Columbia University Protesters Demonstrate Against New Anti-Mask Policies
After a massive cut in federal funding to Columbia University – amounting to $400 million – the university addressed several demands issued by the White House in order to regain it.
One of these demands was prohibiting masks on campus barring health and religious reasons. This ban, together with the overall response from the university toward the White House’s demands, prompted protesters to proclaim a “Mask-Up Monday.”
In a post on X, the Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition (CPSC) called for university members against the policy changes to wear “a N95, KF94, or KN95 for the best protection“ to protest against “fascist… Columbia trustees.”
Masks have become a common item worn by protesters since protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict erupted at the University during the past year.
According to Fox News, the Graduate Student Union and the Palestine Solidarity Coalition acted in the demonstration. They allegedly urged “students, faculty and staff to skip work or class for the day.”
Protesters chanted “Long live the Intifada” at the university’s main gate. Intifada is a word understood as the act of uprising against oppression applied to the conflict between Palestine and Israel since 1987.
There are also reports that Interim President Katrina Armstrong told the White House that the no-mask policy would be complied with, while telling faculty the opposite, according to the New York Post. No comment from Armstrong or the university has been made regarding this allegation. It is also unknown if the university checked masked protesters for identification, according to its new White House recommended policy.
According to the New York Times, 50 professors participated in the Monday protests. Michael Thaddeus, a mathematics professor at Columbia who participated in the protests, told the crowd of protesters how they should respond:
“We need to stand up, all of us. We need to organize, from the grass roots to the national level,” Thaddeus stated. “If we lead, our leaders will follow… Institutions respond more slowly, and that’s just the reality. We are going to respond vigorously, just on a time frame of weeks or months, not days.”
