By Brendan Rose
As students and faculty arrived on campus for Columbia University’s first day of classes Tuesday, a crowd of some 50 protestors gathered outside the school’s locked main gates on Broadway, demanding that the administration reopen public access after more than a year of tight restrictions.
“Columbia prides itself as a world-class open institution,” said City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who represents Morningside Heights and in January called on Columbia to reopen the campus, in particular the pedestrian walkway connecting Broadway and Amsterdam at West 116th Street. “At a time when Donald Trump is stoking division and making society turn inward, Columbia is following that trend and excluding our local community from participating on its campus,” Abreu told the assembled protestors. “It ain’t right!”
The group listening to Abreu chanted “Open up the gates!” and a New Orleans-style brass band invited for the occasion played traditional protest songs. As pedestrians passed on the street, some whooped in support. Among the protesters were some who arrived with walkers, canes, and hiking poles. One person in the crowd held up a homemade sign that read: “Open Minds and Open Gates are Better for All.”
Access to the campus was closed in the spring of 2024 amid campus protests and the occupation of Hamilton Hall by pro-Palestine protesters. Now, a university identification card or special permission is required to cross the campus or access its amenities, such as the gym or libraries. The university also increased the number of security officers on campus and their use of security cameras, raising concerns about the potential for unjustified surveillance of the community.
“[Columbia] has shut itself off from its neighborhood and its community,” said Thanassis Cambanis, an adjunct professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. “It’s turned itself into essentially a fortified closed space.”
Cambanis, a journalist who spent years reporting and researching authoritarian states in the Middle East, said the physical closing off of the campus is related to larger limitations on intellectual openness at Columbia.
“I am used to seeing university campuses in authoritarian states policed this way, I am not used to seeing American universities policed this way,” he told the Rag.
Cambanis joined other professors at a separate rally Tuesday morning decrying limitations on speech and academic freedom on campus, organized by the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors, just yards away from the “Open the Gates!” rally.
Calls to reopen the campus have garnered support and solidarity from other political movements at Columbia. In addition to speeches by Abreu and members of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, AAUP members and a representative from the student workers union also addressed the crowd.
Four community members sued Columbia and the City of New York in January, alleging that the closure of College Walk (the path through campus connecting Broadway and Amsterdam) violated an agreement between the city and the university to maintain “perpetual” pedestrian access through the campus, according to Toby Golick, the attorney for the community members. The class action suit has also alleged that the closure of College Walk puts a significant burden on residents with limited mobility, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. That suit is still before the New York State Supreme Court, awaiting a ruling.
“The University is evaluating Morningside campus access on an ongoing basis,” wrote Millie Wert, a University spokesperson, in an email response to the Rag. “We are focused on ensuring that all of our students feel welcome, safe, and secure on our campus as we also balance the desire for an open campus that is accessible to all of Columbia’s valued constituencies, including our neighbors.”
Added Wert: “Columbia’s commitment to New York City and to our community, as well as the daily experiences of our neighbors, weighs heavily on our decision-making. We will continue to communicate with our neighbors and community.”
Wert declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
Last year, in late September, former Columbia President Katrina Armstrong said she hoped the campus could be “fully reopened” in “weeks, not months,” yet temporary closures do not seem to have an end in sight.
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They needed to open this walkway yesterday
Why?
Because of the agreement they signed many years ago.
The walkway was always on my list of things to do for my out-of-town visitors. Columbia U has become an embarrassment and a disappointment for our UWS community. I wish its scholars, faculty and staff a happy and hopeful academic year.
Sad to hear.
Toilet paper on my foot is embarrassing.
A private university protecting their student body is not.
Gates on College Walk should stay closed. You can cross from Bway to Morningside 2 blocks away on 114th.
It’s 2 blocks each way if you live on the other side of the gate. If you live on 117 st and amst it’s a total of 6 blocks!
No it’s not. It’s three blocks north or three blocks south. Most neighborhoods you have to walk a lot farther to a subway station.
Yikes Patrick
Try it with a walker.
Try it with 100 obscenity-screaming Hamas supporters in front of you. And the walker.
I deplore the kidnappings and murders and evil acts committed by radical Hamas members.
However, “obscenity-screaming Hamas supporters” is your take. Mine and many others is that the protestors were Palestinians screaming about the thousands killed in Gaza by Netanyahu and his buddies, Trump and Putin. Have you read about their plans for clearing out the rubble and exiling all Palestinians in order to build a resort?
