The daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar said she was suspended from Barnard College on Thursday for refusing to leave a camp set up on campus to support Gaza.
Isra Hirsi, 21, previously said she was informed that she and at least two other students had been suspended for “standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing genocide.” wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Hirsi, an organizer with a pro-Palestinian student group, said it was the first time in her three years at New York City Schools that she had been punished for being a student activist.
“We in the Gaza Solidarity encampment will not be threatened,” she wrote.
The suspensions and protests highlight the heightened tensions on college campuses across the country since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began last fall.
Barnard College suspends some Columbia University and Barnard College students who refused multiple written and verbal requests to leave an unauthorized tent encampment on Columbia University’s South Lawn Thursday morning announced that it had been made.
Columbia University President Nemat “Minoush” Shafik said in a memo to police that more than 100 people were occupying the area.
“We have determined that the encampment and related disruption pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University,” the memo said.
Shafiq said the protesters committed violations including trespassing, refusing to disperse and damaging campus property.
“Columbia is committed to allowing members of our community to engage in political expression, within established rules and while respecting the safety of everyone,” the memo said.
Bernard would not say how many students had been suspended or confirm that Hirschi was among them. He did not say how long the suspension would last, but said the suspension of students who stay will continue.
“Our priority, now and always, is for our students to learn and live in an inclusive environment free of harassment,” the school said in a memo regarding the suspension.
Hirschi could not be reached for comment.
Omar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democrat representing Minnesota is a Somali refugee who made history as one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress.
On Wednesday, Omar strongly accused Shafiq of anti-Semitism during a congressional hearing and questioned Shafiq about protests on campus.
Omar told Shafik that he was “appalled” to learn that Columbia University suspended six students earlier this month for participating in a pro-Palestinian panel event on campus.
“Recently, there have been attacks on students’ democratic rights across the country,” Omar said.
Tensions over free speech have erupted on some U.S. college campuses since the war began between Hamas and Israel in October 2023.
This week, the University of Southern California canceled a Muslim student’s valedictorian speech due to safety concerns. Last week, a UC Berkeley professor confronted a Muslim student at a law school alumni dinner.
Shafiq said in a statement Thursday that he authorized police to clear the camp “out of great concern” for safety on campus.
New York City police have so far arrested three people at the encampment, ages 26, 30, and 35.
By late Thursday afternoon, police had dismantled the original tent encampment, but protesters had begun constructing a new tent encampment on an adjacent lawn.
