Representative Ilhan Omar’s daughter from Minnesota, Isra Hirsi, is one of several Barnard students suspended for taking part in a pro-Palestinian campsite at Columbia University.
The demonstration, which consists of several dozen tents set up on the South Lawn of the Ivy League school to express disapproval of Israeli operations in Gaza, has sparked a standoff between students and administration. Following notification from the university that they would face suspension for refusing to relocate, and after the students pledged to stay put, dozens of students were taken into custody on Thursday.
Why Hirsi’s got suspended?
After erecting a tent city on the campus of the $90,000-per-year Ivy League institution on Thursday afternoon, Hirsi was among the more than 100 protestors who were taken away in handcuffs by the NYPD.
The demonstrations had subsided by Thursday afternoon by late, and cleaning teams had been sent in to dismantle and remove the scores of tents that had scattered around the campus.
Having grown up attending protests, Hirsi is the daughter of a controversial and outspoken congressman whose own provocative remarks have prompted charges that she is anti-Semitic and anti-American.
Barnard College addressed the “unauthorised encampment” by noting in a community update that it had “multiple requests” from the involved students to vacate the lawn and warned them of consequences if they did not comply.
Who is Isra Hirsi?
Isra Hirsi is a high school student in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a climate and racial justice advocate who co-founded and serves as Executive Director of the US Youth Climate Strike. She oversaw the coordination of hundreds of strikes across the country between March 15th and May 3rd.
Hirsi began her climate advocacy during her freshman year of high school by joining the school’s environmental club. Hirsi has long advocated for intersectionality and diversity in both the climate justice movement and her daily life, motivated by her identity as a Black Muslim woman.