Collin Anderson of the Washington Free Beacon reports a disturbing element of the Columbia protest story.
For more than two weeks, Columbia University graduate student Aidan Parisi has defied the university’s suspension, refusing to vacate his dorm room on the school’s Manhattan campus.
The school announced Parisi’s suspension on April 4 following his participation in a pro-Hamas event. And while Columbia leaders have pledged to enforce the suspension, they have yet to follow through. In the meantime, Parisi has contributed to the mayhem that has engulfed the campus over the past several days, serving as a leader of the unauthorized encampment zone that has plagued the school for days.
Parisi has tweeted daily from what he calls Columbia’s “Gaza Solidarity Camp,” located on the university’s south lawn. Student activists set up the camp last week as Columbia president Minouche Shafik testified before Congress on the school’s response to campus anti-Semitism.
One day later, Shafik authorized the New York City Police Department to arrest students who had ignored warnings to leave the area and who were protesting in violation of university policy. But Parisi avoided arrest and went on to organize a “second camp” where students have remained ever since.
Parisi has emerged as a ringleader of student activists, leading chants such as, “Columbia, we see you, you imprison children too.” He’s used his social media account to solicit supplies for his “amazing comrades,” including blankets, tarps, and coffee.
He is also a symbol of the university’s dilemma: While Shafik has taken some disciplinary measures, suspending several students and calling in the police, the university has as yet been unwilling to employ more serious tactics to enforce order.
When Columbia suspended him in early April, Parisi was technically required to leave campus and should have been barred from returning without prior approval. The school gave him 24 hours to vacate his on-campus apartment on April 4. Four days later, he posted a statement to his Instagram account detailing his refusal to leave.