Greg, who opted to use a pseudonym, was a freshman during the massive Columbia protests of 1968. Like Fischer, he noticed historical parallels. “In 1968, if you had long hair and were protesting the war in Vietnam, immediately, people screamed, ‘You’re un-American’ in the same way that people are saying, if you’re objecting to what’s going on in Gaza, ‘You’re antisemitic.’”

Greg lives locally and decided to come to campus to see if he could “run into anyone from my years past,” but didn’t join any of the reunion festivities. “I don’t have a whole lot of discretionary income to donate, but I’m more inclined to give it to my high school which I don’t have any ambiguous feelings about,” he said.

Even for alumni who have been regular supporters of Columbia, recent campus events have thrown their loyalty into question. One alumnus stopped by the encampment to chat with organizers about their movement. The alumnus, who asked to remain anonymous, has been donating to Columbia for the last 50 years. Since witnessing the school’s treatment of students, he is considering withholding his money for the first time.

Outside campus gates, alumni stood definitively with Palestine. In the late afternoon of June 1, over two dozen alumni from Columbia’s class of 2009 picketed in front of the university’s main entrance in solidarity with students. They stated that “Columbia alumni understand that we are a core part of the University’s marketing and fundraising strategies and we refuse to be complicit.”

Meanwhile, on Amsterdam Avenue, the “alternative reunion” took shape. Julie Slotnick, class of 2014, organized the event for alumni who were “unable to reconcile the University’s recent actions with the values and principles that defined our education at Columbia and Barnard.” Programming included a party at the downtown bar Brass Monkey on May 31 and a dinner and reception on 111 and Amsterdam Avenue the next day. The gatherings saw approximately 500 and 300 attendees, respectively.

Slotnick explained that she had enjoyed her five-year alumni weekend and longed to recapture that sense of community for her 10-year reunion. However, when the university suspended Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, she began to feel apprehensive about supporting Columbia. “Once the encampments came and they summoned the NYPD, I just knew there’s no way that I’m gonna be able to attend this reunion and put the money into endorsing it.”

As a result, Slotnick planned the “alternative reunion” and sent out a letter to alumni asking them to “call upon the University to meet the demands of student protestors for divestment from companies supporting Israel’s government, disclosure of those investments, full amnesty for students and professors unfairly disciplined for exercising their free speech in calling for freedom, safety, and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”

Alternative reunion attendees were encouraged to redirect what they would have paid to attend alumni weekend to UNRWA, World Central Kitchen, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, Freedom Bakeries, and Emergency Tent Support by Translating Palestine. From the three alternative reunion campaigns with donation trackers, The Nation determined that the event had raised at least $10,600.

With school out of session, many wondered what would become of the pro-Palestine movement that blossomed on campus in the spring. One protester, Sueda Polat, predicts a summer without rest. “So long as a genocide rages on, students will be learning together, educating, agitating, and organizing,” she said. While “Revolt4Rafah Installation 1” was voluntarily dismantled on June 2 after a “successful disruption of alumni weekend,” activists seek to “continue strategic, targeted attacks on all aspects of university life contributing to the normalization of [Palestinian] slaughter.” They also promised “more installations to come.”

“When Minouche Shafik called the NYPD, that was a grave mistake,” said Greg. “She lost face with an awful lot of people—not just students here.”