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2025-03-06 Fifth Column
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Barnard College bomb threat prompts evacuation as anti-Israel protesters occupy campus building
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[NYPOST] A fake bomb threat prompted an evacuation at Barnard College Wednesday evening as anti-Israel protesters occupied a campus building for a second consecutive week.
More than 50 NYPD officers in riot gear descended to the scene, ordering the more than 200 unruly keffiyeh-shrouded students to exit the Milstein Center and clear out at least 1,000 feet from the courtyard.
As cops struggled to remove protesters from the campus grounds, Columbia students joined in the fracas from across the street, chanting in solidarity with the Barnard students, “NYPD, KKK, they are all the same.”
Police eventually cleared the courtyard, but the students milled about on the lawn outside the building chanting, “no justice, no peace.”
After ignoring several orders to move a safe distance from the building, cops arrested at least nine people and took them into custody, sources said.
The NYPD announced shortly before 8 p.m. that the bomb threat was “investigated and cleared.”
The protesters had taken over the building, which serves as the academic hub of the elite private school, hanging an Old West-style “Wanted” poster and an effigy of school administrators in a startling escalation of their rhetoric.
Moments before the bomb threat was called in, the mob had been engaging in a raucous protest over two students who were expelled last month for barging into a class on modern Israel and tossing antisemitic flyers around the room.
An official department X account warned that “anyone who refuses to leave the location is subject to arrest.”
As the students barged into the building, they hung a large poster featuring Dean of Students Leslie Grinage on one of the building’s exterior plate windows, complete with Old West-style type.
“WANTED: Dean of Students Leslie Grinage for the expulsion of pro-Palestinian students. Reward for info leading to a meeting,” the poster read, which included a likeness of the administrator.
On the front door of the building, masked protesters hung a shoddy effigy — which was actually a plush puppet — of Barnard President Laura Rosenbury, who castigated student protesters for refusing to remove their masks in an op-ed in The Chronicle of Higher Education last week.
Video circulating on social media shows Barnard Vice President for Strategic Communications Robin Levine imploring the protesters to evacuate the Milstein Center due to the bomb threat.
“For the safety and security of our community and everyone in the building, you need to leave now,” Levine said. “This is not a joke.”
Before the bomb threat, Barnard sent out an email alerting the school community and denouncing the demonstration.
“Our academic mission is at the heart of what we do, and disruptions to that mission are an affront to the purpose of higher education and cannot be tolerated,” the missive read, in part.
“When masked disruptors first entered Milstein, classes were taking place, facilities were cleaning classrooms, and dining staff were preparing meals. We must not allow the actions of a few interfere with our mission. Campus activities outside of Milstein and throughout the rest of the campus are proceeding as normal.”
The school did not respond to follow-up questions about the bomb threat.
Last Wednesday, several dozen protesters stormed the campus’ Milbank Hall for several hours, egged on by pro-Hamas group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.
They demanded the expelled students be reinstated as well as amnesty for any protesters who were arrested for their actions during previous campus demonstrations.
A school security officer was injured in last week’s occupation, sending him to the hospital complaining of chest pains.
The Times of Israel has more about the pre-bomb protest action. This wasn’t just a bunch of students acting up for the fun of it, but a serious flex by dedicated Iranian proxies: |
A group of protesters, most of whose faces were covered by keffiyehs and masks, entered Barnard’s Milstein Library, where they chanted anti-Israel slogans, waved Palestinian flags, beat a drum and carried an effigy of the college president.
Barnard is an affiliate of Columbia University and the protest groups include students from both institutions.
Jewish students at the scene shared photos showing the protesters distributed pamphlets by the “Hamas media office,” photos of the late Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah, and wrote “Death to America” in the library guest book. Activists posted stickers around the protest that had the image of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attack who was killed in Gaza by Israeli forces last year.
Barnard administrators handed out letters saying the disruption and library blockage was an “unauthorized activity” and that the protesters had refused to disperse, despite multiple warnings. The letter warned the protesters that campus security would “review your identification and escort you off of the Barnard campus.”
| A very weak response, guaranteed to be ineffective. |
Several hours into the protest, the NYPD said it was responding to a bomb threat at the location and that anyone who refused to leave was subject to arrest. The students refused to leave, saying they did not believe the bomb threat was real. Footage showed some protesters scuffling with police, shouting at officers and being detained. The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Columbia said in a statement that Barnard is a separate institution, although it is affiliated, and called the disruption “not acceptable conduct.”
The protest came a day after the Trump administration threatened to cut off more than $50 million in contracts with Columbia, and said it was reviewing more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to the university, due to antisemitism.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has grilled universities over antisemitism since October 7, called the protest “shameful.”
In another warning, Trump said Tuesday that he will cut federal funding to any educational institution “that allows illegal protests,” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
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Posted by Fred 2025-03-06 07:34||
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