Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus protests during the Gaza war

During the Gaza war and genocide, Columbia University in New York City has been the site of student activism—including a series of protests, encampments, and occupations—in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza and against what student protesters have called the university's complicity in the genocide. The main demand of the Gaza solidarity protest movement at Columbia was that the university disinvest from Israel. The university's administration and the federal government have sought to repress the protests, which they have called antisemitic. In 2025, the university became a focus of President Donald Trump, whose administration, citing what it called widespread antisemitism at Columbia, cut $400 million in funding to Columbia and issued a list of demands, detained and attempted to deport Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, and investigated Columbia for Title VI violations. In a settlement with the Trump administration, the Trustees of Columbia University agreed to pay over $200 million, adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and accept other demands.

That protest, jointly organized by Columbia's chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), demanded that Columbia address Palestinian humanity, disinvest from Israel, cancel the CU Tel Aviv Global Center, and stop the dual degree program with Tel Aviv University. Columbia's administration adjusted its protest policies and, on November 10, suspended SJP and JVP for organizing an "unauthorized" walkout. At a November 14 rally, a coalition of 80+ student groups was announced as Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which continued to organize protest activity with six demands, including that Columbia institutionally call for an immediate ceasefire, divestment from companies profiting from Israeli apartheid, and end its vilification of pro-Palestinian activism.

On April 17, 2024, Columbia students established the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the East Butler Lawn. The next day, Columbia President Minouche Shafik called in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to arrest them en masse—the first time Columbia allowed police to suppress campus protests since the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Shortly after the mass arrest and dismantling of the initial camp, other students autonomously occupied the adjacent lawn and established another encampment there, holding it for several days as students negotiated with the administration. The Columbia encampments encouraged other actions at multiple universities and led to the proliferation of Palestine solidarity encampments at over 180 universities around the world.

On April 29, after Shafik announced the end of negotiations and said Columbia "will not divest from Israel", protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, calling it Hind's Hall in honor of Hind Rajab. After less than 24 hours, the NYPD was summoned again. Hundreds of NYPD officers broke into and cleared the hall, arrested more than 100 protesters, and fully dismantled the camp. On May 31, a third campus encampment was briefly established in response to an alumni reunion.

When Shafik announced her resignation as president on August 14, 2024, Katrina Armstrong, then CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and dean of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, became interim president. After the Trump administration's $400 million funding cut, Armstrong stepped down and Claire Shipman, then co-chair of the board of trustees, became acting president. Shortly thereafter, Shipman announced a review of the Columbia University Senate.

Several allegations of antisemitic incidents were made with regard to the protests. Organizers repeatedly denounced antisemitism and affirmed that there was no room for it or "any form of racism" in the movement. Columbia affiliates, including Jewish students and professors, challenged attempts to characterize Palestine solidarity at Columbia as antisemitic—including characterizations and pronouncements made by the federal government and Columbia's Task Force on Antisemitism—describing such attempts as conflating opposition to Zionism with antisemitism and exploiting the accusation of antisemitism to repress Palestine solidarity as well as academic freedom and freedom of expression.