Columbia Students Suspended for Unauthorized Event Featuring PFLP Member

By Hamodia Staff

NEW YORK — Four Columbia University students have been suspended for their alleged involvement in an unauthorized event featuring a member of the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The Columbia Spectator reports that the March 24 “Resistance 101” event featured Khaled Barakat, a member of the Central Committee of the PFLP, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.

A video clip of the event posted to social media by the Columbia chapter of Students Supporting Israel shows Barakat referring to members of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP as his “friends and brothers.”

Columbia and Barnard refused to approve the event on campus, but it was held, unauthorized, in university housing, with participation in person and over Zoom.

Days after the event, Columbia COO Cas Holloway issued a statement saying “Columbia University rejects all forms of hate and bigotry, and we unequivocally condemn language that promotes or supports violence in any manner.”

Holloway said Columbia “engaged an outside firm led by experienced former law enforcement investigators to conduct an investigation” into the event.

On Thursday, the Spectator reported that four students had been suspended and given 24 hours notice of their eviction from student housing.

A notice to one student obtained by the Spectator said the student had been charged with disruptive behavior, endangerment, violation of law, violation of University policy, and failure to comply. The student was given an “interim” suspension, which prohibited them from participating in classes and extracurriculars or entering campus without prior arrangements through public safety. They were also told their access to the dorm and dining services would be suspended in 24 hours.

“Columbia is making us homeless, taking away our campus jobs, our sole source of income, taking away our scholarships, our access to dining halls, our access to classrooms and education that we have earned,” one of the suspended students said Thursday at an “All Out for Al-Shifa” solidarity protest organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers. 

Prior to that protest, Holloway emailed dozens of student leaders of groups involved with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, warning them that Columbia had not received a request to register the event within two working days, violating the school’s interim demonstration policy.