The Occupation of Hamilton Hall

Student protesters drop a banner out of a second-floor window of Hamilton Hall after taking over the building by force and renaming it "Hind's Hall," at Columbia University, in New York City, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The protesters rally supporters on the campus below, leading chants with a megaphone as cameras flash. (Photo by Brendan Rose)

Writers: Anna Oakes, Jude Taha

Editors: Brendan Rose, Claire Davenport, Elza Goffaux

Photos: Brendan Rose, Jude Taha, Marco Postigo Storel, Sara Selva Ortiz, Sofia Mareque

Videos: Anna Oakes, Claire Davenport, Emily Byrski, Samaa Khullar

Audio: Sara Selva Ortiz, Claire Davenport

Monday, April 29, 2024

On the morning of April 29, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik made an announcement about the ongoing negotiations between administration officials and negotiators to the Columbia community via email. “Regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement,” she wrote in a statement. 


Shortly after the email was sent, a group of administrators from the negotiating committee marched across campus and entered the encampment, where most protesters were still asleep in their tents. They distributed notices to the few protesters who were awake: students would have until 2 p.m. that afternoon to identify themselves to university administrators and clear the encampment. Otherwise, they faced suspension. Seniors risked forfeiting their right to graduate.

A student in a checkered red keffiyeh is in sharp relief against a blurry background holding a half-burned piece of paper with "you need to burn" written in red on the front. They have a large tattoo on their forearm and are wearing a spiky bracelet

A member of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment burns Columbia’s notice to disperse at Columbia University, in New York City on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Marco Postigo Storel)

Most residents in the encampment were unimpressed. Many notices were deposited in the trash. Some were taped to the ground outside the encampment, with “Shame on Columbia” written over them in large red letters.

At a community discussion at noon, protesters voted to stay. They reiterated their demands that the university disclose and divest from its holdings in companies tied to Israel.

A woman in a light blue baseball cap with brown hair and glasses holds a red Solo cup in her left hand and a piece of paper that she reads in her right. A man in sunglasses wearing a university lanyard and ID behind her watches

Student protester Catherine Elias reads a “notice to the encampment” that was delivered by university delegates to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, at Columbia University, in New York City, on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Jude Taha)

At 2 p.m., as the deadline approached, hundreds of students from across the university began to march in a picket around the encampment. Students held signs saying “IDGAF, Divest Now” and “Columbia Funds Genocide.” The United Auto Workers chapter of Columbia graduate student workers joined in the picket. Faculty members, wearing neon orange vests, linked arms in front of the entrance to the encampment. 

A black trashcan with the Columbia crown insignia on it. You can see sheaves of paper coiled inside

Protesters at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment throw the notices delivered by Columbia University delegates into the trash on in New York City, Monday, April 29, 2024. Students also taped notices on the ground, overwritten in red marker with the words “SHAME ON COLUMBIA” and “I AIN'T READING ALL THAT FREE PALESTINE.” (Photo by Jude Taha)

A student with short brown hair, a mustache, and beard, reads from a piece of paper while press look on. He is surrounded by microphones and equipment on all sides

Gaza Solidarity Encampment negotiator Mahmoud Khalil speaks to the press in regards to Columbia’s notice to disperse at Columbia University, in New York City, on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Marco Postigo Storel)

(Videos by Samaa Khullar, Anna Oakes, and Emily Byrski)

By 4 p.m., the pickets had calmed as it became clear that the university would not evict the encampment protesters.

A dark black statue of a woman with her arms raised. There is a black and white keffiyeh wrapped around her neck, a white shirt with writing on it in her right arm and a small Palestinian flag in her left hand

The statue of Alma Mater at Columbia University, draped in a keffiyeh in New York City, on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Photo by Sara Selva Ortiz)

The Takeover of Hamilton Hall

Around midnight, hundreds of student protesters gathered on the central walk of campus. They sat in groups organized by key words: “dandelions,” “watermelons,” and “SWC,” for Student Workers of Columbia, the UAW chapter. Around 12:15 a.m., the groups began to march and chant in distinct, coordinated formations around the campus. Some circled the encampment; others marched up the steps of Low Memorial Library. 

A blurry photo of a protester, wearing a mask and head covering, opening the door to Hamilton Hall. Beyond them, more protesters entering the lit hall can be seen

A protester holds the door into Hamilton Hall open as protesters rush in to occupy the building at Columbia University, in New York City, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Earlier in the day, former Columbia President Minouche Shafik announced via email that “Columbia will not be divesting from Israel.” (Photo by Jude Taha)

Around 12:30 a.m., a smaller group of protesters donned masks and face coverings and entered Hamilton Hall carrying the metal gates that had surrounded the encampment. Hamilton Hall is the same building students occupied in 1968 during the anti-Vietnam War protests.

As protesters took over the building, they encountered university facilities staff, forcing them out, before barricading the doors from the inside the hall and tying picnic tables to the doors.

(Video by Claire Davenport)

A protester in a Columbia sweatshirt and black face mask is breaking a window behind closed doors. It is nighttime outside and the building is lit inside. The blurry face of another protester wearing a face mask can vaguely be seen behind them.

Students with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment break the doors to the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, in New York City, after taking over it on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Photo by Marco Postigo Storel)

Two students attempted to prevent the protesters from blocking the doors. After several minutes, they were convinced to leave by a colleague.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the doors of the building, singing and chanting, as protesters on both sides of the building doors used furniture to further barricade the entrance.

A man in a blue shirt with short ginger hair and glasses holds out an arm, attempting to block a piece of outdoor furniture being used to barricade Hamilton Hall. He is surrounded by protesters in keffiyehs and one in a puffer near the camera

Students try to prevent the Gaza Solidarity Encampment protesters from taking over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, in New York City on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Photo by Marco Postigo Storel)

The faces of protesters holding wooden chairs inside Hamilton Hall, their faces covered, behind an iron window grating, while the blurry figures of protesters in keffiyehs walk in front of the building
Dozens of protesters in sweatshirts, masks, and keffiyehs lock arms in front of Hamilton Hall. It is clearly nighttime

Student protesters form a human chain outside of Hamilton Hall after its occupation at Columbia University, in New York City, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (Photos by Sofia Mareque)

Around 1:30 a.m., banners were dropped from inside the building. Hamilton Hall was now “Hind’s Hall,” named after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed fleeing from her home in Gaza City in January by Israeli forces. Rajab spent hours stranded in a vehicle next to the bodies of her aunt, uncle, and cousins. Along with two paramedics who had attempted to rescue her, she was found killed weeks later.

(Video by Marco Postigo Storel)

A protester in a black sweatshirt and what appears to be blue cord wrapped over their shoulder gives a peace sign through a cracked window. They are wearing blue gloves. The door in front of them is held shut with a bike lock

A gloved protester waves a peace sign through broken glass in Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, in New York City, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. After protesters went through all three entrances of Hamilton Hall, they yelled at people close to the door to move as they were going to break the glass and barricade themselves into the building. (Photo by Jude Taha)

By 3 a.m. the administration had made no response to the occupation. For hours, students outside “Hind’s Hall” chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Palestine will live forever.”