#columbia spectator

[readingsquotes]

"On April 17, University President Minouche Shafik became the latest in a line of leaders in higher education to testify before Congress. As part of the House probe into antisemitism on college campuses, the hearing, titled “Columbia in Crisis,” was theoretically the fruit of a bipartisan effort to combat bigotry by holding administrations across the country accountable for their handling of it. However, as evidenced by Wednesday’s hearing, the committee is clearly more concerned with vanquishing the specters of “Soviet-style education” and “left-wing academia”—lest we “be cursed by God”—than protecting Jewish students. The uncannily McCarthyite interrogation to which the Columbia delegation was subjected was disingenuous, often hostile, and conducted in bad faith. Simultaneously, Shafik and her fellow administrators were all too willing to succumb to pressure from representatives, essentially conflating pro-Palestinian campus activism with antisemitism and repeatedly condemning the words and actions of both students and faculty to appease committee members."

...

Only one day after her hearing, Shafik has proven to her students yet again the administration’s commitment to silencing and marginalizing its own student body.

Shafik’s authorization of the New York Police Department to enter campus and forcibly remove peaceful protesters spotlights the emptiness and duplicity of the promises she made to Congress and the Columbia community.

...

Even Shafik’s commitment to a qualified form of freedom of speech is insincere. A nonviolent protest employing rhetoric that has “historically meant different things to different people” is not making anyone unsafe—feeling uncomfortable is not the same as being unsafe.

...

Columbia’s crisis is not as the committee has attempted to define it—a characterization stemming from the belief that the University has become a hotbed of antisemitic thought and behavior. Rather, the crisis is rooted in a lack of genuine community engagement on the part of the administration, as well as a failure to fulfill its duty of care to all affiliates. We have witnessed the creation of countless ineffectual task forces, listening forums with lottery participation, student suspensions, inconvenient and poorly communicated gate closures, disciplinary warnings and hearings, dorm door monitoring, interim policy introductions, proud NYPD and FBI collaborations, campus militarization, and most recently, the arrest of over 108 peaceful protestors at the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”

[genderqueerdykes]

"Why is it called coming out?"

George Chauncey, a renowned professor of American queer history at Columbia University who has worked as an expert witness on many key US gay rights cases explains that in the period before World War II, gay people "did not speak of coming out what we call 'the gay closet' but rather of coming out into what they called homosexual society or the gay world, a world neither so small nor so isolated, often so hidden as the closet implies."

Chauncey draws on an example from a 1931 headline in the newspaper the Baltimore Afro-American, which announced the "coming out of new debutantes into homosexual society" at a ball referred to as a "frolic of the pansies." Apparently large drag balls were popular at the time and were a classic place for men to come out into gay society in America. These were not underground affairs; instead some drew thousands of spectators. Chauncey writes that, by 1931, "this aspect of gay culture was entering mainstream parlance."

-- "Bi: The hidden culture, history, and science of bisexuality" by Dr. Julia Shaw.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Dion J. Pierre

Columbia University locked down its campus on Thursday, following an anti-Hillel protest staged by a front group for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) outside the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life.

“SIPA, SIPA, you can’t hide, you invest in genocide!” the mob chanted, according to The Columbia Daily Spectator, as they held signs calling for the university to “abolish” the Birthright Israel program, which grants Jewish students a free trip to their ancient homeland.

As The Algemeiner previously reported, this assault on Columbia’s Jewish life, perpetrated by a group which calls itself the Palestine Working Group (PWG), appears to have been prompted by an event held by the university on Thursday, in which Israeli journalist Barak Ravid spoke as a guest of the Kraft Center — where the Hillel chapter serving both Columbia and Barnard College students is located — and the School of International and Public Affairs’ (SIPA) Institute of Global Politics (IGP).

Reputed to be the largest Jewish collegiate organization in the world, Hillel International is a “home away from home” for the 180,000 students at over 850 colleges who avail themselves of its religious services, relationship building opportunities, and recreational activities. PWG, along with another group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), insists, however, that “Hillel is complicit in manufacturing propaganda and consent for the Zionist entity’s imperialist and colonial projects.”

