Wednesday April 17, 5.10am: On waking up, I turn to the student-run Columbia Daily Spectator, my go-to source for campus coverage. It has just posted a story about a new encampment on the South Lawn. University president Minouche Shafik is due to testify later this morning in Washington before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce: campus has been ID-entry only since the start of the week. When it gets light, I walk over and see that about 30 small tents have sprouted in front of the library. A sign declares the east section of the South Lawn a Liberated Zone. I head off for breakfast wondering what the day holds.
4月17日，星期三，早上5點10分： 醒來后，我就翻閱由學生運營的《哥倫比亞每日觀察家》(Columbia Daily Spectator)，這是我獲取校園新聞的首選來源。它剛剛發布了一篇關于南草坪(South Lawn)新營地的報道。大學校長米努什?沙菲克(Minouche Shafik)今天上午晚些時候將在華盛頓向眾議院教育和勞動力委員會作證：從本周開始，校園只能憑身份證進入。天亮后，我走過去一看，發現圖書館前已經支起了約30頂小帳篷。一塊告示牌宣布南草坪東段為解放區。我去吃早餐，心想今天會有什么新的變化。