Rev. Thompson on Columbia Univ. Building Occupation: Police Breach Could’ve Been Avoided

EXCERPT:

THOMPSON: “ As late as 8:30 last night there was a plan for myself, the governor’s chief of staff, Ms. Lynch, and a city government official to enter the campus to speak with the students in Hamilton Hall -- not exactly in the hall, but just outside of it — they were going to be given safe passage to talk to us. A university official then agreed to meet with us after. While I was en route listening over the phone, there were three breach commands given by the police, followed by at least three stand-down commands by a civilian official. Just before we could get to the campus after reaching this agreement, the police, for whatever reason, just could not hold. I’m still not clear, I’m looking to find out who gave the order. But as we were about to enter the campus, it was breached and everything was off. This could have been avoided. The other goal — and I commend the work Jelani has done to keep things together, but also on the part of Ms. Lynch and the governor’s office, they expressed to me a desire to try to have some of the students' demands met as well. So this could have gone down much differently."