"It's been a very long two weeks": how the Gaza protests changed Columbia

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By Dan Halpern

Term had ended at Columbia University. Classes were over, and the provost had announced that final exams would be conducted remotely, so the Manhattan campus was emptying fast. On Thursday a few kids could be seen on a nearby street pushing cardboard boxes filled with framed posters and lamps. The New York Police Department (NYPD) had stationed officers at every entrance to the campus, checking the IDs of anyone going in and coming out.

Two weeks earlier, on April 17th, hundreds of students, angry at Israel's bombardment of Gaza, had pitched tents on the campus's lawn, and declared it the "Gaza solidarity encampment". They refused to move until the university agreed to pull out of any investments in companies linked to Israel.