Access to Be Restricted on Campus for Ahmadinejad Visit

In anticipation of the hordes of demonstrators expected to protest Monday’s speech, public safety will close the Morningside campus to non-Columbia affiliates today and heavily restrict movement on and around campus.

“The Department of Public Safety is working closely with both the New York Police Department and the Secret Service,” said public safety chief James McShane in an e-mail to the University community on Friday. The University will close both entrances to campus on 114th Street and open the gate at Amsterdam Avenue and 115th Street. No further gate closures were announced, but access at all entrances will be restricted to CUID-holders.

The student speak-out organized by the ad-hoc Columbia Coalition will occur on South Lawn, where the University has also set up a large screen to broadcast Ahmadinejad’s speech.

According to the New York Police Department’s 26th precinct, parts of Broadway would be shut down to accommodate the protest. Though specifics will depend on size, the east side of the street between 113th and 116th Strees will likely be shut down.

Although leaders of the on-campus protest said that they anticipate their demonstration to be peaceful, they added that they would not hesitate to remove a disruptive speaker. Protest organizer Aaron Krieger, CC ’10, said that participants will be allowed to speak freely but that attempts to incite violence would not be tolerated.

In the event the protest gets out of hand, Columbia’s disciplinary guidelines outline two different processes for dealing with infractions. For simple violations, including “conduct that places another in danger of bodily harm” and “causes minor property damage and loss,” students go through the Dean’s Discipline system, in which the dean of the student’s school assesses and confers an appropriate sanction.

In the wake of the tumultuous 1968 student protests, in which student demonstrators occupied several administrative buildings, Columbia created a system to deal with more serious infractions—the rarely used discinplinary procedures of Rules of University Conduct. “Serious violations,” which, under the rules, merit hearings in front of the University Senate’s rules administrator, range from illicit uses of a firearm to occupying a University office. Punishments can include censure, suspension, or expulsion.

Although Provost Alan Brinkley, who administers student disciplinary procedures, did not respond to requests for comment this weekend, the University’s handling of last year’s protest of Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist may offer some insight into Columbia’s response to student protestors.

When a group of students rushed the stage during Gilchrist’s speech, at least three students were censured under the Rules of University Conduct—a signal of how seriously the University regarded the infractions. It was the first time in a decade that the rules had been used for disciplinary purposes.

Jacob Schneider can be reached at jacob.schneider@columbiaspectator.com.