Scenes from the Columbia University Protests -- April 30, 2024

Little did I know, as I approached the periphery of the Columbia University campus, that the weeks-long protest/sit-in/riot -- whatever you want to call it -- was in its NYPD-enforced final hours. 

Before around 200 cops stormed the campus that night -- breaking up the encampments, cleaning out Hamilton Hall, arresting people -- I walked around the walls of Columbia in waning daylight to see what was going on.

Honestly, at the time, not much, but here is a short photo-chronicle of what I saw:

First, there were multiple helicopters overhead, a symphony of chopper blades soon becoming a kind of unremarkable white noise.

I then approached the campus on 120th street, walking down Amsterdam Avenue, where the bulk of the protestors outside the campus were congregated. There was a heavy NYPD and campus police prescence, urging us pedestrians to move on and not gawk. There were multiple signs indicating that university ID was needed to enter the campus.

There were also multiple areas cordoned off for the media, plus lots of news trucks on the streets. Interestingly I walked right past the bestselling author Michael Wolff, obviously looking to find a juicy story to write about. 

I walked down to 114th street, crossing over to Broadway, then up to 116th to the main grand entrance of the Campus. There was no crowd there, no protestors, just a lot of bored-looking security standing at the barricades or before the locked gates or coming and going. It was actually (relatively) quiet.

Finally I walked back down to the entrance of WKCR radio, the Columbia University radio station, where I talked to two young ladies standing outside. To be honest, they seemed bored with the whole protest but I told them that, in the 1990s, we college students were totally politically apathetic. One of the ladies subsequently shamed me by saying, "There was the AIDS crises ..." And, needless to say, I then felt like a bigger-than-usual asshole. I wished both ladies well. 

Then I left.

Honestly,  I saw more security than protestors and obviously I couldn't get on the campus or really take any pictures despite my best efforts. I only wish that the US Capitol had been this well patrolled, or that law enforcement had been this aggressive, on January 6, 2021 (but, you know, I think we know why). 

And, later that night, in came the cops to shut it down.

Much like the whole Israel-Gaza situation/war, there seems to be no ground for reason or compromise or mutual understanding. For so many it seems to be either/or, one side against the other, no debate, no concessions, nothing but anger and violence. It's really sad. 

But Columbia has big history of sit-ins and protests -- this is just another one in its long, long history.