SNL mocks Columbia protest as cast member playing blue collar dad warns daughter she'd better be in the dorm he scrimped and saved to pay for

A Saturday Night Live skit took aim at the pro-Palestine protests that have taken over Columbia University and college campuses across the nation. 

Keenan Thompson played a father of a Columbia student, who sat down with two other 'parents', played by Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner, and cast member Michael Longfellow on the show's NY1 'Community Affairs' segment. 

During the discussion, each parent agreed that they supported the movement, but Thompson, who played Alphonse Roberts, said that he would not be okay if his daughter joined the protests. 

'Alexis Vanessa Roberts better have her butt in class. Let me find out she in one of them da** tents instead of the dorm room that I pay for,' Thompson said. 

Mikey Day's character, Doug Hoving, then questioned Thompson and said: 'Wait, I though you were in favor of the student protests?' 

'Brother man, I am supportive of y'all's kids protesting, not my kids. My kids know better, shoot, Alexis Vanessa ain't crazy,' Thompson responded.  

The skit comes after weeks of unrest at the Ivy League, which began with the establishment of the encampment on April 17.

Protesters set up tents after the school's president, Minouche Shafik was grilled before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus.

After protests broke out at Columbia, they soon made their way around the country at other schools including Emory, the University of Texas, Harvard, NYU,  USC, UC Berkeley and Brown.

As the skit continued, the cast members were asked how they felt about police presence on campus. 

While Gardner's character, Sarah Himes, said that she was 'very concerned' about her daughter being arrested, Thompson's character said 'I ain't worried about 5-0.' 

'That is not my business. My business is Alexis Vanessa Robert,' he said. 

He proceeded to emphasize the costly tuition prices at Columbia. 

'She not talking about no "free this, free that," 'cause I'll tell you what ain't free, Columbia.' 

He asked: 'Do y'all know that they got the nerve to want $68,000 a year?'

Day then replied to Thompson and said: 'Look, we totally respect their right to protest, but I mean, we're also making sacrifices for our kids.' 

'Yeah, I'm out here busting my hump to pay all that tuition,' Thompson's character, an Uber driver, explained. 

On Tuesday, Shafik called in the NYPD to 'restore order and safety' to the campus amid the escalating protests, which also included a massive encampment on the school's lawns.  

Columbia University protesters smashed windows, upended furniture and caused damage throughout Hamilton Hall during the occupation before police stormed the campus and arrested more than 100 protestors. 

Around 40 protesters were arrested on the first floor of the building after police swooped just after 9pm ending the pro-Palestine encampment that stretched on for nearly two weeks and included students taking over the hall. 

Pictures and video taken of the aftermath showed the hall's trashed interior strewn with activists' belongings.

The raid saw demonstrators arrested across the campus and at nearby City College New York, where similar protests unfolded. 

Police stormed Hamilton Hall through an upstairs window after students used furniture to barricade the entrance.

Pictures showed how chairs and desks have been turned upside down to become makeshift barriers.  The cost of damage to the building is likely to total thousands of dollars.

After two weeks of chaos, which saw classes moved online and facilities shuttered, Shafik finally called in the police who managed to clear out the campus in just two hours.

University administrators have now asked the police to maintain a presence until May 17, two days after graduation. 

The NYPD announced that it had cleared the building just before 11pm with no injuries.

Hours earlier, video showed cops sporting riot gear descending on the campus armed with zip-tie handcuffs and pepper spray.

Until Tuesday, Shafik had held off asking police to intervene following backlash to the decision to use law enforcement to disperse a previous encampment.

However, the decision to call the NYPD was taken after the increasingly violent tactics and concerns the protest had been infiltrated by 'outside agitators' with no ties to the university.

On Saturday, the leader of Columbia protests was unmasked as a 40-year-old son of millionaire ad execs who lives in a four story Brooklyn townhouse.

James Carlson, who also goes by Cody Carlson and Cody Tarlow, was arrested by the NYPD and charged with burglary and illegal entry after he stormed Columbia's Hamilton Hall and renamed it 'Hind' Hall. 

James is the son of Richard Tarlow and Sandy Carlson Tarlow, millionaire advertising duo who started Carlson & Partners together and were known for their cosmetic and fashion clients including Revlon, Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren and Neutrogena. 

He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brooklyn Law School and later became an animal rights lawyer who clerked at the US District Court in 2013. 

He also had a short stint as an undercover investigator on factory farms and slaughterhouses recording animal abuse, according to the publication. 

James is believed to be married to model Kim Heyrman and has two children while living in a $3.4 million Brooklyn brownstone townhouse in New York. 

James is suspected of burning an Israeli flag during a demonstration three days ago and is believed to be 'previously involved in recent bridge and tunnel blocking', according to NBC News.