A fight over whether Columbia University should reopen its campus gates to the public is intensifying-thanks to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

For decades, the main walkway through the university's Morningside Heights campus was publicly accessible, giving families an open space to enjoy and allowing pedestrians a shortcut through the grounds. But when pro-Palestinian student demonstrations escalated in 2024, the Ivy League school closed the gates, citing safety concerns.

Neighbors sued to reopen them more than a year ago. Earlier this month, Mamdani reignited the debate when the city threw its support behind the neighbors.

"The City supports reopening of the walkway through the Columbia University Campus to the public," the city said in a court filing.

The town-gown tensions put an uncomfortable spotlight once again on Columbia. Last year, the school was a target of the Trump administration's campaign to wrest billions of research dollars from schools it accused of liberal excess and failing to protect Jewish students during protests over the Gaza war. Columbia eventually agreed to a more-than-$200 million settlement.

Those in support of reopening the gates say the university has an obligation to the city and local neighborhood. Some also question the merits of a closed-off campus for learning. "We shouldn't be a walled-off garden," says Sebastian Javadpoor, a first-year law student at Columbia.

The neighborhood plaintiffs argue that the university is obligated to keep College Walk, the main thoroughfare through campus, open to the public as part of a 1953 agreement with the city, under which it acquired that section of the street.

In a motion to dismiss the case, the university argued that the agreement didn't create a public easement and that it is only obligated to allow the city access for maintaining underground facilities and hydrants.

While the university has said that the current restrictions are needed to protect the safety of students and faculty, it has also acknowledged that closed gates can make Columbia feel less connected to the city.

Columbia students queue up at one entrance to show their IDs, while eligible visitors present QR codes at a separate gate. Lines often form during busy hours. In the past year or so, the university has rolled out a special access application system to people living nearby, handing out more than 1,200 passes. Students and faculty can also apply for visitors to enter.

A university official said opening the gates is "on the table" for consideration. This fall, university President Jennifer Mnookin created a committee to explore increasing campus access. She said she hopes the committee will deliver its feedback to her before the end of the semester in mid-December.

Since the student demonstrations, Columbia has ramped up safety personnel and services.

The Columbia Daily Spectator, the university's student paper, reported in early 2025 that a university Senate poll found 62% of surveyed students would feel "very comfortable" if their Morningside campus were reopened, with swipe access to buildings, while 16% felt "somewhat comfortable" and 11% were neutral. Student protests had subsided by then, but pro-Palestinian activism continued.

Some students still feel uneasy. On a recent day, a couple of students from Israel on campus said that the closed gates have helped them feel more secure and that the changing political circumstances warrant keeping them closed.

Susan Chana Lask, an attorney representing a group of Jewish students who sued the university in 2024 for its handling of alleged campus antisemitism, said that outsiders can pose additional security threats and that her clients still studying at Columbia would also like to see the gates remain closed.

"Why make it any easier?" she said.

Dan McSweeney, program director of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, said his neighborhood advocacy group, which has already protested five times outside Columbia's gates over the matter, is planning another demonstration this October. The group has collected thousands of signatures in a petition to get the school to open its gates, and is collaborating with students to potentially picket together.

"It's artificial and detrimental to believe there should be a separation between students and the neighborhood," said McSweeney.

Thao Phan, owner of Hartley Pharmacy just east of Columbia's campus, says the closed campus makes it inconvenient for elderly customers who now have to walk around the gates and as a result are more likely to switch to a big-chain pharmacy.

Phan lives in Harlem, and hasn't applied for the school's access passes for nearby residents on principle. "The campus was iconic and beautiful" and "there was a strong sense of sharing," she said, recalling the time when she could walk through it. "We really should get everyone access."