There are many similarities to WW II, but the oppressed and murdered people are now the new oppressors and murderers.
And how does allowing protesters at Columbia change what is happening 5000 miles away? Will Netanyahu and his buddies change their mind because there are protestors on College Walk?
Columbia protester are part of the movement to stop funding Israel until Netanyahu goes to trial (as he was about to do before the horrific Hamas attack).
I’m not a Hamas supporter, but I don’t want another penny to go to Israel until Netanyahu is brought to justice, at minimum to trial for the crimes he is accused of before Oct 7.
Protesting in NYC is part of making that happen.
Bravo.
and if you’re not able-bodied?
It’s not Columbia’s responsibility to transport people.
Columbia embarrassed itself by its actions during recent events. Adding to its bad behavior by continuing to shut out the surrounding community is shameful.
At least they could allow the public to cross the campus in the middle. To make neighborhood residents walk all the way around is egregious.
How are they supposed to know who is a neighbor and who is a criminal? They would have to see your identification, inspect your bags and packages, so it would not be open anyway. How do you think the terrorists got into the campus?
Lols. People walk around parks and buildings and plazas all the time.
Columbia keeps handling this situation worse and worse. Whoever is in charge there is awful. One would think that there are a few alums who work in crisis management, PR or whatever else who could advise them.
Once the gates are open, set the rules very clearly that any protestors or whatever else who interfere with people’s ability to go about their daily business will be removed, and repeat offenders will be arrested. With harsher punishments for those who are not members of the Columbia community. Full stop. It’s not that hard.
It’s politically easier for Columbia to exclude everyone, rather than deal with the rule breakers. Can’t say I blame Columbia for taking the easy way out here.
And who is going to pay for the extra protection and police on campus? The neighborhood? Sounds like the neighborhood should be paying Columbia a fee.
Columbia is a tax-exempt institution. New Yorkers ALREADY subsidize that real estate operation that masquerades as a school
Until we see what the pro Hamas protesters do, it’s not safe for the Jewish students to attend and learn peacefully. Those complaining of an inability to walk through the campus should think about that a little more.
Stop with the “pro Hamas protesters,” I don’t doubt that some Palestinian supporters went too far, but you lose credibility when you refuse to admit some protesters were & are peaceful critics of Israel.
“..it’s not safe for the pro-Israel students to attend and learn peacefully.”* Fixed it for you. There are plenty of Jewish students who attend Columbia who have no issue with Palestinian political awareness from other students on campus. Being Jewish does not inherently make you a supporter of Israel.
It does make you a target of Hamas, whether you support them or not. The inability of people to think clearly on this subject is appalling. And most Jewish people do support Israel. Those who do not are complicit in what Hamas does.
Right on, Will!!!
This is absolutely not Palestinian political awareness. These protestors are a menace and offensive to everyone on campus who is there to learn and work.
The protestors are a menace to your world view.
In other words they are challenging you with facts that you don’t like.
They never use facts, that should be blatantly obvious. All their statements are lies. And they are not just a menace to Jews. They threaten the very nature of the USA. They seek the destruction of everything opposed to their domination.
No, they use facts you don’t like. But the facts remain facts.
But saying “If you’re Jewish and you don’t believe certain things, we’ll make it not safe for you” is the equivalent of the GOP telling bisexual folks that there’s no danger to them as they are free to enter into heterosexual relationships.
It’s also not true. People have been accosted on campus because they wear a Star of David, which is not at all a political affiliation.
I may be going out on a limb here, but , the events at Columbia in April/May 2024
were a little more than “Palestinian political awareness from other students on
campus”.
If people can storm the Capitol and assault police officers and get off Scott free while the rest of us are supposed to ‘’just get over it,’’ I think we can have a conversation about opening our local thoroughfares well over a year after the campus events of 2024 as well.
It certainly can be discussed.
Sorry if I hit a Trump nerve,
Are we to allow the “pro Hamas demonstrators” to dictate to the Columbia administration and the public? How long are we supposed to wait to “see what they will do?”
Please stop fearmongering about columbia protestors. Makes us look very neurotic
Given the immense negative impact the protesters have had on their grants and funding, I hardly think being concerned about the issue is “neurotic”.
