Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University turned janitors into hostages, and now the school is paying the price.
The Daily Wire reported that Lester Wilson and Mario Torres, two non-Jewish janitors, endured verbal harassment, physical assault, and a terrifying siege at Hamilton Hall during protests sparked by the October 7th massacre in Israel. Their ordeal exposes a university’s failure to protect its workers from radical activism run amok.
Columbia University reached a settlement with Wilson and Torres for an undisclosed sum after the duo filed a civil rights complaint.
The protests, which erupted in the months following the October 7th massacre, saw student-led chaos escalate into a full-blown takeover of Hamilton Hall, where the janitors were barricaded inside. This wasn’t just a demonstration—it was a deliberate attack on innocent employees caught in the crossfire of campus ideology.
Before the protests turned violent, Wilson and Torres, both five-year veterans at Columbia, had already been dealing with disturbing vandalism.
Swastikas repeatedly appeared inside Hamilton Hall, a chilling symbol of hate that Wilson, an African-American, recognized as tied to white supremacy. He reported the graffiti to supervisors, who casually told him to scrub it off, as if erasing hate could erase the problem.
The swastikas kept reappearing, despite Wilson’s efforts to remove them. Torres, meanwhile, took matters into his own hands, tossing out classroom chalk to curb the vandalism.
Their proactive measures highlight a university asleep at the wheel, failing to address a toxic environment festering under its nose.
The situation boiled over when protesters stormed Hamilton Hall, trapping Wilson and Torres inside. Masked agitators verbally harassed and physically assaulted the janitors, with one threatening Torres, saying he’d bring “twenty guys” to “f–k you up.” Torres, unfazed, shot back, “I’ll be right here,” showing more spine than the university’s leadership during the crisis.
Both janitors were injured during the chaos, a grim testament to the physical toll of unchecked activism. According to a New York Post report published Thursday, July 24, 2025, neither Wilson nor Torres has returned to work since the Hamilton Hall takeover. Who could blame them when their workplace became a battleground for ideological warfare?
Columbia’s settlement with the janitors comes from a $20 million fund earmarked for employees, mostly Jewish, who were unlawfully targeted during the protests.
Though Wilson and Torres aren’t Jewish, their inclusion in this fund raises eyebrows—why dip into a pool meant for a specific group when the university’s negligence harmed all its workers? It’s a classic case of administrative sleight-of-hand, dodging broader accountability.
“The university set up the situation and ended up putting them into that situation,” said Alyza Lewin, president of the Brandeis Center. Her words cut deep, exposing Columbia’s complicity in letting radical protests spiral out of control. Instead of protecting its staff, the university left them to fend for themselves against a mob.
Trump announced that Columbia agreed to pay a $220 million penalty to the federal government, a hefty price for its failures.
The $20 million fund for harassed employees is just a fraction of that, but it signals an attempt to right some wrongs. Yet, throwing money at the problem doesn’t address the root cause: a campus culture that tolerates intimidation under the guise of free speech.
Wilson’s complaint paints a vivid picture of the emotional toll. “Mr. Wilson recognized the swastikas as symbols of white supremacy,” the complaint noted, adding that as an African-American, he found the images “deeply distressing.” The university’s response? A shrug and a directive to clean it up, as if hate symbols were just another mess to mop.
Torres faced his nightmare, staring down a masked protester’s threat with defiance. His bold response—“I’ll be right here”—deserves applause for its courage, but it’s a damning indictment of a university that left its workers to face such threats alone. Columbia’s inaction turned janitors into sitting ducks.
The injuries sustained by Wilson and Torres weren’t just physical—they were a betrayal of trust. These men, loyal employees for half a decade, deserved better than to be collateral damage in a student-led power trip. The settlement, while a step toward justice, feels like a bandage on a wound that needed stitches long ago.
The Hamilton Hall siege wasn’t just a one-off; it was the culmination of a university’s failure to curb escalating tensions.
Protests may have free speech protections, but barricading buildings and assaulting workers crosses a line into lawlessness. Columbia’s settlement is an admission of guilt, but it sidesteps the harder question of how to prevent this in the future.
The $20 million fund, while substantial, raises questions about fairness and transparency. Why are non-Jewish janitors drawing from a fund meant for Jewish employees? It’s a murky move that suggests Columbia is more interested in damage control than genuine accountability.
Wilson and Torres deserve every penny of their settlement, but money alone won’t erase the trauma of being held hostage in their workplace. Columbia must face the music: campuses can’t be safe havens for radicalism at the expense of workers’ safety. This saga is a wake-up call—let’s hope the ivory tower is listening.
