Dozens of Columbia University student activists donned masks Monday to protest the Ivy League school’s policy reforms, which include new restrictions on mask-wearing during protests.
Student Workers of Columbia, the university’s graduate student union, organized the picket "to protest Columbia’s newest repressive policies" and handed out masks to protesters. Columbia’s Palestine Solidarity Coalition, meanwhile, called on students to "wear a mask on Monday to protest mask bans and the fascist trustees." The group appeared to poke fun at the new policy, which allows face masks for "medical reasons."
"WEAR A MASK. PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR COMMUNITY," it wrote in an Instagram post. "We call on everyone to wear masks on campus. We recommend wearing a KN95, KF-94, or N95 mask for the most protection. We refuse to be intimidated."
While the campus protest remained relatively tame, it calls into question the school’s ability to enforce its new rules—imposed three days earlier in a bid to begin negotiations with the Trump administration to restore more than $430 million in federal funds—during unruly demonstrations. Those rules include a ban on masks used to conceal one's identity—anyone wearing a face covering must present their ID when asked by a school security official.
Footage from Monday's demonstration, however, showed masked protesters marching unimpeded without being asked to identify themselves. Asked about the protest, a Columbia spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon that "University Delegates and public safety are monitoring for violations of our policy, and any violations will be met with consequences."
The protest came in the wake of a weekend meeting, detailed in a Monday night Wall Street Journal report, between Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong and a group of angry faculty members. At the meeting, Armstrong downplayed the mask policy, saying there was "no mask ban." A Trump administration statement issued Monday said Columbia had agreed to "a strict anti-masking policy that includes appropriate enforcement mechanisms for violations."
The masked activists held signs and chanted, "No justice, no peace, no campus police," with some banging on plastic buckets. Columbia’s Palestine Solidarity Coalition previously helped organize protests in support of Columbia University Apartheid Divest—the school’s most notorious anti-Semitic student group.
https://twitter.com/CUJewsIsraelis/status/1904236238766264602
"Our demands are clear: protect international student workers, restore slashed funding, reinstate all student workers disciplined for Pro-Palestine activism and speech," the student union wrote on Instagram Sunday.
Activists also hoisted a banner that read "Free Mahmoud, Free Palestine" on a campus building.
https://twitter.com/CUJewsIsraelis/status/1904236234966262178
Dozens more anti-Israel activists protested outside the campus gates, banging on drums and chanting, "It is right to rebel, Columbia go to hell." Amid the demonstrators, Columbia’s graduate student union set up a table distributing flyers that read "Free Mahmoud Khalil." Anti-Israel activists and groups have rallied to the defense of Khalil—a former union member—since federal immigration authorities arrested him for leading "activities aligned to Hamas."
At 116th and broadway now! Take a flyer, take a zine, informational picket at 1pm! pic.twitter.com/e4XviGtXnh
— Student Workers of Columbia (@SW_Columbia) March 24, 2025
Another handout read "Reinstate Ranjani," referencing Ranjani Srinivasan, the Columbia doctoral student who expressed support for the "anticolonial liberation movement in Palestine." She self-deported to Canada using the Trump administration’s revamped "CBP Home" app nearly one week after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked her student visa.
Columbia has also recently expelled the union’s president, Grant Miner, for his participation in the Hamilton Hall break-in.
A third flyer titled "Surveil the Police" promotes "Cops Off Campus"—a Columbia student union branch that collects tips on "surveilling NYPD & private security at Columbia University," according to its Instagram page.
Another flyer called to establish the Ivy League institution as a "sanctuary campus" that will "stop surveilling the student body" and prohibit the use of "previous surveillance to be used by federal agencies currently targeting non-citizens"—all demands outlined in internal union documents obtained by the Free Beacon last week. The group aims to force the school to provide free "legal support" for student visa holders, destroying "all records" related to campus protest participants, and suing the Trump administration "and other anti-immigrant actors."
The Trump administration made its demands days after slashing $
In addition to the new mask policy, Columbia agreed to empower 36 campus safety officers to arrest students and appoint a "senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies as well as the Center for Palestine Studies," among other policy changes. The changes do not trigger the restoration of federal funds but rather unlock additional negotiations over "long-term" reforms.
The Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and General Services Administration—all members of the Trump administration’s task force to combat anti-Semitism—released a statement Monday welcoming Columbia’s compliance with the administration’s demands.
"Columbia is demonstrating appropriate cooperation with the Trump Administration’s requirements, and we look forward to a lasting resolution," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. "I have been in communication with Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong over the last few weeks and appreciate her leadership and commitment to advance truly meaningful reforms on campus."
The press release went on to note that "Columbia’s compliance with the Task Force’s preconditions is only the first step in rehabilitating its relationship with the government, and more importantly, its students and faculty. The decisive steps the Task Force has taken with Columbia have yielded positive results that should serve as a roadmap for universities with similar problems across the country."
Update 10:09 p.m.: This story has been updated to include additional information.