Columbia University held its graduation ceremony on Wednesday, and pro-Hamas students couldn’t resist the temptation to try stealing the spotlight.
During the ceremony, several pro-Hamas students protested against Israel’s effort to eliminate the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They made their statement by burning their diplomas, according to The New York Post.
Mayhem erupted outside Columbia University’s graduation Wednesday as some students burned their diplomas and cops tussled with dozens of rowdy demonstrators, arresting at least two.
Protesting anti-Israel students inside the Upper Manhattan ceremony also tried to drown out acting President Claire Shipman’s commencement address with raucous chants of “free Palestine!” and demanding the release of former graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained by ICE agents in March and is currently awaiting deportation.
Last year’s commencement had to be canceled over safety concerns after an anti-Israel encampment protest engulfed the Morningside Heights campus for weeks during the spring.
NEW: Columbia University Grad Students and Pro-Palestine protesters BURN THEIR DIPLOMAS outside of the University during student's graduation.
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) May 21, 2025
Video by @olgafe_images @FreedomNTV Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/Cj2tsSMWH1
Burning diplomas at Columbia University graduation today pic.twitter.com/p234VNv1ck
— Mary mart (@Marymart33) May 21, 2025
Columbia alumni burned their diplomas on graduation day in protest against the university's repression and continued collaboration with genocide pic.twitter.com/5KXsql87E4
— Bill Dores (@BillDores) May 21, 2025
Columbia students and supporters protested graduation, alumni burn their diplomas in protest against the administrations continued collaboration with Zionist genocide and the Trump regime's repression pic.twitter.com/WTRXmtkSyh
— Bill Dores (@BillDores) May 21, 2025
The students also protested the continued detention of Mahmoud Khalil, who is being held in a detention facility after having his student visa revoked due to his involvement in a pro-Hamas student group.
The school issued a statement in the days leading up to the event stating that “audience interruption is not permitted” and that those who violate this rule “may be asked to leave the venue.”
Nevertheless, these students chose to make a spectacle of themselves. The NYPD was called to the venue, but it’s not clear whether they arrested any of the rabble-rousers.
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