Tony Kinnett(Daily Signal)

Jewish students at Cooper Union, a private New York City college, were locked inside a library Wednesday as pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas protesters beat their fists on the doors, screamed, and tried to gain entry.

THIS is NOT okay. @cooperunion, WTF is wrong with you?

pic.twitter.com/HZuRIuFzk6

— Jason Curtis Anderson (@JCAndersonNYC) October 25, 2023

 Videos sent by terrified students trapped in the library initially were shared on social media Wednesday afternoon by Jake Novak, former media director at the Israeli Consulate in New York.

Novak reported that the New York Police Department was called “as soon as the protesters stormed the main Cooper Union building, but [officers] did nothing.”

Meet the student who orchestrated the mob attack against Jews yesterday at Cooper Union College – Mathieu Magloire.

For 40 minutes, Jewish students were barricaded inside the school’s library while their peers were trying to break the doors down.

Police finally evacuated the… https://t.co/elqcTmZjiP pic.twitter.com/S6qsCqhK4w

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 26, 2023

New York City Council member Inna Vernikov said Thursday morning that she had spoken with four of the students barricaded in the library. No one was arrested in the incident, Vernikov said.

The NYPD responded in writing Thursday morning to a request for comment from The Daily Signal, saying that “no threats of physical violence were made.” The statement from police said:

Community Affairs Officers were present while the demonstration took place inside. The school staff allowed the demonstration to take place. The students dispersed after the incident. No property damage was reported, no criminal reports were filed and no threats of physical violence were made. Additionally there were no injuries reported.

Novak said Cooper Union librarians “bolted the doors” to prevent pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas protesters from entering the library, then told “identifiable” Jewish students to “hide in the attic if they wanted to.”

These Jewish students needed to be locked inside the Cooper Union student library for over 30 minutes, because of an angry pro-Palestinian mob!

THIS, IN AMERICA!!
UNACCEPTABLE!

WHO ARE THE ‘DANGEROUS EXTREMISTS?’ pic.twitter.com/Al7gWih1kd

— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) October 25, 2023

On social media, this decision drew sharp criticism and comparisons to Anne Frank hiding from the Nazis and other Holocaust situations during World War II.

Both Novak and Vernikov pointed out that an unidentified dean at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art had said he “could not stop” the pro-Hamas protest “because it was not slated to enter school property.”

7. Some of the protestors were acting violent, held antisemitic posters, as well as what looked like sticks. (See video) Instead of removing the protestors from school grounds, the school barricaded the Jewish students in the school library. pic.twitter.com/BhehSpMXPB

— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) October 26, 2023

The protesters, however, stormed campus buildings shortly after the protest began.

Vernikov said Cooper Union faculty members not only canceled class to accommodate a walkout for the protest, but “encouraged students to participate and even offered extra credit” for participating. She also noted that faculty members joined the protest.

The Daily Signal sought comment from Cooper Union, including information on which classes were canceled and which faculty members encouraged students to participate. College officials didn’t respond by publication time.

–@InnaVernikov demanding the president of @cooperunion to step down for not keeping the Jewish students at Cooper Union safe! pic.twitter.com/XV3iDdNvlo

— Melanie Notkin (@SavvyAuntie) October 26, 2023

The Jewish students barricaded in the Cooper Union library were evacuated through tunnels Wednesday evening, while the university and police left the protesters alone, Vernikov and others said.

Vernikov reported Thursday morning that Jewish students at Cooper Union were staying home for fear of safety and some are dropping classes. Three students who were barricaded in the library told her that they “will never walk in there feeling alright again,” Vernikov said.

This isn’t the first time Cooper Union has been wrapped in serious controversy.

In September, Cooper Union hired a professor who only months earlier threatened to “chop” a New York Post reporter with a machete. Shellyne Rodriguez, a leftist professor who also was caught on video cursing at pro-life protesters and damaging the property of pro-life activists, was fired from her job as an adjunct professor of visual arts at Hunter College. She now teaches a sculpture course at Cooper Union.