Trump would have gone after Columbia for one reason or another, if not their “allowance of antisemitism,” it would be “allowance of DEI programming,” or “allowance of LGBTQ propaganda” or “allowance of anti-American historical depictions of racism and slavery.” It really has nothing to do with Israel other than a few financial benefits Trump gains from supporting Israel. The truth is Trump only cares about himself, if he really cared about antisemitism, he would have denounced the white nationalists in Charlottesville 8 years ago during their antisemitic tiki torch rally.
The closure of the walkway is especially problematic as “open streets” on weekends forces the detour of the M11 bus (to 120th Street).
Particularly an issue considering hospital and nursing home.
Student safety is paramount.
Keep it closed.
Student safety is not threatened by peaceful protest. Federal funding is (now) threatened by peaceful protest.
One of my friends is a Jewish professor at Columbia. He went into the tent city to talk to protesters, and (gasp!) made it out alive. Stop fear-mongering. I’m sure there were excesses by some, so discipline those students. Don’t make a campus into a no-protest zone.
Ok glad to hear they were ok.
Only allowing students and authorized visitors does keep the campus safer.
Irrespective of the events of April/May 2024.
Keeps the campus safe for an mindset that does not represent reality.
So they “continue to communicate” by essentially NOT communicating and by NOT allowing communication through the College Walk … And by that, in effect, they are deliberately causing much hardship to residents in the community, who must walk many blocks just to get from Amsterdam to Broadway. They are basically cutting off the neighborhood from the neighbors.
Until the neighborhood can guarantee to Columbia that they will behave and not protest and damage the campus and harass the students, the gates should remain closed.
I’m sorry, “the neighborhood?” Do you understand how much of a burden Columbia’s population is on the surrounding neighborhood? How much trash is strewn all over Broadway, how many local businesses have been driven out by Columbia’s rent hikes, how many tenants have been forced out by Columbia’s associated real estate operations buying up more and more stabilized buildings?
Get a clue
Yeah, Columbia is in a no-win situation. If they open the gates and protestors return to spew hate and harass others and then Columbia is forced to call up NYPD, then the school will be wrong. If they limit the campus to only those with ids, then they are still wrong…
Unfortunately the protests and harrassment of the community have made this mess…
“spew hate”?
Examples of this hate spewing by genocide protestors at Columbia?
If Columbia opens the gates & protesters harass anyone, I don’t see why Columbia is in the wrong to call NYPD.
I think it’s exactly what they SHOULD be doing.
How can Columbia guarantee anyone’s “behavior”?
It’s NOT the NEIGHBORHOOD or the COMMUNITIES responsibility to guarantee.
It’s amazing the responses. This is a private school that has no absolutely no responsibility to allow access to its private campus for non affiliates. After the events and abuse of the last few years, Columbia’s priorities are to protect its students and staff. You can easily walk a few blocks north or south.
The 116th college walk is actually a public thoroughfare. Look it up. There’s a lawsuit challenging Columbia’s closure; in the 1950s Columbia signed an agreement the city to keep College Walk open. They’re violating that agreement right now.
Where do you live? Those of us who live near the Morningside Columbia campus include many older adults who have trouble walking that distance. I’m one of them.
Okay . . . so why does Columbia enjoy a tax free exemption?
It’s really ridiculous. And as a 2-time alum, I’m pretty upset with the Univ, but opening College Walk right now is ridiculous.
It’s not easy just to walk a few blocks when you have a disability.
read the history of the access agreement with the City ……private institutions often have to grant easements when something like a former public street is closed off and becomes part of the private institution.
The easement is for public utilities, not unrestricted public access. There’s a reason the city’s lawyers aren’t trying to litigate this; they know the agreement allows Columbia to do this.
what a surprise that the same poster who keeps defending landlords holding onto commercial vacancies to write them off as ‘operating losses’ comes up with that wildly inaccurate misreading of the access agreement.
116 is a public thoroughfare. That’s the substance of the 20th century agreement
Columbia University “gained access” to 116th Street through a 1953 land deal where the university bought the street from NYC. In exchange for this transfer, the university agreed to create and maintain the area as a public pedestrian walkway, known as College Walk.
This transaction was part of a broader plan to UNIFY the university’s campus, creating a singular, cohesive space.
Incorrect, the agreement allowed the city to run utilities under the right of way in exchange for Columbia maintaining a pedestrian right of way for student use.
link?
Cutting across private property or using it for agitation or intimidation must be some other new “rights” I’ve never heard of until now.
“intimidation”?
You mean the intimidation from Trump that Columbia succumbed to?
