Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) is a student-led organization at Columbia University advocating for the institution to divest from companies associated with Israel. According to their Instagram account, CUAD is a “Coalition of 100+ Columbia University student groups who see Palestine as the vanguard for collective liberation” and claims to be a “continuation of the Vietnam anti-war movement and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa.” On September 16, 2024, CUAD shared a post by the Unity of Fields Instagram account calling for the mass evasion of public transportation fares and labeling police, “Zionists,” and “surveillance infrastructure” as targets for violence. The post stated: “Fares are free. Don’t pay. Join us in mass fare evasion. Take our city back from the pigs. Let repression breed more resistance. All zionist, police & surveillance infrastructure are legitimate targets.” This post and CUAD’s promotion of it contributed to a large anti-police riot in New York City demanding taxpayer-funded public transportation. The Unity of Fields account that posted the original call for violence was later disabled by Meta, as confirmed by a post from an alt-account on September 25, 2024. In January 2025, CUAD, alongside the Palestine Solidarity Working Group and NYC Resists with Gaza, vandalized Henry R. Kravis Hall. Activists spraypainted pro-Hamas slogans and cemented the building’s sewage system, protesting the university’s expansion projects in Harlem and its association with the Apartheid Global Center in Tel Aviv. On February 27, 2025, Barnard College dean Leslie Grinage was held captive by pro-Hamas members of CUAD and Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Reports claim that two university employees were physically assaulted, the campus was vandalized, and classes were canceled. Protesters were calling for the reinstatement of two pro-Hamas classmates who were expelled for interrupting a History of Modern Israel class with antisemitic propaganda. Grinage was eventually released and the protest moved from the university to the streets of New York City.