Columbia protest at a stalemate as students remain camped on lawn
Talks between protesting students and Columbia University remained at a stalemate Friday, demonstrators said, as a pro-Palestinian encampment seemed destined to stretch into its second weekend.
Talks between protesting students and Columbia University remained at a stalemate Friday, demonstrators said, as a pro-Palestinian encampment seemed destined to stretch into its second weekend.
With time ticking toward final exams and commencement ceremonies, both sides appear to be entrenched and unwilling to bend, student negotiators said.
The students want Columbia to withdraw any investments in companies they deem as profiting from Israeli foreign policy on Gaza and the West Bank. The students said the school has offered only loosely worded promises to look into where funding is staked.
"There’s no deadline ... no timeline for this negotiation," grad student and negotiator Mahmoud Khalil told reporters on campus. “We are at this stage, we are kind of at an impasse. The university is not acknowledging the movement and the extent of the movement.”
The students said they have no assurances Columbia won't bring in outside law enforcement, such as the NYPD or National Guard, to clear the encampment.
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