Columbia gives students until 2 p.m. to vacate campus encampment or risk suspension

Columbia University officials took a next-level step Monday toward trying to remove a pro-Palestinian encampment that has disrupt classes and other campus life for the past few weeks – telling student leave or risk suspension.

Students are asked to voluntarily leave by 2 p.m. and sign a form committing to abide by university policies through June 30, 2025, or by their graduation, according to the news outlet Axios. 

The protests started earlier this month in response to Israel's war in Gaza on Palestinian-backed Hamas that stared in October 2023. The New York Police Department was already called in to arrest protesters, in an attempt to clear the encampment. 

Students who don't agree to the Ivy League school's mandates will not be eligible to graduate this spring or participate in academic and extracurricular activities, Axios also reports. 

The mandate reportedly follows academic leaders and student organizers failing to come to an agreement, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said Monday in a campus-wide email. 

A major demand among the organizers is that Columbia divest from companies with links to Israel.