Third student expelled from Columbia's Barnard College for pro-Palestinian activism

A third student was expelled from Columbia University's Barnard College on Friday for pro-Palestinian activism that took place on campus last year - ten months after disciplinary proceedings started against them. 

The student from the women's college in Manhattan, New York, was expelled for “allegedly protesting the University’s investments in genocide and for allegedly participating in the occupation of Hind’s Hall”, according to a statement released by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad) Defense Working Group. Barnard is part of Columbia.

This is the first Columbia student targeted for their alleged participation in the protests which erupted last spring. The expulsion comes a week after two other students were expelled for staging a protest during a class in January, making Barnard the first university to expel students over the Gaza war. 

The surprise third expulsion came the day after the office of public affairs notified Columbia University that a federal taskforce would be visiting it, as well as nine other universities, because it was “aware of allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law”.

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