A 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 were on 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 multiple people and took them into custody. It was not immediately known how many arrests were made.
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.
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.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.