On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia student recently released from ICE detention, responded to takeovers of a library on campus by stating that “I understand when students — when all doors are closed for students, that the university is pushing them further and further.” “has pushed students too far by refusing to acknowledge the genocide and refusing to divest from war and to invest in peace.”
Host Laura Coates asked, “I want to point out that, on the campuses, because I know you’re very closely tied to — obviously, as a student, yourself, there, protests have continued, and, in spite of what you’re articulating, the NYPD arrested, I think, 80 people this week alone at Columbia’s campus library. And the acting University President, Claire Shipman, said in a statement, ‘Violence and vandalism, hijacking a library—none of that has any place on our campus.’ How do you think the continued protests should be viewed, and do you agree with the tactics?”
Mahdawi responded, “The protest, mainly, was peaceful. Myself, I don’t prefer — my method is [a] nonviolent method and myself, I don’t prefer taking over buildings. But I understand when students — when all doors are closed for students, that the university is pushing them further and further. And also, the university has actually incited violence. If you see how students were brutalized and sent to hospitals yesterday, it’s something that is heart-wrenching. So, I see Columbia University is actually, especially the administration, basically, has agency, and has pushed students too far by refusing to acknowledge the genocide and refusing to divest from war and to invest in peace.”
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