By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most Columbia University students who faced disciplinary action, suspension or arrest for participating in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and demanding an end to U.S. military support for the ally will soon return to campus, the institute said.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

There have been protests in the United States for months, including at Columbia University and many other educational institutions. Columbia University’s handling of these protests led to the resignation of its president, Minouche Shafik, last week.

Pro-Palestinian protesters set up dozens of tents at Columbia University in April, demanding that the university sell its Israeli assets. University administrators ordered police to clear the tent camps, a move condemned by human rights groups.

IN NUMBERS

Of the 40 students who were arrested or disciplined when the university called police to campus on April 18, only two remain suspended from classes, according to a Republican-led U.S. congressional committee.

The committee investigating allegations of anti-Semitism on campus had asked the university for this information and criticized Columbia’s actions as inadequate.

Of the more than 80 students arrested between April 29 and May 1, only five now face provisional suspension without access to campus, according to information released Monday.

CONTEXT

Protests at some universities occasionally turned violent, while police made arrests on campus to clear the camps.

Dozens of protesters were arrested at Columbia’s famous Hamilton Hall, which the protesters occupied, and medical records show that some of them suffered serious injuries.

Information released by the university indicates that dozens of disciplinary proceedings are ongoing. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group behind the protests, said the students in question could still face disciplinary action.

Information released Monday showed that Columbia has not charged any protesting students with hate speech.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli sources. Israel’s subsequent military assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has sparked a humanitarian crisis and killed over 40,000 people, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates)