Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus protests and occupations during the Gaza war

A series of protests, encampments, and occupations by pro-Palestine students occurred at Columbia University in New York City during the Gaza war, in the context of the broader Gaza war protests in the United States. The first encampment began on April 17, 2024, when pro-Palestinian students established approximately 50 tents on the East Butler Lawn of the university's Morningside campus, calling it the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and demanding that the university divest from Israel. The encampments at Columbia led to the proliferation of Palestine solidarity encampments at over 180 universities around the world.

The first encampment was dismantled when university president Minouche Shafik authorized the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to enter the campus on April 18 and conduct mass arrests. Students from the large crowd that had gathered around the lawn immediately occupied the adjacent lawn, establishing a new encampment the next day. The administration then entered into negotiations with protesters, which failed on April 29 and resulted in the suspension of student protesters. The next day, protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, calling it Hind's Hall in honor of Hind Rajab. After less than 24 hours, the NYPD were summoned a second time. Hundreds of NYPD officers broke into and cleared the hall, arrested more than 100 protesters, and fully dismantled the camp. The arrests marked the first time Columbia allowed police to suppress campus protests since the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War. On May 31, a third campus encampment was briefly established in response to an alumni reunion.

As a result of the protests, Columbia University switched to hybrid learning (incorporating more online learning) for the rest of the semester. The protests encouraged other actions at multiple universities. Several antisemitic incidents took place near the protests. Organizers have said they were the work of outside agitators and non-students. Pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters have said that incidents of antisemitism by protesters are not representative of the protest movement. On May 6, the school administration canceled the university-wide graduation ceremony scheduled for May 15. Shafik announced her resignation from the presidency on August 14. In 2025, the Trump administration threatened to cut Columbia's federal funding and instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain and deport international students who participated in the protests.