Barnard Ends Suspensions for Most Student Protesters Who Were Arrested

Barnard College will allow most of the 53 students who were arrested and suspended after participating in a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University to return to its campus, administrators said in a statement on Friday.

The college said that it had “reached resolution with nearly all students” who were arrested last week when Columbia asked the police to clear the encampment, a move that set off dozens of solidarity protests at campuses across the country and dozens of additional arrests at schools including Yale University, the University of Southern California and Emerson College.

Of the arrested students at Columbia’s original encampment, about half were from Barnard, a women’s college affiliated with the university that is across the street in Upper Manhattan.

Barnard said suspended students who reached agreements with the college on Friday would have their access to residence halls, dining facilities and classrooms immediately restored. Barnard was still working on agreements with some other students, it said.

“Barnard is committed to educating and supporting students with wide-ranging backgrounds and diverse perspectives,” the statement read. “We continue to work closely with faculty, staff and students to ensure the college remains a safe and inclusive place for our community.”

Tensions on college campuses have been high since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, and Columbia and Barnard have both been the site of ongoing antiwar protests, along with efforts to clamp down on protest chants and other forms of speech that many Jewish students, faculty and others view as antisemitic.