Columbia’s Hateful Class of ‘24

At Columbia University, 46 people were taken into custody for refusing to leave Hamilton Hall unless Columbia President Minouche Shafik met their demands.

Sebastian Gomez was one of the Columbia University students arrested at the pro-Hamas protest.

Gomez had already watched from his lab in April as police “swooped in from every side” and arrested 108 Columbia students. He told Yes! Magazine the day those students got arrested, he went from supporting the camp to joining it.

“This is a beautiful place with students from every walk of life supporting each other,” Gomez said. “We have seminars, teach-ins, and I am learning about so many things. People are bringing us wonderful food every day. I’ve eaten better than I have in months.”

Meanwhile, more than 500 Columbia students signed a letter that said that Jewish students at Columbia have been repeatedly targeted with violence and antisemitic language, including “we don’t want no Zionists here,” “death to the Zionist State,” and “go back to Poland." They were blocked from entering shared parts of campus. They did not feel safe walking alone on campus.

Videos from the encampment show activists screaming at Jewish students, saying that the Hamas attacks on October 7 “will happen not one more time, not five more times, not 10 more times, not 100 more times, not 1,000 more times, but 10,000 times,” and it will “be every day for you.”

Sebastian Gomez joined the encampment after personally witnessing more than 100 people get arrested. Gomez had every opportunity to distance himself from what President Joe Biden described as “blatant” antisemitism.

Several reports have identified outside agitators among the list of those arrested. But Sebastian Gomez is one of the 14 undergraduate students arrested at Hamilton Hall.

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