Columbia president: Hamilton Hall occupation was a ‘violent act’ that ‘crossed a new line’

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik admitted on Friday that protesters who illegally occupied Hamilton Hall “crossed a new line.”

Days after New York Police Department officers cleared the hall, Shafik addressed the chaos that has unfolded on her campus in a video on Friday.

She described the past two weeks as being “among the most difficult in Columbia’s history.” But, when Hamilton Hall was broken into, Shafik stated that “protesters crossed a new line” 

“It was a violent act that put our students at risk, as well as putting the protesters at risk,” Shafik said. “I walked through the building and saw the damage, which was distressing.” 

Officers with the New York Police Department raid the encampment by pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University, Tuesday, April

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