Police and private security throng every entrance but one. Steel barriers line the streets. Students pack up belongings in their cars and leave for home - classes are cancelled, and exam plans are up in the air.
Everywhere there is gloom, and uncertainty about what happens next at Columbia University.
Students told the BBC that the university’s decision to call in police to clear a Gaza protest late on Tuesday, leading to a raid on the occupied Hamilton Hall and hundreds of arrests, has left the college community shattered.
The university president, Nemat Shafik, said that it was with great regret that she ordered the police raid against students and others she said had infiltrated the protest. It would “take time to heal”, she added in a message in the operation’s aftermath.
For students of this prestigious school in Manhattan, New York, how long is unclear.
These protests are probably more “peaceful” than the protests you have in mind. History books and media leave a lot of stuff out.
Also, one thing I’ve noticed during BLM, is the protests usually start off very peaceful, then police come in and escalate things. After getting gassed, pepper sprayed, beaten, and shot with rubber bullets, people don’t tend to be as peaceful anymore.
During the BLM protests there were stories all over the country of police intentionally riling up crowds and destroying property as an excuse to use violence in protesters.
I didn’t say these protests haven’t been overwhelmingly peaceful, nor did I say that previous protests didn’t have violent aspects.
I said sustained peaceful protests do in fact lead to change.