Columbia University has been a focal point of anger and tensions over the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year and the war in Gaza that has followed. On Monday, the anniversary of the attack, it took on that role once again, as students and faculty held rallies, class walkouts and vigils to mourn the lives lost in both Israel and Gaza.

Outside the university gates, about 100 members of the Jewish community gathered holding Israeli flags and posters showing the faces of people kidnapped by Hamas. Inside, on the steps of Low Library, at the center of campus, pro-Israel students made speeches about people who died at the Nova Music Festival last year.

Near them on the same steps, students who had walked out of class in support of Palestinians chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” and held flags and posters that read “Free Gaza, Free Speech” and “Join us Alumni.”

Columbia University and its affiliate, Barnard College, have sought to contain protests related to the Mideast conflict with new security measures, including locking campus gates and requiring students, faculty and staff to show IDs to enter. So far this school year, the atmosphere has been calmer, but many students and faculty say tensions are palpable.

Starting last week, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian group, has been holding a vigil on the steps of Low Library. Unlike some past protests on and off campus, which have been marked by chanting and marching, the vigil has been somber. A few dozen students have often been gathered, sitting in silence, while others recite the names of those killed in Gaza.

At the foot of the campus’s Alma Mater statue last week, protesters set up a memorial featuring pictures of those who have died, along with Palestinian flags and a memorial garden laid out in the grass, but the college removed it and set up barricades. University security officers now stand watch nearby.

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