Well, Lindsey, we were here as more than 100 NYPD
officers moved toward Columbia University,
pro Palestinian demonstrators that were positioned right outside the university,
right outside the gates just behind us.
They were moved across the street where we are.
These barricades were moved closer to where we are and
put in place.
These NYPD officers have been positioned here on the street,
just making sure no one makes their way across the
street here toward the campus.
We have seen a couple of individuals brought out in
zip ties by officers and those protesters that were here
all day are still here watching this play out as
as we are watching the situation,
we saw a SWAT team as well make their way
in.
You you were watching it with us where those SWAT
team members
moved into Hamilton Hall through that second story window they
are.
It seems as though they are still in there.
We did see the lights come on.
We had not seen that this evening and it seems
as though they are making their way
through this building on each floor.
We've seen the lights come on on the third story,
the fourth story
here at Hamilton Hall. So we have not seen them
come out,
but officers are have moved in onto the university campus.
We know in speaking with student demonstrators the last couple
of days,
many of them telling us they were not going to
leave,
they were not going to disperse,
they were not going to leave the encampment that they
put up almost two weeks ago,
many of them demanding that the university divest from companies
they say profit from Israel.
And just yesterday, I was speaking with one of those
student negotiators who said that the conversations with university officials
were no longer in good faith.
They said they were no longer continuing those discussions,
saying that the university was not budging,
and neither were they, Lindsay.
All right, Stephanie, thank you so much.
I wanted to see if we have Aaron Katersky available.
Aaron, are you with us?
I'm here, Lindsay. OK, great.
So, Aaron, you just got a letter from Columbia University
that it sent to the NYPD.
What can you tell us about that?
This is the letter formally authorizing the NYPD to enter
campus as a private institution.
The NYPD is not authorized to go on to
Columbia's campus without that kind of explicit permission.
And once that letter came,
that's when the police decided to move in.
And specifically, it requests the NYPD presence to
remove the occupants from Hamilton Hall and all other encampments
that it's that have sprung up on campus associated with
the with this protest.
The occupants of the building,
the letter says, are some students but also individuals who
are not affiliated with Columbia University.
That's the determination the school has made,
they said. They understood some of the tactics that the
NYPD would use to try to clear the building and
the encampments and and and while the the letter does
not appear to give a time frame for how long
the
the the police can be on campus.
It does seem to give them some open-ended room here
Lindsay to to operate until the building is secure and
the encampments are gone.
Now I'm seeing something here and and I'm
I'm just wondering if you're seeing and can collect corroborate
this
that the NYPD is allowed to stay until May 17th
stay on campus until May 17th and that would get
them through
commencement. That would get the commencement is on the 15th.
Correct. And so so that is but in part of
the consideration to make sure that you know people who
either
are are concerned about their safety or who are uninvolved
in this and and and want you know to have
the the right to be educated and and finish that
education that that's clearly part of the consideration.
The letter also makes mention
that you know that that they've been trying to negotiate
an end to this the school has and and finally
those negotiations just kind of ran out of runway and
and it seemed as if this had become a a
safety concern for the school
and and no longer one they could you know negotiate
an end to.
All right.
Aaron Katersky for us. Our thanks to you.