AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Columbia University has started suspending pro-Palestine students after warning them and setting a deadline for them to end the gatherings and remove encampments against the crimes being committed by the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip.
According to IRNA reporter, the New York-based university announced on Monday evening local time that it has started the suspension of students who were not willing to vacate protest on the campus. The university said the students once suspended would not be eligible to complete a semester or graduate, and would not be allowed to enter campus and university buildings.
“Once disciplinary action is initiated, adjudication will be conducted by several different units in the university based on the nature of the offense, Ben Chang, university vice-president of public affairs said at a briefing on Monday evening.
Chang added that the university has asked the protesting students to remove the tents and camps to ensure that the university's commencement ceremony for its 15,000 graduates can go ahead as planned.
Columbia University students had earlier voted to stay in their tents and continue their demonstrations against the Israeli war on Gaza.
According to the CNN report, the protest continues on the campus with the students seen chanting slogans and holding placards despite Columbia University had threatened students with the consequences.
"If you do not leave the tents, you will be suspended." Columbia University, which has become the center of the "solidarity with the people of Gaza" movement these days, asked the students to disperse and announced that it will not sever relations with Israel against the demands of the students.
One of the main demands of pro-Palestinian student groups at Columbia University since last week has been for the university to divest funds from companies that profit from Israel's attacks on Gaza. In the past, this university has given up investment in other cases at the request of students.
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