Two days of pro-Palestinian protests at Barnard result in arrests, college employee sent to hospital

Protests continued Thursday at Barnard College-Columbia University in New York City following the announcement of the expulsion of two students who disrupted a class on the history of modern Israel.

The students were part of a group of four and disrupted the class on Jan. 21, the first class of the semester. News of the expulsion was reportedly post on social media Sunday. But the protests, in which a Barnard employee was injured and taken to the hospital, didn't start until Wednesday. Over 50 anti-Israel activists took over a building on the Barnard campus, which is adjacent to Columbia's. 

On Thursday, the New York Police Department made several arrests, with around 100 anti-Israel demonstrators gathering in front of the entrance to Barnard while wearing masks and keffiyehs and chanting "Free Palestine," according to Fox News. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson has spoke out against the protests.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH," the Louisiana Republican posted on X. "Pro-Hamas mobs have NO place on our college campuses. Barnard College & Columbia University must put an end to the antisemitic chaos on campus."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams also condemned the protests.

"As mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, the pain the protests held at Barnard College is causing to our Jewish community is not lost on me," he wrote on X. "I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, any protest that calls for an “intifada revolution.”

Barnard spokesperson Robin Levine suggested in a statement about the protests that people within the school community "encouraged others to enter campus without identification, showing blatant disregard for the safety of our community."

The protest Wednesday was organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, according to CNN.

The protesters are demanding the student expulsions be reversed. School administrators and faculty, students and protesters were part of talks over the two days about the expulsion and demands, according to the Columbia Spectator.   

Barnard President Laura Rosenbury said about the expulsion: "As a matter of principle and policy, Barnard will always take decisive action to protect our community as a place where learning thrives, individuals feel safe, and higher education is celebrated.This means upholding the highest standards and acting when those standards are threatened.”