Kamal Ghorui
Twelve faculty members, staff and students affiliated with Columbia University were arrested on Thursday afternoon after blocking traffic on Broadway during a protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.The protesters sat in a crosswalk for nearly an hour, wearing matching shirts reading “Sanctuary Campus Now,” and called on the university to provide stronger protections for international students. Police officers issued repeated warnings before making arrests shortly before 4 PM. The response was measured and did not involve the large police presence that accompanied earlier demonstrations around the campus over the past two years.
Faculty members choose civil disobedience
Among those arrested was Mila Rosenthal, 58, an adjunct professor of international and public affairs, who described her decision as an act of civil disobedience.“We’re seeing what’s happening in Minneapolis, just all of that terror that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is sowing there,” Rosenthal said before her arrest, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The New York Times reports. “And there’s no reason that Columbia can’t say, ‘This ends here.’”Rosenthal said that international students at the university felt exposed and uncertain. “This is a terrifying time to be in the United States, no matter your visa status, and they feel very vulnerable,” she said.
Organisers escalate after months of vigils
The protest drew about 150 participants at its peak and was organised in part by CU Stands Up, a group of faculty and staff members that has held weekly vigils opposing ICE outside Columbia’s gates for roughly 40 weeks. Protest organisers said they escalated their actions this week in response to recent events in Minneapolis and elsewhere, including the killing of two United States citizens by federal agents.
Charges and release
As of Thursday evening, the New York Police Department had not released details of the charges. Organisers said those arrested were charged with refusal to disperse and blocking vehicular traffic. They were released within a few hours and instructed to appear in court on February 23.
Criticism of Columbia’s earlier response
Jennifer S. Hirsch, a professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health who was also arrested, said the university had failed to draw firm lines in earlier encounters with federal authorities.“Columbia was the test case for this government strategy of kidnapping people first and then asking questions later,” Hirsch told The New York Times. She argued that the university’s response to the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate, and other student activists last spring had emboldened the administration.
Campus quiet, unresolved concerns
After a wave of protests that began in 2023 and extended into early 2025, Columbia’s campus has been quieter in recent months. The university tightened protest policies and restricted public access to its main campus. At the same time, some students and faculty have expressed concern over a deal reached with the Trump administration to restore research funding, and over how much the university cooperated with immigration authorities during earlier arrests.
Student fears persist
“I have a lot of friends who are international students, and I know that they worry about walking down the streets and carrying their documentation,” said Rina Isaac, 20, a junior who attended the protest. “All my friends should be protected and feel like they belong on campus,” she said, according to The New York Times.Columbia officials have said that the university operates within the law while seeking to support international students. In a statement, Samantha Slater, a university spokeswoman, said that Columbia does not collaborate with immigration enforcement agencies.“No member of Columbia leadership or the board of trustees has ever requested the presence of ICE agents on or near campus,” Slater said. “This is a completely false assertion.”
