CUNY Public Safety establish barricades, restrict student access to buildings as pro-Palestinian encampment goes on for a third day
By Leon Sullivan
Photos by Leon Sullivan for The Campus
Updated 8:17 PM EDT, April 27, 2024
As the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment goes on for a third day on City College’s quad, CUNY public safety officers have been erecting barricades at entrances to CCNY’s campus. Previously, within the hours after the encampment was set up on Thursday, the entrances on 138th and 139th Streets were closed. However, the entrances to campus through the wings of the NAC on Amsterdam Avenue and on Convent Avenue remained open. Now, metal fences have been erected at these entrances.
Though these barricades are being erected, there are openings in between the fences. According to a post made by @cuny4palestine on Instagram showing the barricade erected at 140th St. and Convent Ave., “Right now anyone can still walk through the gates, ID or no.” CCNY’s campus is open to the public at all times normally.
On Friday, The Campus staff watched a CCNY student fail to gain entry to CCNY’s Marshak Building at 9:05 p.m. to use the restroom. A public safety officer told the student that, “they advised me that buildings now close at 9.” New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams was present to observe the situation. Speaking with The Campus, Williams, a graduate of CUNY’s Brooklyn College, said that he was “taking personal interest here and also [at] the other campuses to make sure that people's expressions are respected, and we don’t have an overuse of force.” In response to the protests, Williams said, “We want to make sure it isn’t what we saw [at] Columbia,” where officers in riot gear arrested over 100 protestors on April 18.
The entrance on 138th St., which has been blocked since Thursday.
On Saturday afternoon, a public safety representative told a Campus reporter on the phone that CCNY students are not able to gain access to any buildings at this time, and that buildings were open at this time last weekend. The representative told the reporter that he had not heard of any plans to fully block off access to campus. It is unclear why the barriers were erected in the first place.
A CUNY spokesperson told The Campus through email that, "Every student has the First Amendment right to peacefully protest." As of right now, it’s unclear how the situation will develop, with classes starting again after Spring Recess ends on Wednesday, May 1.
