student protesters, hours after the administration extended a new deadline to clear them out.
An email from a university spokesperson said students had agreed to four stipulations: They would remove a number of the tents on the school’s west lawn, they would ensure no outsiders would join the demonstration, they would comply with FDNY guidelines in the encampment area, and they would prohibit discriminatory or harassing language.
The email said the university would continue its dialogue with students for the next 48 hours, effectively extending the deadline until Friday.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said late Tuesday night that the university was threatening students with arrest and not negotiating in good faith but it’s unclear if negotiations have since improved. Reporters have been barred from campus and students didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Wednesday marked the eighth day of student protests on Columbia’s campus, with dozens staying in tents on one of the school’s central lawns to demand that the university divest from companies with ties to Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Columbia’s President Minouche Shafik wrote a letter to the NYPD last Thursday requesting that the department come to campus to disperse the protesters and dismantle the encampment.
“I have determined that the encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the university,” she wrote.
After more than 100 students were arrested, the protest continued on a neighboring lawn on Friday.
Shafik announced on Monday that classes would provide a remote option, encouraging students to stay home if they had no reason to be on campus. On Tuesday, Shafik wrote another dispatch with a new ultimatum: Negotiations with student protesters would have to conclude by midnight.
“I fully support the importance of free speech, respect the right to demonstrate, and recognize that many of the protesters have gathered peacefully,” Shafik wrote. “However, the encampment raises serious safety concerns, disrupts campus life, and has created a tense and at times hostile environment for many members of our community. It is essential that we move forward with a plan to dismantle it.”
The university set a new deadline of 8 a.m. Wednesday for the student protesters to begin dismantling some of the tents, but the deadline came and went with little action.
At least a dozen tents of different shapes and sizes still stood on the school’s west lawn as a light rain came down on early Wednesday morning. The campus was quiet and heavily secured, with police in tactical helmets guarding every gate and entry point.
A small group of nonstudent protesters assembled outside the school’s entrance on West 116th Street and Broadway, holding signs and chanting in support of Gaza.
It’s still unclear how the protests will affect Columbia’s graduation ceremony on May 15, which traditionally takes place on the same quad where the encampment is set up.