Columbia University faculty, staff, students, alumni engage in day-long speakout
Columbia University faculty, staff, students and alumni started staging a 25-hour speak out Monday.
They say they are doing it in defense of academic freedom, to protect student safety, and to demand accountability.
The name of the action is "All day, all night, all of us."
An organizer told CBS News New York the goal is to create a larger tent, to hear voices from many different groups, including students and professors with varied viewpoints.
Demonstrators are being led by tenured professors in multiple departments. The schedule allows for 20 departments to take care of a single hour each of demonstration time.
"We are in an emergency. We are in a crisis. Our funding has been cut, our health and climate funding has been cut," Susan Witte, a Columbia professor of social work, said. "Our Board of Trustees has been complicit in some agreements that we're not necessarily all in agreement about, in terms of influencing some of our curriculum."
"Columbia is one of the country's leading research institutions and contributes enormous value for our nation and society, including life-saving discoveries," a Columbia spokesperson said. "The actions that Columbia has committed to will make our University a better, stronger place free of all forms of discrimination, while preserving our independence and autonomy. We welcome this feedback from our community as we continue to engage in ongoing dialogue and proceed with the University's future in mind."
Participants will drift in and out to air their concerns until 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Columbia announced it would comply with list of Trump administration demands
The event comes on the heels of Columbia announcing it would comply with a list of Trump administration demands in order to preserve hundreds of millions in federal funding. Those changes include hiring dozens of new officers with arresting power, altering the disciplinary process, and appointing a new senior official to review programs related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Teachers unions subsequently sued the Trump administration, accusing it of holding the funding hostage. The school's then-interim president Katrina Armstrong subsequently stepped down, and was replaced by Board of Trustees co-chair Claire Shipman while the school searches for a permanent president.
It also comes on the heels of the detention of prominent pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested in the lobby of his Columbia University housing before being sent to Louisiana, where's he's being held pending the outcome of his deportation proceedings.
Khalil's arrest and detention sparked nationwide protests.
