About 80 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Wednesday after disrupting the library as students studied for finals.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his agency is reviewing the visa statuses of Columbia University demonstrators. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his agency is scrutinizing demonstrators who occupied the Columbia University library reading room.
“We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library,” Rubio wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. “Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.”
About 80 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Wednesday after disrupting the library as students were studying for finals. Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, said in a statement that the institution called on the NYPD to respond to the protest after the demonstrators refused to identify themselves and leave the building.
“Disruptions to our academic activities will not be tolerated and are violations of our rules and policies,” Shipman said. “This is especially unacceptable while our students study and prepare for final exams.”
The protest and Rubio’s response come as the Trump administration has sought to crack down on campus antisemitism by punishing elite universities, including Columbia, through pulling billions in federal grants and contracts. More than 1,800 students have lost their visa statuses due to the administration’s crackdown on immigration and antisemitism.
Shipman, in a video statement, disavowed the protest Thursday morning as “utterly unacceptable.”
“Violence and vandalism, hijacking a library,” she said. “None of that has any place on our campus.”
She rejected the group of students, though acknowledged that the institution did not know “whether there were outsiders involved.” However, she expressed concern about the attention it was bringing to the university.
“I’m deeply disturbed at the idea that at a moment when our international community feels particularly vulnerable, a small group of students would choose to make our institution a target,” she said.
GOP lawmakers also celebrated Rubio’s decision to evaluate the protesters’ visa statuses, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“Attention pro-Hamas rioters on college campuses across the country: you are on notice,” Johnson wrote on X. “America will no longer tolerate your antisemitic violence, destruction, harassment, and intimidation.”
The administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism said it was “encouraged” by Shipman’s “strong and resolute statement” and expressed confidence in Shipman’s leadership.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who is a member of the task force, also commended Shipman’s response, but emphasized the need to see what disciplinary actions the acting president will take.
“Columbia’s leadership responded with resolve and we commend the administration for a swift response that restored order and clarified that antisemitic mobs will no longer be tolerated,” McMahon said on X. “It will be important to see what action is taken against those arrested.”
