As Students Return, Columbia Locks Down Morningside Heights Campus

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY – With no end to the war between Israel and Hamas in sight and students beginning to arrive on campus for the fall semester, Columbia University is bracing for a potential revival of the protests that led to the closure of the school’s campus and the cancellation of graduation ceremonies in the spring.

Columbia announced it will restrict access to its Morningside Heights campus beginning Monday, Aug. 12, school officials said.

Access will be limited to those with school IDs and their guests, who must be pre-registered with the school a day in advance of their visit.

Entry points will be available at 116th Street and Broadway, 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, 116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive, 114th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, and 120th Street and Broadway.

All other entrances to campus will be closed, officials said. The access restrictions will be in place “until further notice.”

“This change is intended to keep our community safe given reports of potential disruptions at Columbia and on college campuses across the country as we approach the beginning of the new school year,” wrote Cas Holloway, Columbia’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are particularly concerned about non-affiliates who may not have the best interests of the Columbia community in mind.”

Holloway’s apartment building in Brooklyn was vandalized with red paint last week. Not only that, crickets and worms were reportedly released in the building's vestibule.

Of those arrested at Columbia in the spring, only 29 percent were unaffiliated with the university, according to police. It remains unclear what role – if any – “outside agitators” played in fomenting unrest at the school.

The new restrictions follow a report that Columbia is considering granting its campus security the power to arrest students (and in theory, others).

Classes begin on Sept. 3.