Columbia University suspends 65 students

As per Reuters, Columbia University has suspended more than 65 students for their role in a pro-Palestinian demonstration that forced the shutdown of the main campus library, a school official said on Friday.

Placed on interim suspension, the students will be prohibited from taking their final exams or entering campus except to access their dormitories, the university official said.

Columbia also barred 33 other people from campus, including students from other colleges and alumni who took part in the protest, according to the official.

"When rules are violated and when our academic community is purposefully disrupted, that is a considered choice — one with real consequences," the Columbia official said.

Scores of students were arrested after seizing part of the school's main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year's wave of protests against Israel's war in Gaza.

Officers of the New York Police Department were called to campus to quell the protest at the request of university officials.

The demonstration came amid negotiations between Columbia's board of trustees and the Trump administration, which announced in March it was penalising the university over previous pro-Palestinian protests by cancelling hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants.

According to AP, the Trump administration has already pulled federal funding and detained international students at Columbia and other prestigious American universities over their handling of students protesting ongoing brutality in Gaza.

There was no immediate reaction to news of the suspensions from student activists representing the protesters. The university declined to say how long the disciplinary measures would be in place, saying only that the decisions are pending further investigation.

Organisers of Wednesday's demonstration repeated their long-standing demands that the university cease investing any of its $14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel's military occupation of Palestinian territories.