Columbia University announced last week that only people with valid school IDs will be allowed onto the university's Manhattan campus as the school prepares for the return of the anti-Israel protests that rocked the campus during the Spring when the new school year starts.
In a notice to the community sent on August 9, the school administration stated, "Effective Monday, August 12th, we are adjusting our campus access status to Orange for all hours of the day. This change is intended to keep our community safe given reports of potential disruptions at Columbia and on college campuses across the country as we approach the beginning of the new school year. We are particularly concerned about non-affiliates who may not have the best interests of the Columbia community in mind."
Columbia University saw an uptick in antisemitism on campus since the October 7 massacre committed by Hamas in southern Israel and the war in Gaza which followed.
A tent encampment, the first of many on college campuses accross the US, was erected by anti-Israel protesters on the Columbia campus on April 17.
On April 30, at the request of university leaders, hundreds of officers with the New York Police Department stormed onto campus, gaining access to the building through a second-story window and making dozens of arrests of the pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrators who had taken over Hamilton Hall.
Before that, the Chabad rabbi of Columbia University and a group of Jewish students were forced to leave the university campus for their own safety during a pro-Hamas demonstration.
Earlier in April, Shafik came under fire after she refused to condemn the phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" as antisemitic during a hearing on campus antisemitism at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Instead, she called the chant "hurtful" and said that she would rather not hear it uttered on campus.
Other incidents of antisemitism on Columbia’s campus included the posting of antisemitic flyers showing a skunk emblazoned with the Israeli flag.
A week before that, Israeli firearms model Orin Julie and fashion model Natali Dadon were accosted by one of the central figures of the anti-Israel protests on campus.