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By: Meyer Wolfsheim
In a counter to an anti-Veterans Day protest, Columbia University student veterans staged a patriotic demonstration on Monday morning, according to an exclusive report by the New York Post.
The student-veterans gathered at the campus sundial to show pride in American service members, planting American flags and celebrating veterans’ contributions. The opposing demonstration, dubbed “Martyrs Day,” was organized by an unsanctioned student group to commemorate Palestinians killed in Gaza, but drew a much smaller turnout compared to previous protests.
As the NY Post reports, the patriotic gathering included around 30 students and veterans who organized the event as a festive celebration of veterans’ pride. The veterans played music, tossed a football, and enjoyed each other’s company in a marked show of unity. Air Force veteran and Columbia graduate student Sam Nahins, 31, told the NY Post, “The main goal was to take oxygen away from [the Martyrs Day protest] and focus on the veterans who are celebrating Veterans Day.” Nahins emphasized that the gathering was about honoring veterans in a positive environment, which he said many non-veteran students joined in support.
The New York Post observed that the “Martyrs Day” protest, organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, sought to reclaim Veterans Day by reframing it as a day to mourn those killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Flyers for the event called Veterans Day an “abomination” and criticized American veterans as complicit in military violence. “Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” the flyer read. It went on to condemn the “American war machine” for the “horrors unleashed on others” and declared November 11 a “day to honor the sacrifice of those martyred” in what they termed the “Israel-US war machine.”
Despite the fervent language of the event flyers, the turnout was modest compared to other protests seen on campus in the past year, noted the NY Post. Following the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, Columbia University experienced widespread, large-scale anti-Israel protests that attracted students and external activists alike.
The NY Post highlights that during last year’s protests, anti-Israel demonstrations escalated to such an extent that an occupied campus building was raided by the NYPD, and Columbia University’s then-president Minouche Shafik eventually resigned after widespread criticism of her handling of the unrest.
In contrast, this year’s anti-Veterans Day protest was smaller, quieter, and limited to the student body. The campus atmosphere was also marked by increased security measures, with a fence separating the veterans and protesters and extra personnel on standby to prevent any escalations, according to the New York Post. Nahins described the situation as calm, sharing that the veterans’ group chose to drown out heckling from protesters by turning up their music, creating a peaceful and supportive environment. “We had one person come up to us and scream at us… I don’t know what they said, because the music was loud for a reason,” he said.
This demonstration is not the first time campus veterans at Columbia have had to face down tense opposition. The NY Post recounts that last spring, Nahins and other veterans endured verbal attacks on campus, with insults like “baby-killers” and “infidels” frequently hurled at them by anti-Israel protesters.
