“The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university policies,” said a university spokesperson. “We are informing the students they are in violation of university policies and for their own safety and for the operation of the university they need to leave.”

The campus is closed to the public all this week, with a Columbia ID necessary to enter the entryway gates, according to university communications.

Signs declared the encampment a “liberated zone,” “revolution,” and “join us,” according to photos posted on Instagram. Elsewhere on campus, students gathered together to view the congressional hearing.

Mental health counseling graduate student Mimi Gupta, 45, who watched with about 50 students in the multicultural center, suggested lawmakers were more interested in making accusations than looking for information.

“If you ask someone a question, you should wait for her to answer and listen to what she said,” said Gupta. “(Shafik) was trying to answer very thoughtfully and was not being heard.”

Tyler Korff, a 2008 graduate who co-founded the Columbia University Jewish Alumni Association, said the administration showed “they understand their responsibility to ensure all students feel safe and supported.”

“And now we wait to see if their actions match their testimony,” he said, calling on the university to prevent protests like the encampment.

On top of the committee investigation, Columbia has also been under a U.S. Department of Education probe since November for allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia. Jewish students have filed a federal lawsuit against the administration, saying they permitted antisemitism to exclude them from the full Columbia experience.

When she launched the congressional probe in February, committee chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., pointed to a “pattern of deeply troubling incidents and developments at Columbia,” including a Jewish student who was beaten with a stick by a peer during a dispute over Israeli hostage posters, swastikas on campus and antisemitic rhetoric.

Earlier this month, Columbia announced the suspensions of multiple pro-Palestinian students for an unsanctioned campus event with “speakers who are known to support terrorism and promote violence.”

Pro-Palestinian students have repeatedly accused the administration of not doing enough to keep them safe from ‘doxxing’ trucks, physical attacks and arrests. Shafik testified during the hearing that 90 students have reached out to Columbia’s doxxing response team, which provides legal and technical support including privacy measures and online scrubbing.

Like Shafik, the New York City public schools chancellor, David Banks, is scheduled to testify before the same committee on May 8. The nation’s largest district will be joined by Montgomery County, Md., and Berkeley, Calif.

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(Barry Williams contributed to this story.)

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