After dozens of people were arrested during protests at Columbia University on Wednesday, the school upped security by once again limiting access to its Manhattan campus. 

Only those with a university ID or approved faculty guests were allowed past checkpoints Thursday, according to a message on the school's website. Other visitors, including alumni, were not. 

Columbia's safety protocols outline three levels of campus access: "O" for open, "I" for ID only and "R" for restricted. The campus is currently at the second level, requiring ID. 

Columbia's Butler Library reopens after arrests of protesters

Butler Library, where the protest took place, reopened Thursday, as students are studying for their final exams, Columbia's Acting President Claire Shipman wrote in an update.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators vandalized the building with "disturbing slogans" the night before, the university said.    

Cellphone video shows protesters, many in masks, forcing their way inside, where they vandalized property and took over a reading room, as students were studying for finals. As the confrontation escalated inside, demonstrators also clashed with police on the outskirts of campus, pushing barricades and shutting down the block.

At least 80 people were arrested. All but two were issued desk appearance tickets for criminal mischief and two received summonses, NYPD said.  

Shipman said administrators believe a significant portion of protesters were not affiliated with the university and that discipline will be in line with the severity of their actions. The university confirmed some students have been suspended for their involvement.

"Columbia unequivocally rejects antisemitism," she said. "We will come together as a community to consider what civil disobedience actually is." 

"I don't think any arrest is a good or bad arrest," Mayor Eric Adams said. "I think, no one wants to arrest people, but you can't go and disrupt a college campus, and no one wants to feel intimidated when you're going to school to learn."  

Rubio says feds are reviewing Columbia protesters' visas

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the protest, saying on X the federal government is "reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over" the campus library in Morningside Heights. 

Rubio has called for Columbia graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to be deported, in part, for his role in last year's campus protests. Khalil, who is a legal permanent resident and has not been charged with a crime, was taken into custody in March and remains in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, along with Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk.

Another Columbia activist, Mohsen Mahdawi, was also taken into custody, but was released last week. 

In a memorandum filed in Khalil's case, Rubio did not cite specific evidence against the 30-year-old but argued that he is deportable under a statute in federal immigration law that says the government is entitled to deport noncitizens whose presence in the country damages national foreign policy interests. 

"The foreign policy of the United States champions core American interests and American citizens," Rubio wrote last month, "and condoning anti-Semitic conduct and disruptive protests in the United States would severely undermine that significant foreign policy objective." 

Rubio said in March that at least 300 students had their visas rescinded after they were accused of expressing support for Palestinians or participating in campus protests.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take over room in Butler Library

Columbia's acting president said she was forced to call in the NYPD on Wednesday night after pro-Palestinian demonstrators stormed Butler Library and refused to leave, despite repeated orders.  

Officials said at least two campus safety officers were injured during a crowd surge, as more people tried forcing their way in. CBS News New York saw two people leaving in an ambulance.

"A group of protesters occupied one of the main reading rooms in Butler library, refusing to leave, and another group breached the front door causing substantial chaos -- all of this as the bulk of our students are working hard to prepare for exams," Shipman said in a video message Wednesday night. "These actions not only represented a violation of University policies, but they also posed a serious risk to our students and campus safety."

Marie Adele Grosso, a junior at Columbia who worked with Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition, disputes the acting president's comments. 

"Completely inaccurate and it's absolutely to cover up the actions of public safety and the action of, yet again calling the NYPD," Marie Adele Grosso, a junior, said in response to Shipman's statement. "Public safety was the most brutal they've ever been ... There were concussions, there were broken bones." 

Elisha Baker, a junior and co-president, said, "Public safety stood their ground, did not let people leave without showing identification."

A student group affiliated with protesters posted a message reading in part, "Safety officers have choked and beaten us. But we have not wavered. We refuse to show our IDs under militarized arrest."