Columbia faculty hold ’emergency vigil’ to protest university response to Trump

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Columbia faculty hold ’emergency vigil’ outside gates to protest recent policy changes

Students and staff encouraged to skip class, work following protests and Columbia University student discipline changes, Monday, March 24, 2025.

A group of people continued marching and circling around the main gate of Columbia University on Monday afternoon, banging loud drums and chanting, “Long live the intifada.”

Their actions come shortly after Columbia University professors held what they called an “emergency vigil” in response to the college’s agreement to implement a host of policy changes, including overhauling its rules for protests and conducting an immediate review of its Middle Eastern studies department following demands from the Trump administration. 

The group gathered outside the university’s gates on 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, holding signs that read “defend democracy,” “defend teaching” and “Columbia, fight back.”

Though the arrest of prominent anti-Israel activist and legal permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil by federal immigration officials was mentioned, activists used the opportunity to speak about numerous grievances with the school. 

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Virginia Page Fortna, professor in the department of political science at Columbia, spoke at an “emergency vigil” outside the university’s gates to protest recent policy changes. (FOX)

“Now, the Trump administration is attacking Columbia as a target to coerce other universities as well to fall in line with the authoritarian regime of the Trump administration,” Risa L. Lieberwitz, professor of labor and employment law at Cornell University, said during the news conference. 

She added that one of her international graduate students is being “hunted right now by federal immigration authorities.”

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Anya Schiffrin, the director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, spoke at the “emergency vigil.” (FOX)

Protesters also took to social media to urge students and faculty members not to show up to school or work, and to wear a mask to protest the mask ban. 

“We respect that there will be vigorous debate on campus about issues of academic freedom and protest, and we welcome that debate,” a Columbia University spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“Columbia is fully committed to the steps we announced last week to continue to combat antisemitism and all forms of discrimination and harassment. Our focus will always be on our core mission to teach, create, and advance knowledge while protecting free expression,” it concluded. 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other funding over how the university handled protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. In order to consider restoring those funds and billions more in future grants, federal officials demanded nine separate changes to the university’s academic and security policies.

On Sunday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Columbia University is “on the right track” toward recovering federal funding after the elite New York City university agreed to implement a host of policy changes demanded by the Trump administration.

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McMahon described “great conversations” with Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, who announced Friday that the university would put its Middle East studies department under new supervision and overhaul its rules for protests and student discipline. It also agreed to adopt a new definition of antisemitism and expand “intellectual diversity” by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, according to an outline posted on its website.

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“She said she knew that this was her responsibility to make sure that children on her campus were safe,” McMahon said. “She wanted to make sure there was no discrimination of any kind. She wanted to address any systemic issues that were identified relative to the antisemitism on campus.”

Fox News’ Sandy Ibrahim and The Associated Press contributed to this report.