Mamdani Says He Wants Columbia to Open Gates to Public

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants Columbia University to reopen its gates to the public, according to a letter the city’s lawyers sent to the New York Supreme Court last week.

Access to the university’s Morningside Heights campus has been largely restricted to students, faculty and staff with current IDs since October 2023, when pro-Palestinian protests erupted over Israel’s war on Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The 116th Street gates have been locked since students erected encampments on campus in spring 2024, Gothamist reported.

The closure angered area businesses and local residents, who sued the university in 2025, arguing that officials had breached a 1953 agreement creating an easement for them to cut through campus rather than go around six blocks.

Under former mayor Eric Adams, the city took no official position on the campus closure. But the letter from Mamdani’s legal department notes “a change in position in this matter.”

“The City supports reopening of the walkway through the Columbia University Campus to the public,” the letter says.

Mamdani’s letter earned widespread praise, including from City Council majority leader Shaun Abreu, who represents the neighborhood. He said in a statement, “The closed gates represent a deep betrayal of the spirit of openness and public service that we expect from our institutions of higher learning. It’s time to open the gates, and I’m grateful to Mayor Mamdani … for advancing this cause.”

As a private institution, Columbia retains total control of the decision. But according to the student-run Columbia Spectator, the university’s newly installed president, Jennifer Mnookin, said at a Harlem community breakfast over the summer that she will consider it. While she can’t open the gates “right this minute,” she said, she is “committed to examining it.”

“I am committed to understanding that it is a loss for our community that we aren’t open right now on the Morningside campus,” she said. “We’re going to continue to be working to understand how we can look at that issue and to find ways of welcoming you and granting you access to our campuses.”