Columbia’s Hamilton Hall: A history of student action at Gaza protest hub

Students have occupied the building at pivotal moments in American history, often triggering policy change.

Hamilton Hall, the academic building at Columbia University that students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza occupied early on April 30, has a long history of student protests.

Over the past half-century, students have barricaded themselves there in protest at pivotal moments in history, including the Vietnam War and the growing global momentum against apartheid in South Africa.

Protesters dubbed the building “Mandela Hall” in honour of the South African liberation leader during the 1985 student blockade. Echoing the 1985 protests, students who took over the building on Tuesday renamed it “Hind’s Hall” in honour of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed alongside her family by Israeli forces in Gaza.

On Wednesday morning, police officers entered the campus, taking dozens of people into custody in the latest escalation between student-led, pro-Palestinian protests and law enforcement authorities.

That crackdown too, like the takeover of Hamilton Hall by students, is in keeping with the history of the building as an iconic protest venue at Columbia.