Most Columbia Students Arrested During Protests Will Return to Campus

Most Columbia University students who were arrested or faced discipline for participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations will be able to return to campus this fall, according to information released Monday by a Congressional committee investigating the school’s response to antisemitism.

Representative Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the committee, had requested information about the outcome of the cases as part of its inquiry, which is part of a broader political attack by House Republicans on elite institutions of higher education.

Of the 40 students arrested when Columbia first called police to the campus to remove a student encampment on April 18, just two remain suspended, according to the information provided to the committee by the university. The rest are in good standing and can enroll in classes while waiting for their disciplinary hearings, although about half have been placed on “disciplinary probation.”

Of the 84 students who had been arrested or disciplined in late April, when police were called to clear a second encampment and rout students who had occupied Hamilton Hall, just five remain suspended, the committee announced. The rest can return to campus while awaiting their hearings. Some have had their charges dropped.

In a news release, Dr. Foxx called the lack of consequences for the students “reprehensible.”

“The failure of Columbia’s invertebrate administration to hold accountable students who violate university rules and break the law is disgraceful and unacceptable,” she wrote.

Protests have become a political lightning rod, with demonstrators and their supporters saying university crackdowns and arrests have dampened free speech, a core academic value. Critics of the protests — including Republican lawmakers and Jewish students and alumni who are concerned they foster antisemitism — have argued that a lack of severe consequences could encourage more extreme actions in the coming year.