Columbia expels some students involved in building takeover in 2024 protests

Driving the news: Columbia's five-member University Judicial Board issued punishments to students, including multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations and expulsions "in relation to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring," the university said in a statement.

• "With respect to other events taking place last spring, the UJB's determinations recognized previously imposed disciplinary action," the statement adds.
• The disciplinary actions come after the completion of a months-long process that included investigations and hearings.
• It was not immediately clear how many students have received such punishments. The university did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.

Context: The building takeover was part of an escalation of campus protests sweeping the nation over the Israel-Hamas war last spring, with Columbia as the movement's epicenter.

• Dozens of protesters breached an administrative building at the Ivy League campus in Manhattan in April 2024, barricading entrances and flying a Palestinian flag out a window.

• At the time, the protesters inside Hamilton Hall were ordered to leave or face expulsion or even charges of burglary in the third degree, criminal mischief and trespassing.
• The occupation came after the university began suspending students for refusing to leave their on-campus encampment.

More from Axios:

• White House claims Columbia is blocking hunt for "pro-Hamas" protesters
• Demonstrators demand release of Columbia protest leader
• Columbia protest leader's arrest tests immigrants' free-speech rights

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the latest.