Columbia University indefinitely suspended four students for participating in an unsanctioned campus talk led by a man with alleged ties to group designated a terrorist organization by the US according to reports.
The event called “Resistance 101” was led by prominent Palestinian activist Khaled Barakat, who appeared by video to discuss the Gaza conflict that erupted in the aftermath of Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Students identified as participants in the meeting were dismissed from their campus housing on Wednesday and given just 24 hours to vacate according to the campus newspaper, the Columbia Spectator.
During the meeting, Barakat — who has been accused of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — talked about speaking with his “friends and brothers in Hamas, Islamic Jihad… the PFLP… especially after Oct.7,” and how excited they are when they see student groups in America protesting on their behalf.
“They don’t care about what Biden says and what Kamala Harris says… what they’re focused on is to actually stop the Israeli aggression and defeat Israel,” Barakat said during the meeting.
“When they see students organizing outside Palestine, they really feel that they are being backed as a resistance and they’re being supported. Every demonstration in New York matters for Gaza. Your work is so important to the resistance in Gaza, more than ever,” he said.
Columbia conducted an investigation into the meeting using an outside firm, university President Minouche Shafik said, and charged the four students found to have participated in the event with violating campus policies, endangerment, disruptive behavior, and other charges, according to the Spectator.
“On March 24, an event took place at a campus residential facility that the University had already barred, twice, from occurring. It featured speakers who are known to support terrorism and promote violence,” university President Shafik said in a statement.
“I want to state for the record that this event is an abhorrent breach of our values.”
Initially there were six students suspended, but two of them were later cleared. The investigation into the event remains ongoing, the president said.
“I realize that our campus has been deeply shaken by the war between Israel and Hamas, starting Oct. 7 with the horrific Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, and now unfolding as a humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Shafik said, adding that while she doesn’t seek to punish students, actions in violation of campus policies must come with consequences.
A campus investigation is also underway into an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian demonstration held on April 4 that drew over 100 participants.
At that event, one the students suspended for partaking in the “Resistance 101” meeting with Barakat said she lost a full-ride scholarship for a master’s in Middle East studies because of her participation.
“I left everything behind, my community, my partner, my work, my entire life based on Columbia’s promise of a full scholarship to pursue Palestine study,” she said, according to the Spectator.
“Columbia is not only a complicit institution, it is a violent institution.”