Columbia University has suspended more than 65 students for their role in a pro-Palestinian demonstration that forced the shutdown of the main campus library, a school official said on Friday.
The students were placed on interim suspension and will be prohibited from taking their final exams or entering campus except to access their dormitories, the university official said.
Columbia also barred 33 other people from campus, including students from other colleges and alumni who took part in the protest, according to the official.
"When rules are violated and when our academic community is purposefully disrupted, that is a considered choice — one with real consequences," the Columbia official said.
Scores of students were arrested after seizing part of the school's main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year's wave of protests against Israel's war in Gaza.
80 student protesters arrested after library protest
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that authorities arrested 80 students for the four-hour protest that shut down the main library on campus.
Columbia security reportedly did not let protesters leave the library without showing some form of identification.
Videos and photographs on social media showed protesters, most wearing masks, standing on tables, beating drums, and unfurling banners saying "Strike For Gaza" and "Liberated Zone" beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room.
The protesters renamed the room "the Basel Al-Araj Popular University," according to the New York Times.
Columbia said late on Wednesday that it had requested NYPD assistance "in securing the building," and that two of its public safety officials were hurt in the standoff.
The Trump administration's antisemitism task force said that it was "encouraged" by Columbia's response to protests, according to a statement released the day after the protest.
The Task Force is encouraged by Acting President [Claire] Shipman's strong and resolute statement regarding the unlawful, violent and disgraceful takeover of Butler library yesterday," the statement read. "She has stepped in to lead Columbia at a critical juncture and has met the moment with fortitude and conviction. "
Earlier this year, the task force froze nearly $2.2 billion in federal funding to the university after the administration claimed that it was failing to protect Jewish students on campus.