City College students form 3rd major campus encampment to demand divestment from Israel

Students at City College have set up an encampment on their West Harlem campus, joining students at NYU, Columbia and universities around the country to protest the Israel-Hamas war.

The students, who are part of the CUNY system, on Thursday draped flags bearing the phrases “solidarity encampment” and “end colonialism” near Baskerville Hall. One sign displayed a list of demands, including CUNY’s divestment and boycott from Israel, under the heading “Viva Palestinia.”

The encampment is the third major campus outpost to emerge in New York City, but differs from NYU's and Columbia's in some significant ways. The students at City College are welcoming all of their classmates from the CUNY system to join them in protest.

And the students, who are currently on spring break, typically come from more working-class backgrounds than their private college peers. Tuition at CUNY for a New York resident is about $7,000 a year. Tuition at Columbia and NYU is about nine times that amount.

CUNY students said on Thursday they tend to represent more marginalized communities.

The CUNY students said that like the other encampments at local universities, they’re demanding that CUNY divest from companies with ties to Israel. They’re also asking CUNY officials to cancel any upcoming trips to the country and protect students involved in the demonstrations.

“There is obvious documentation of CUNY investing money, millions and millions of dollars, in companies that are investing in Israeli weaponry and Israeli aircraft — for example, Boeing,” said Hunter College student Sara Abdulaziz. “We are here to show people that we are taking back CUNY. We are here to take it back for Palestine, we are here to take it back for students.”

More than a dozen tents of all shapes and sizes were scattered across the central quad as protesters addressed a crowd of hundreds through a megaphone while CUNY police officers watched.

The protest's supporters included a contingent of Hasidic Jews.

“We are disturbed when these students are being silenced, especially with this false accusation of antisemitism,” said Rabbi Dovid Feldman, who said he was not affiliated with CUNY but had come as a spokesperson for Jews United Against Zionism. “This is ridiculous how unjustly people are being systematically silenced.”

College spokesperson Jay Mwamba wrote in an emailed statement that any protest must remain "peaceful, respectful, nonthreatening, and devoid of any hatred or intimidation."

Some Jewish students on campus said they began texting each other as soon as the encampment went up to express concerns over potential violence, though they have not witnessed any yet.

“We're concerned that this would escalate and we're all hopeful that this will be over by the time spring break ends, and we won't have to deal with it when we're on campus,” Ealonah Volvovitz said in a phone interview.

Students on campus who were interviewed by Gothamist said CUNY demanded they remove their tents on Thursday. The university declined to comment on that assertion.

An NYPD spokesperson said there are officers in the area and the department is monitoring the encampment to ensure it remains safe.

Protesters beyond New York have set up similar encampments over the last two weeks at universities including Yale and the University of Michigan, putting their campuses on the national stage. The encampments have also challenged university administrators to allow students to protest while preventing antisemitic speech and other actions that make students feel unsafe.