The daughter of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar said on Thursday she was suspended from Barnard College after "standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide."
In a message written on X, Isra Hirsi wrote that she had just received a notification that she was one of three students who were suspended by the university that is both an independently incorporated educational institution and an official college of Columbia University, according to the university's website.
Hirsi said on X that she is a member of the student organization Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and an organizer with Apartheid Divest, and said she had not received any disciplinary warnings for the three years she has attended the university.
Earlier on Thursday campus authorities at Columbia University were instructed to remove an encampment that had formed on its property on the Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan before dawn on Wednesday, with people protesting in support of Palestinians amid the latest Israel-Hamas war.
J. Scott Applewhite/ AP
The students demanded that the university divest from corporate financial interests with ties to Israel. The protests came just a day after Columbia University's President Nemat Shafik stood firm in her testimony on Capitol Hill regarding the university's response to antisemitism and what phrases used by activists would be considered harassment.
Police detain pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University
The arrest of protestors comes a day after Columbia's president answered a hard line of questioning from Congress on antisemitism at the university.
Hirsi wrote on Thursday, "those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. we will stand resolute until our demands are met. our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide."
It did not appear as of Thursday evening that U.S. Rep. Omar had released a public statement on the matter on social media or through official channels.
Columbia University said in a notice that "all university students participating in the encampment" were notified that they would be suspended, and said the participants were trespassing after the university's president ordered that they be removed.
Police officers were seen in riot gear putting individuals in the back of detention vehicles, with some protesters wearing keffiyehs in a show of solidarity with Palestinians. Dozens were arrested and at least 50 tents were removed from Columbia University property, the New York Times reported.
In a pinned message on her X page, Rep. Omar wrote on Oct. 7, "We need to call for deescalation and ceasefire. I will keep advocating for peace and justice throughout the Middle East."
