Columbia prez calls on NYPD for help removing protesters as tensions boil after hearing

Thursday's developments come a day after University President Minouche Shafik testified on Capitol Hill about campus antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on IsraelThe president of Columbia University called on the NYPD Thursday to clear a group of protesters from the Morningside Heights campus' South Lawn, calling their action disruptive and dangerous to the college and community.

"I have determined that the encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University," Shafik wrote."With great regret, we request the NYPD’s help to remove these individuals. We understand that the first step in this process will be for NYPD to use its LRAD technology to inform the participants in the encampment that they must disperse and give them time to leave prior to taking any additional action.

I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances. The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies. Through direct conversations and in writing, the university provided multiple notices of these violations, including a written warning at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday notifying students who remained in the encampment as of 9:00 p.m. that they would face suspension pending investigation.

Columbia is committed to academic freedom and to the opportunity for students and faculty to engage in political expression—within established rules and with respect for the safety of all. The policies we have in place around demonstrations are in place to support both the right to expression and the safety and functioning of our university.

A new report from the Anti-Defamation League finds antisemitism has skyrocketed to record levels across the country, including the tri-state, as antisemitic incidents in New York and New Jersey more than doubled last year. The areas with some of the highest increases: Manhattan and Bergen County. NBC New York's Melissa Russo reports.

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