Behind Closed Gates

On October 12, Columbia University locked its gates. That day, only university affiliates were admitted to campus during the first of many recent demonstrations by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In a Columbia Spectator op-ed, urban studies student Ishaan Barrett writes that the indefinite closure of the gates “solidifies the long-established separation between Columbia’s role as an academy and its engagement with the peripheral public.” In their own Spectator op-ed, JVP and SJP criticized increased policing and surveillance on campus for doing little to protect students’ speech and shelter them from discrimination and doxxing. Rather, closing the gates was the first step in limiting student activism.

On November 10, Columbia suspended SJP and JVP’s funding and permission to hold campus events. Despite this, on November 14, facing unprecedented NYPD presence, various organizations and hundreds of students gathered in solidarity with the silenced groups. Among their chants was an architectural critique, “from Palestine to Mex…