Behind Columbia University’s months of tension
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2024
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tensions have been mounting at Columbia University for months, even before the school called police to clear a Gaza solidarity encampment. Pro-Palestine students say the administration hasn’t prioritized their safety. In the first of a two-part series, The Take goes behind the protests at Columbia.
In this episode:
- Asiya Ahmed (@_asiyahmed), Senior Producer, AJ+
- Mohsen Mahdawi, Co-President, Columbia Palestinian Students Union
- Chris Mendell, Staff Writer, The Columbia Spectator
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with our host Malika Bilal. David Enders, Zaina Badr, and Manahil Naveed fact-checked this episode.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, pro-Palestinian voices on U.S. college campuses say they're being silenced. |
| 0:19.2 | Columbia University has been very |
| 0:20.9 | complicit and bias |
| 0:23.5 | because Columbia University |
| 0:25.5 | administration has picked a sign |
| 0:28.2 | early on since October 7. |
| 0:33.4 | I'm Malika Bilal |
| 0:35.0 | and this is The Take. |
| 0:49.9 | Columbia University is known worldwide for its academics and for its location, |
| 0:53.6 | an Ivy League school right in the heart of New York City. |
| 1:00.6 | On April 17th, the school made headlines for other reasons. |
| 1:05.6 | Demonstrators set up tents earlier today, which ballooned into hundreds of people. |
| 1:08.8 | The group was told to disband by 4 p.m., but they did not. |
| 1:15.8 | First, before dawn, students set up an encampment on the university's lawn in the middle of campus. |
| 1:21.8 | That same day, the university president, Nimette Manu Sheffique, was in Washington. |
| 1:29.8 | The U.S. Congress questioned Sheffique about allegations of anti-Semitism on Columbia's campus, making her the latest in a line of elite college heads to be summoned. |
| 1:33.7 | Colombia strives to be a community free of discrimination and hate in all its forms, and we |
| 1:40.3 | condemn the anti-Semitism that is so pervasive today. |
| 1:45.3 | The next day, in New York, Shafiq called on police to try to clear the Columbia protesters off the school lawn. |
| 1:53.1 | It set off a confrontation that's still reverberating now. |
| 1:57.3 | And as the university tries to shut down its encampment, others are popping up at least a dozen universities across the United States. |
... |
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