“I want to make it very clear to Columbia administration and Barnard administration that I refuse to be silenced in my demand for divestment, and I will remain vocally opposed to genocide in Gaza,” said Iqbal, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, which was kicked off campus in the fall.

Students on Wednesday spent the night in the tents on the lawn, despite the rain. By the morning, Students for Justice in Palestine announced Columbia administrators had agreed to one of their demands to provide financial transparency on investments.

New York Civil Liberties Union, which is in active litigation over the suspension of two Columbia student groups, described the administration’s response as a “significant departure” from past practices.

“Columbia has allowed students to engage in a range of protest activities on campus without calling in the NYPD, including occupying school buildings and the lawn for days at a time,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of NYCLU, said in a statement. “Columbia’s move to send in police so quickly after these demonstrations began chills student expression.”

Lieberman added the NYPD arrested legal observers, whose job it is to monitor police activity and are “well known to the department.”

Hundreds of protesters after the congressional hearing Wednesday gathered on Broadway, with one pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested for ignoring repeated requests to lower the 15-foot pole for safety reasons, the individual and cops said. Another protester was arrested for assaulting a police officer.

“We are devoid of any fear right now,” the group said in a statement on social media. “We have the student collective mobilizing behind us. And this has given us immense power. We have the control now.”

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(With Barry Williams and Tim Balk.)

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