Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, is among several Barnard students who have been suspended for participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University.
The camp, which includes dozens of tents pitched on the campus’s South Lawn in protest against Israeli actions in Gaza, has created a standoff between administrators and students on the Ivy League campus.
Ms. Hirsi posted on social media around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday that she was one of three students suspended so far for participating in the protest, which began on Wednesday, the day the university’s president, Nemat Shafik, appeared before Congress to discuss antisemitism on campus.
At the congressional hearing, Dr. Shafik told lawmakers that she would enforce rules about unauthorized protests and antisemitism. Ms. Omar, who is on the committee that held the hearing and who did not mention that her daughter was among the pro-Palestinian protesters, was one of several Democrats who questioned Ms. Shafik about her actions toward Palestinian and Muslim students.
Ms. Hirsi, 21, said on social media that she was an organizer with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the student coalition that has been pushing the university to cut ties with companies that support Israel. Such divestment is the key demand of protesters in the encampment. She is also involved with the Columbia chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, one of two student groups that was suspended in November for holding unauthorized protests.
“I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” she wrote. “I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”
Ms. Hirsi is a junior majoring in sociology. Two other Barnard students, Maryam Iqbal, 18, a freshman, and Soph Dinu, 21, a junior majoring in religion, were also suspended, protest organizers said.
Police officers are present on campus, but had not made any arrests as of Thursday afternoon. Several protesters off campus, rallying in support of the encampment, were arrested earlier Thursday.
Columbia announced Thursday afternoon that it was suspending all the students in the encampment. “We are continuing to identify them and will be sending out formal notifications,” a university spokeswoman said. The students involved say they will not move until Columbia meets their demands.
During the congressional hearing on Wednesday, Ms. Omar questioned Dr. Shafik about why pro-Palestinian students on campus had been evicted, suspended, harassed and intimidated for their participation in a pro-Palestinian event. Dr. Shafik responded that it was a very serious situation and that the suspended students had refused to cooperate with an investigation into an event where people spoke in support of Hamas.
Ms. Omar also asked about an alleged chemical attack on pro-Palestinian protesters. Dr. Shafik said that she had reached out to the students who had been attacked, but that the investigation was still with the police. Ms. Hirsi was among the students who was sprayed with an odorous substance, organizers said.
At one point, Ms. Omar asked Dr. Shafik if she had seen any protests at Columbia that were anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian or against Jewish people, to which Dr. Shafik responded “no.”
“There has been a rise in targeting and harassment against antiwar protesters,” Ms. Omar said during the hearing, adding, “There has been a recent attack on the democratic rights of students across the country.”
