(NewsNation) —Administrators at Columbia University, which saw massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations last school year, are considering adding “peace officers” who will be given authority to arrest and physically handle students, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

The proposal, helmed under university president Minouche Shafik, is currently under discussion and still needs approval as school leadership considers the financial costs associated with the officers, the outlet reported. 

The school’s current campus security personnel does not have the power to arrest nor touch students except under extreme situations like self-defense. 

“Through a process of internal consultations and learning from across other higher ed institutions, we are preparing for a range of scenarios that may arise, with a focus on being able to maintain the academic and research operations of the university,” a university spokesperson told NewsNation in a statement.

“As part of this consultative process, we are looking at various ways to supplement our public safety capabilities. We seek to strengthen the department’s skills and training in de-escalation techniques, expanding the department’s ability to manage a range of incident while taking into account the fact Columbia does not have its own police force, as many peer institutions have, and potentially reducing our reliance on the NYPD.”

Student organizers at Columbia University tell NewsNation they have been working on plans all summer to make their voices heard in order to convince the university to divest from Israel as students and faculty return next month. 

Activists say they are still deciding what forms of protest they will deploy when school resumes Sept. 3. Mahmoud Khalil, a student negotiator with the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), told The Hill they were “considering a wide range of actions throughout the semester, encampments and protests, all of that.”

Last spring, pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia sparked demonstrations on campuses across the U.S. Though much of the chaos came to a close when the academic year ended, over 2,000 arrests were made in New York.

Columbia canceled its university-wide graduation ceremony due to the demonstrations. Shafik was criticized by several faculty for calling the New York Police Department to break up an encampment and intervene after protesters occupied an administrative building. 

Nearly 50 people were arrested though prosecutors dropped most of the criminal charges for lack of evidence to proceed. 

If Columbia follows through, the new peace officers will likely be met by a divided institution.

A faculty group at Columbia University passed a vote of no confidence in Shafik over her handling of the protests last spring.

“President Shafik falsely claimed that the students who were arrested for protesting on April 18 posed a ‘clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University,’ when in fact they ‘were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner,’ according to the NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell,” the resolution stated. “Her actions have endangered these students’ welfare, and her draconian and disproportionate punishments have endangered their futures. These offenses culminated in a police action that has harmed our community and our reputation.”

NewsNation’s Cassie Buchman and Laura Ingle contributed to this report.