Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched around the protest encampment at Columbia University on Monday as a deadline set by the university to clear its central lawn passed and students inside had not dispersed.
Columbia had given students until 2 p.m. to clear out from the encampment, warning them that they would face immediate suspension if they did not leave by then.
There was no visible presence of New York Police Department officers and no immediate sign that university public safety officers were moving in. But it remained unclear how the school would follow through on enforcing its deadline.
There were about 80 tents and there appeared to be roughly 60 protesters left in the encampment at around 2 p.m. The campus was also thronged with media.
The university’s order to clear the encampment appeared be to an attempt to clear the area without calling in the Police Department, whose intervention on April 18 at the request of Columbia administrators led to more than 100 student arrests and incited an international movement to build similar encampments on dozens of university and college campuses.
Students in the encampment on Monday morning received a notice from administrators stating that negotiations with student protest leaders were at an impasse. It urged the students to clear out voluntarily to allow the school to prepare the lawn for graduation ceremonies on May 15.
“The current unauthorized encampment and disruption on Columbia University’s campus is creating an unwelcoming environment for members of our community,” the notice stated. “Please promptly gather your belongings and leave the encampment.”
Students will be not be punished for their participation in the encampment if they sign a form promising not to break any university rules through the end of the next academic year. Students in the encampment who already face discipline from previous violations, but who are there anyway, may not be eligible for the same deal, the document stated.
The notice also warned students that they might still be held accountable for discrimination and harassment charges stemming from their involvement in the encampment even if they did sign the form.
For those who do not leave, it was not immediately apparent how Columbia would enforce the clearing of the encampment. Last Friday, Nemat Shafik, Columbia’s president, in a statement to the community, all but ruled out calling in the Police Department again to clear the space.
“We called on N.Y.P.D. to clear an encampment once,” she wrote, in a notice co-signed by the co-chairs of Columbia’s board of trustees, “but we all share the view, based on discussions within our community and with outside experts, that to bring back the N.Y.P.D. at this time would be counterproductive, further inflaming what is happening on campus, and drawing thousands to our doorstep who would threaten our community.”
Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and the lead negotiator on behalf of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the student coalition that has organized the encampment, called the deadline “just another intimidation tactic from the university.”
“The university is dealing with this matter as a disciplinary issue, not as a movement to divest from war,” he said.
At noon, about 150 students in the encampment gathered to vote on whether to continue despite the threat. Mr. Khalil, one of the speakers who addressed the students, compared the university’s notice to a similar one last week to clear the camp that was later postponed by Columbia to give more time for negotiations.
“We shouldn’t stop here because the people in Gaza are under bombs, and here we are under disciplinary charges,” he told the group.
Anna Betts contributed reporting.
