You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Columbia, U. of Washington Suspend Protesters as Yale, UCLA Students Join Hunger Strike for Gaza

HeadlineMay 12, 2025

Columbia University has suspended some 65 students who took part in a Palestinian solidarity protest at Butler Library last week. In addition, the university barred from campus another 33 people who took part in the action, including Columbia alumni and students from Barnard. Police were called in to violently crack down on the student activists, resulting in multiple protester injuries. Meanwhile, the University of Washington suspended 21 students who protested their school’s ties with weapons maker Boeing.

Despite the intensifying repression from schools, students are continuing their actions. At Yale, at least six students have launched a hunger strike demanding Yale divest from Israel and protect free speech on campus. Students at UCLA have also launched a hunger strike, joining students at other schools in California. This is Palestinian UCLA student Maya Abdallah.

Maya Abdallah: “To the people of Gaza, I want you to know that the students have not and will not give up, and we will not stop until Palestine is free.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top