Columbia University should open its checkbook if school leaders want the NYPD to stay on the Ivy League campus through May 17 and “babysit unruly students,” a bipartisan group of city pols fumed Wednesday.
The elite institution’s beleaguered president, Minouche Shafik, drew the ire of the City Council’s Common Sense Caucus with her request that cops stay on campus until two days after commencement to ensure that another anti-Israel encampment doesn’t spring back up.
“Columbia created this mess and Columbia – not New Yorkers – should pay to clean it up,” the nine council members, led by Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) and Queen Democrat Bob Holden wrote in a scathing letter to university officials obtained by The Post.
The NYPD cleared out the anti-Israel protesters who camped out for weeks on the school’s iconic lawn in Morningside Heights Tuesday night after university officials lost control and called the cops for help.
Negotiations between Columbia brass and demonstrators devolved, with a mob — which Mayor Eric Adams said included “outside agitators” — staged a violent occupation of nearby academic building Hamilton Hall.
The council members said that, “while we can all agree that these protestors should not be allowed to re-assemble and harass their fellow students, we believe taxpayers should not be forced to pay for a private institution’s use of significant NYPD resources.”
“New York City has very real problems that must be prioritized,” the letter continued, adding, “Babysitting spoiled students, activist professors, and professional protestors on an Ivy League campus is not one of them.”
If the university wants city cops to assist on campus, the caucus told school officials to contact the NYPD’s paid details unit, which specializes in providing security for private places.
“You certainly can afford it,” the lawmakers said, noting Columbia’s tuition costs of more than $68,000 a year and $13.6 billion in endowments.
It was unclear if cops planned to keep a presence on campus for the next few weeks.
“Right after this, we’re going to go out, we’re going to do assessment of the campus,” Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey said during a press conference Wednesday morning. “We’re going to make sure we speak with the campus officials, and then we’re going to make a determination what kind of resources that we’re going to put there.”
A call for comment to the university was not returned.
