A Familiar Face Among Columbia Students Arrested in Library Takeover
Student protestor: “Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill, even if they disagree with you. … We’re on an Ivy League campus but this is basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for.”
Among the 80 protestors arrested for occupying Columbia University’s Butler Library on Wednesday were several repeat offenders. One of those was a young woman you just may recall from a previous campus protest who stood out for her sheer audacity.
The Washington Free Beacon reported on Friday that pro-Palestinian Columbia graduate student Johannah King-Slutzky was among those previously arrested. King-Slutzky, you may recall, distinguished herself during a student takeover of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall in April 2024 by demanding humanitarian aid for the protestors.
Columbia Students Arrested for Storming Library Include Several Repeat Offenders—Including Grad Student Who Demanded Humanitarian Aid From Universityhttps://t.co/VONR5c0dCK
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) May 9, 2025
Speaking to reporters at the time, King-Slutzky preposterously remarked, “They’re obligated to provide food to students who paid for a meal plan here.”
A reporter wanted to know if they had asked the school to bring food and water to the building. She replied:
“To be brought in. I mean, I guess it’s ultimately a question of what kind of community and obligation Columbia feels it has to its students. Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill, even if they disagree with you. If the answer is no then you should allow basic..I mean, it’s crazy to say. We’re on an Ivy League campus but this is basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for. Like could people please have a glass of water.”
When the reporter pointed out that the mob intentionally created this situation for themselves, she said, “Nobody is asking them to bring in anything. We’re asking them to not violently stop us from bringing in basic humanitarian aid.”
Huh?
Reporter grills Columbia student after she demands the university help feed protestors occupying Hamilton Hall:
"It seems like you're saying, 'we want to be revolutionaries, we want to take over this building, now would you please bring us some food'." pic.twitter.com/vNczSAM4T1
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 30, 2024
The story gets even worse. In September, The National Review reported that King-Slutzky was teaching “Contemporary Western Civilization,” a mandatory course for all Columbia graduates. We can all imagine what her version of the subject would include.
And, more amazing still, her class was being taught in Hamilton Hall!
Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal’s daughter, Ramona Sarsgaard, was also arrested on Wednesday for participating in the anti-Israel demonstration. According to the Washington Free Beacon:
Gyllenhaal, a Columbia alumna, has described her daughter as “a real environmental activist,” boasting in 2019 that Sarsgaard, then 13, inspired her to join the cause.
“She, like many, many children, isn’t able to push out of her mind the dire situation that we’re in,” Gyllenhaal told People. “They’re really concerned and upset, demanding that the grownups pay attention. My daughter did that to me and it took me a minute.”
That didn’t stop Sarsgaard from donning a tan leather set at Paris Fashion Week in January.
Sarsgaard, whose father is Peter Sarsgaard, has also been a source of inspiration for her Oscar-nominated uncle—she and her sister influenced Jake Gyllenhaal to coauthor The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles, a 2023 book about the relationships between aunts and uncles and their nieces and nephews.
It doesn’t appear that Sarsgaard will face much trouble at home; in fact, Gyllenhaal is likely to applaud her daughter’s activism.
Wednesday’s protest cannot be minimized. Roughly 100 masked students descended upon Butler Library — during study week no less — renaming it “Bassel Al-Araj Popular University.” Al-Araj was an alleged Palestinian terrorist killed after opening fire on Israeli Defense Forces during a 2017 arrest raid.
Breaking news: masked protestors are taking over Butler Library in the middle of reading week. We hope this is addressed quickly and that University Rules are enforced so that everyone can go back to studying. @CUJewsIsraelis @CU_JewishAlumni @LishiBaker @shoshanaaufzien… pic.twitter.com/FMklVaGzUu
— columbiafsi (@columbiafsi) May 7, 2025
Fox News reported that protesters stood on a desk and chanted “Free Palestine,” “We want divestment now,” “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” and of course, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
BREAKING: Public Safety officers are standing by. Protesters are chanting “min el-maiyeh lel mayieh, Falastin arabieh” (“from the river to the sea, Palestine will be Arab”). They’re draping banners from the bookshelves, distributing stickers and pamphlets glorifying Oct 7, and… pic.twitter.com/MPeQ6O0gRA
— Shoshana Aufzien🎗️ (@shoshanaaufzien) May 7, 2025
We reject an imperialist economy of knowledge. We evoke the legacy of liberation and the philosophy of direct action of Basel al-Araj.
