On Wednesday, February 26, a group of students held a sit-in in Milbank Hall, protesting the expulsion of two students involved in the disruption of a History of Modern Israel class last month.

Several dozen students held a sit-in in Milbank Hall on Wednesday, demanding the expulsions of two students involved in the disruption of a History of Modern Israel class be reversed. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) documented the sit-in via Instagram, posting videos of students lining the hallways of the building and sitting outside the office of Barnard’s Vice President and Dean Leslie Grinage.

The sit-in began around 3:55 pm, when a number of students wearing masks and keffiyehs entered Milbank and sat outside Grinage’s office. A video posted on X shows participants pushing through the Milbank doors, despite a Public Safety staff member attempting to prevent them from entering. One security officer was reportedly injured and subsequently hospitalized due to this incident. In an Instagram post from CUAD, the demonstrators outlined their demands, which included “reinstating [the expelled students] immediately” and “abolishing the carceral disciplinary system.”

Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, participants held hourly votes on whether the sit-in would continue. These “democratic assemblies” allowed for regular and “collective decision-making,” CUAD wrote in the same post. As the evening went on, several professors reportedly cancelled classes held in the building. According to Bwog’s reporting, the building became “exit-only” around 5 pm.

Barnard administration attempted to negotiate with the protestors, creating a 9:30 pm deadline by which demonstrators must exit the building, according to a statement by Robin Levine, Barnard College’s Vice President for Strategic Communications. Overstaying this deadline would result in the College considering “additional, necessary measures to protect [the] campus,” according to a statement obtained by the Barnard Bulletin.

As the 9:30 pm deadline passed, administration verbally announced a revised notice and deadline, followed by a written copy that circulated among demonstrators. The document stated a “final request from the College that you immediately cease your participation in this action and leave Milbank Hall.” If demonstrators refused to leave the building by an updated deadline of 10:30 pm, they would be “subject to disciplinary action,” with the College “tak[ing] further action as necessary to clear the building.” Simultaneously, at least seven NYPD Strategic Response Group vans lined up outside the building, monitoring the situation.

The notice also mentioned the College offering the demonstrators “multiple opportunities to engage in dialogue with Barnard leadership” and exit the building without facing consequences.

Soon after the updated notice was distributed, student liaisons for the group agreed to closed-door negotiations with Grinage, while the remaining demonstrators were given five minutes to exit the building. According to CUAD, Grinage has refused to meet with student negotiators under the initially agreed upon conditions. Bwog has reached out to the Office of the Dean for comment.

Participants chanted down the Milbank steps to the 120th Street exit, waiving Palestinian flags and signs. The protest continued as demonstrators chanted and marched toward Riverside Drive. Outside the Barnard-side Milbank entrance, student journalists and legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild stood along with various groups of students. Public safety requested that those waiting outside the building also disperse, calling the protest a “disturbance.” A faculty member yelled at security in response, saying “You all closed off the building, you all canceled classes, so don’t do this stuff about ‘disturbance’ when you all are the reason for it.”

At 12:43 am on Thursday, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury sent an email to the community acknowledging the night’s events, writing that the protest “attempted to undermine Barnard’s core values of respect, inclusion, and academic excellence.” She also thanked staff and faculty, whose efforts ensured that protestors “left Milbank Hall without further incident.” The email also announced that Barnard would raise access restrictions to Level C, effective 8 am Thursday. As per access guidelines announced after the Spring 2024 protests, Level C restricts campus access to BC ID holders with the main 117th St gates being the only point of entry. However, the guidelines were adjusted that morning to include Columbia University ID holders as being permitted to enter campus. No guests were permitted on Thursday. Campus access will be restored to pre-registered guests and CUID holders on Friday morning.

Rosenbury concluded her email by noting that Wednesday’s events involved a “small group of protestors,” that do not “reflect the majority of our campus.”

On Thursday, February 27, the Transportation Workers Union of America (TWU) released a statement “blast[ing] Barnard College” for “injuring a blue-collar Security Officer” represented by the Union’s Local 264 chapter. The officer was “pinned by the rushing crowd against a beam separating the two doors,” with one protester allegedly using their shoulder to push him “like a linebacker.” The worker “experienced chest tightness, shortness of breath, and soreness in his neck and body.” According to the statement, he requested a hospital evaluation and was later released.

TWU International President John Samuelsen referred to those involved in the sit-in as “trust-fund baby ideologues,” remarking that “harming the blue-collar TWU workforce at Barnard is seen as acceptable collateral damage.” Local 264 President Joseph Rose sent an email to Rosenbury voicing “deep concern and outrage” over the incident, writing “I pray it doesn’t take something catastrophic to happen before Barnard addresses these concerns.”

Revised Notice from Barnard Administration during the February 26, 2025 sit-in:

February 26, 2025

You are receiving this notice because you are blocking the hallway and disrupting College operations in Milbank Hall. We are providing this written notice to document what we verbally

shared with you a few minutes ago. 

You are currently participating in an unauthorized protest inside Milbank Hall. You are in violation of College rules and policies, including but not limited to Barnard’s Rules for the Maintenance of Public Order, Barnard’s Temporary Policy for Safe Campus Demonstrations,

Barnard’s Posting Policy, the Barnard Code of Conduct 

We have offered you multiple opportunities to engage in dialogue with Barnard leadership. We have offered you multiple opportunities to leave the building peacefully and without

repercussions for your prior presence in Milbank. 

This notice is a final request from the College that you immediately cease your participation in this action and leave Milbank Hall. If you are not a Barnard student, we ask that you immediately leave the Barnard campus. If you do not comply with this request, we will take

further action as necessary to clear the building. 

If you are a Barnard student, and you do not adhere to this final request by 10:30 p.m. today, February 26, 2025, you will be subject to disciplinary action. If you leave before that time, we will not pursue disciplinary action for your presence in the building.

The College encourages you to take this notice seriously and immediately leave the building.

Email from Barnard President Laura Rosenbury to the Barnard Community at 12:43 am on Thursday, February 27:

Dear Members of the Barnard Community, 

Tonight, a small group of masked protesters attempted to undermine Barnard’s core values of respect, inclusion, and academic excellence.  The masked protestors who refused to identify themselves engaged in disruptive conduct and damaged our property.  Thanks to the efforts of our staff and faculty, the protesters have now left Milbank Hall without further incident.  But let us be clear: their disregard for the safety of our community and respect for our campus remains completely unacceptable.

Tomorrow, we will transition campus access to Level C beginning at 8 a.m., meaning the only main point of entry will be the main gate entrance, and no guests will be permitted.  If you have an extenuating circumstance requiring the admission of a pre-approved guest, please contact kmurray@barnard.edu with your needs.  Each request will be considered individually.

I am grateful to our staff and faculty who engaged with the protestors, secured our campus, and protected our community throughout the evening.  This small group of protesters does not reflect the majority of our campus, the vibrancy of our community, and everything that makes Barnard special. 

Please know that we will not allow the actions of a few to define our community as a whole.

Laura Ann Rosenbury 

President, Barnard College

Authored by News Editor Khushi Chhaya 

Editor-in-Chief Madeline Douglas and Staff Writer Tabia Maryam contributed reporting