Back on campus, students affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of more than 100 student groups, started pitching a series of green tents at 4 a.m. near the 116th St. campus entrance, according to postings on social media.

Students pledged that the demonstration, called the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, will remain until the university meets their demand to divest Columbia’s finances from companies and institutions that profit from Israel.

But the administration said they need to go. Students posted reports on social media that the NYPD is on campus, and videos of administrators telling them to disperse and handing out written rules of university conduct.

“The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university policies,” said a university spokesperson. “We are informing the students they are in violation of university policies and for their own safety and for the operation of the university they need to leave.”

Signs declared the encampment a “liberated zone,” according to social media. A faculty member was expected to lead a session on the history of anti-apartheid movements at Columbia later in the morning.

“We refuse to accept a world where the death of over 30,000 Palestinians is normal, acceptable, or profitable,” students wrote on Instagram.

The campus is closed to the public all this week, with a Columbia ID necessary to enter the campus gates, the university announced.

On top of the committee investigation, Columbia has also been under a U.S. Department of Education probe since November for allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia. Jewish students have filed a federal lawsuit against the administration, saying they permitted antisemitism to exclude them from the full Columbia experience.

When she launched the congressional probe in February, committee chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., pointed to a “pattern of deeply troubling incidents and developments at Columbia,” including a Jewish student who was beaten with a stick by a peer during a dispute over Israeli hostage posters, and a swastika drawn in a campus bathroom.

Earlier this month, Columbia announced the suspensions of multiple pro-Palestinian students for an unsanctioned campus event with “speakers who are known to support terrorism and promote violence.” Students for Justice in Palestine accused the university of a “coordinated campaign to boost Columbia’s public image” ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.

Pro-Palestinian students have repeatedly accused the administration of not doing enough to keep them safe from ‘doxxing’ trucks, physical attacks and arrests. Shafik testified during the hearing that 90 students have reached out to Columbia’s doxxing response team, which provides legal and technical support including privacy measures and online scrubbing.

Like Shafik, the New York City public schools chancellor, David Banks, is scheduled to testify before the same committee on May 8.

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