OUR DEMANDS: pic.twitter.com/gwKVnowrXu
— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) May 7, 2025
Claire Shipman, Columbia’s acting president, issued a statement which read: “Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries during a crowd surge when individuals attempted to force their way into the building and into Room 301. These actions are outrageous.”
University officials called in the NYPD after four hours, and the arrests began.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
An interesting concept. If an enemy captures your real estate, cut off the water, power, and HVAC.
Subotai Bahadur
Like the FBI doesn’t do that every damn time.
Love the photo collage.
So are ALL the Pali freaks crazy chicks?
Or are they just worse at escape-and-evade than the guys?
Told you. Most of these freak at all these rallies going back to Vietnam protests are women. The men are just simps that want to sleep with them.
As to your questions I would say both.
“It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy.” – George Orwell, 1984
Shoot the women first, by Eileen MacDonald.
If they are students expel them and lock their records. If they have a student visa turn them over to ICE. Charge them all with battery and put them in jail and fine them for damages.
Absolutely and if faculty or staff terminate their employment issue a trespass notice/citation and have those impacted seek restraining orders.
Emergency lattes are needed. Can’t be Americanos…. too colonial.
And here I thought she was the Queen Slut but she turned out to be the King Slut! Trans? Queer? Gender Neutral? Gender Blender?
“Would you like a menu?”
Great minds think alike.
I suspect the contract does require them to provide food. What I suspect it doesn’t provide is delivery.
Student protestor: “Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill, even if they disagree with you. … We’re on an Ivy League campus but this is basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for.”
No, I want you to quit trespassing and remove yourself from the place you are unlawfully occupying.
But I would settle for the former.
That’s funny. When I was in college, I also had the meal plan but you had to go to the dining center to get the food.
Mine use beer.
“Was” darn auto correct.
“End Columbia’s Occupation of Harlem; Return Land to Harlemites”
What, they want it returned to the descendants of Dutch settlers who founded New Harlem?
A chick with a hyphenated name. There’s a surprise.
A perfectly apropos hyphenated name, though.
OK, not perfect – it should be Queen-Slutzky.
It’s Columbia, who cares. Didn’t some rich actor bribe the tennis coach to take their kid on the team to get them in. Well spent money by the rich. Cut fed funding, pull tax exempt status and call it a day. Let stop funding spoil brats.
Starve to death? Dehydration? Ha Ha Ha. I guess you be tripping chica.
🎵 “You Don’t Have to Live Like A Refugee…”
“Roughly 100 masked students descended upon Butler Library […] University officials called in the NYPD after four hours, and the arrests began.”
Police should have been called, and the students arrested, immediately! Maybe enhance charges because cops were injured.
Let’s see, if I read the story correctly these chic infatada queens were a part of a mob that caused injuries to a couple of campus security officers. I’m sure there are any number of lawyers who could be retained to sue the parents. Get a judgement against the parents and this crap will stop immediately.
Presumably these College Students are 18+ and are legal adults responsible for their own actions so the Parents don’t have civil or criminal liability as they might for a minor child.
I would argue the one thing they are not, is “responsible.”
But you’re right on the law.
From the river to the sea, please bring us some KFC ….
No No No. With this crowd it has to be vegan.
We reject an imperialist economy of knowledge. We evoke the legacy of liberation and the philosophy of direct action of Basel al-Araj.
Marxist word salad. Anything written like that should be immediately placed in the circular file.
As to the demands about food…
As I said at the time, I believe, they should have turned off the power, the a/c, and the water. If they want to occupy somewhere, let them do it properly, as a proper reverse siege. And charge them for any and all damage done.
Leave a Comment