A few months ago, as someone who lives in the Columbia neighborhood, I wrote to a campus community affairs staffer I had seen at an event and asked to obtain access to walk through campus. Weeks later I received an e-mail from campus public safety that included a QR code. If I show the code ( I use my cell phone) and an ID, at either the Amsterdam Ave or the Broadway entrance, I can walk through campus. New this fall are two checkpoints just inside the gates at B’way and 116th: on the right for staff and students and on the left for QR code or event specific passes.
True it can be a hassle to juggle a phone, ID and whatever else you’re carrying but it does work and has really helped when I needed it. Moving the checkpoints inside may make the sidewalk less crowded for us neighbor pedestrians, cross your fingers.
As for safety concerns, I heard at yesterday’s rally that many surveyed students felt less safe because of the closed gates. They like the ebb and flow of people, it makes them feel they are more in a neighborhood.
Yesterday’s rally was organized by Morningside Heights Community Coalition who have a petition calling for opening the gates. info@mhccnyc.org
Because, as we all know and have experienced throughout history, the “feeling” of safety, especially based on some silly survey, is the only thing that matters to the realities and practices of actual safety and risk mitigation.
The completely free ebb and flow of people would make me particularly feelsy and safe at, say, JFK.
Safety concerns override the 1953 easement agreement, which is why the injunction filed to keep it open was denied. It’s still under litigation, but Columbia will most likely win this case if it goes to trial. They’re a college not a causeway, and owe the whiny, abusive pedestrians nothing. The campus will eventually re-open regardless. Until then, walk around and move on.
I support the 1a right to peaceful assembly but my goodness its starting to feel like there’s a protest for something every day now. I saw someone with a poster on my 1 train commute to work yesterday and thought…do these people have jobs? What does protesting do for them? Does it actually accomplish anything beyond maybe a bit of media coverage like this?
My office is near the UN. I’d invite anyone to swing by this month during the general debate. There are so many protests for so many topics that everyone just keeps walking. I dont think its that they dont care about any of the causes….I think they just don’t want to be on TV and maybe don’t take life advice from posterboard and puffy paint
If Trump weren’t doing five unconstitutional things before breakfast each day, there would not be so many protests.
We are sleepwalking into autocracy. Do you think the 2nd Trump administration is normal??
Regardless of political views, if I were a student at Columbia, I would be deeply concerned about the possibility of a mass shooter entering campus. While such tragedies can occur at any large gathering, schools and universities are often among the most frequent targets. Regarding accessibility for the non-abled bodied, many New Yorkers must travel even farther for essential services. Let us prioritize student safety and continue to advocate for strict gun laws.
What part of “shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
Bee,
So, the mass shooters should be confined to Broadway and 16th Street?
Given the continued lack of access at 116th, the City needs to end Open Streets and let M11 buses resume the normal route.
We all know why we cant have nice things
It is exactly protests like this that Columbia and the neighborhood don’t want and that’s why the gates are closed. The more protesting that goes on the longer the gates will be closed.
Just use the AC and E if they’re closer.
Why does Columbia get property tax breaks when forty percent of their students are foreigners?
The irony is that the Columbia campus (named for a genocial colonialist, Christopher Columbus) was built on indigenous land of the Lenape peoples and now this colonial entity is barricading people like an occupying power. Shame on them.
Interesting point.
What tribes should be allowed access then ?
Just another disguised AntiSemitic action, or else these people are extremely dim-witted and self-centered. Opening the campus means allowing outside agitators and spies on campus. The campus is not public property. If they want to protest anything, it should be the poor handling of the AntiSemitic terrorist “protests” on campus. That is the cause of the closure.
Off topic completely but striking to me – I hear a lot about men being ‘left behind’ with college and more women participating. I figure for a variety of reasons that’s probably accurate, but I sure hope that random snapshot of the security checkpoint isn’t fully representative because not counting anyone obscured by the gate I count 14 women and 2 men. I only got looking that closely in the first place because at first glance I was wondering why on earth they’d have separate checkpoints based on gender lol
Well at least there were only 2 genders ?
Columbia has no excuse for keeping the gates closed. As far as I know, all other major universities nationwide, including many urban ones, have open gates. Harvard also had big demonstrations in the spring of ’24 but has opened its gates since then. Columbia’s campus had been open to the public, day and night, ever since it moved to Morningside Heights in 1897. Columbia must not become a private estate in the middle of Manhattan, open only to those who can afford our tuition.