NEW YORK — Pro-Palestinian student protesters who forced their way into an academic building at Columbia University Tuesday now face expulsion, university administrators announced a day after the school suspended students who ignored an order to break up their encampments.

The occupation began shortly after midnight at Hamilton Hall, Columbia’s main administrative building. It prompted the university to restrict access to the campus Tuesday, only allowing students who live in dorms and essential services staff to remain.

“Protesters have chosen to escalate to an untenable situation — vandalizing property, breaking doors and windows, and blockading entrances,” said university spokesman Ben Chang in a statement.

“This is about responding to the actions of the protesters, not their cause,” he continued. “As we said yesterday, disruptions on campus have created a threatening environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty.”

While many classes have already ended for the semester, some graduate programs pivoted to remote. All main campus libraries were shuttered, just as final exam season is getting underway.

“There is no additional access to the Morningside campus,” a memo from the university reads. “This access restriction will remain in place until circumstances allow otherwise.”

Student protesters said in a statement that they will stay until Columbia concedes to three demands: Divestment from Israel, financial transparency, and amnesty for all student and faculty disciplinary action related to pro-Palestinian advocacy.

“Resistance is justified in the movement for liberation,” said Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of more than 100 groups behind the encampment, which persisted on the lawns while other students occupied the hall.

Madeline, a sophomore at Columbia, was trying to make an emergency therapy appointment Tuesday because of the situation on campus. But like many other programs and services, in-person mental health facilities were out of reach.

“I think closing off campus is a horrible idea, to close it off to students,” Madeline said.

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