On Friday, Columbia University — which has come under fire for its alleged failure to combat the incubation of antisemitism and jihadist extremism on its campus — denounced the attacks on Hillel.

“The Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, the home of Columbia and Barnard’s vibrant Hillel, is a vital part of our campus, providing a welcoming space for our students to explore and celebrate Jewish culture and identity,” Columbia University said in a statement that was not attributed to any one official. “We appreciate the many contributions the Kraft Center and Hillel and make to supporting our Jewish community and building our university community. Any efforts to intimidate the Kraft Center, Hillel, and our Jewish community and all forms of antisemitism are unacceptable and inimical to what we stand for as a university.”

[iovebarca]

can you write a pedri series inspired by a quevedo song for example like columbia

but plz make it a happy ending my heart hurts too much already bc of this season 😭😭😭😭

Fountain of Love - Pedri

Authors note: I've never written something like this so give me feedback! and please send in some requests!🫶🏼

+ I could turn this into a series but yall have to give me songs😭 and it doesn't necessarily have to be by Quevedo.

Warnings: incorrect grammar (probably), my first language isn't english so if you notice any mistakes please tell me

WC: 800 ish

Summary: You meet Pedri, a talented footballer, in the city. Despite challenges, your love grows stronger. Now, watching the sunset together, you find solace in each other's arms, knowing your love will endure.

Meaning of the song: Columbia by Quevedo is about a romantic relationship, with the lyrics expressing themes of love, desire, and passion. The song likely explores the ups and downs of being in a relationship, perhaps touching on emotions like longing, excitement, and devotion.

The first time you laid eyes on Pedri was like a scene out of a romantic novel, a moment etched into your memory with the vividness of a dream. It was a balmy summer evening, the kind where the air hung heavy with the scent of street food and the sound of laughter danced through the bustling streets. The town square was alive with activity, a vibrant tapestry of colors and sounds that captivated your senses as you strolled through its midst.

And then, amidst the chaos, you saw him—Pedri, standing by the fountain like a serene figure in a painting. There was something about him, something magnetic that drew you in, like a moth to a flame. Not too tall but incredibly handsome, with tousled dark hair and hazel eyes that seemed to hold the secrets of the universe, he exuded a quiet confidence that set him apart from the crowd.

As you approached him, your heart fluttered with anticipation, unsure of what to expect from this enigmatic stranger. But when he turned to look at you, a warm smile gracing his lips, all your doubts melted away. "Hello," he said, his voice soft and melodic, sending shivers down your spine. "Enjoying the evening?"

His words were simple, yet they held a world of meaning, a silent invitation to join him in this moment of serenity amidst the chaos of the city. And so, with a smile of your own, you nodded, feeling a sense of connection blooming between you like a flower in bloom. "Yes, it's beautiful," you replied, your voice barely above a whisper, the words carrying a weight of their own.

And just like that, your journey with Pedri began—a journey filled with twists and turns, highs and lows, laughter and tears. He wasn't just any ordinary guy; he was a footballer, a rising star in the world of sports, with a talent that left spectators in awe and opponents trembling in their boots. But despite his fame and success, he remained humble and down-to-earth, a quality that only made you fall for him even harder.

Together, you navigated the highs and lows of his career, from the exhilarating victories to the devastating defeats. You were his biggest fan, cheering him on from the sidelines with unwavering devotion, even when the odds seemed stacked against him. And through it all, he never failed to make you feel like the most important person in the world, showering you with love and affection every chance he got.

But amidst the excitement of his career, there were moments of doubt and uncertainty, moments when you wondered if your love could withstand the pressures of fame and fortune. There were rumors and scandals, gossip columns filled with speculation about Pedri's personal life, threatening to tear you apart.

But through it all, you stood by him, your love stronger than ever in the face of adversity. You were his rock, his anchor in the storm, reminding him of the person he truly was beneath the glare of the spotlight.

As the years passed, your bond with Pedri only grew stronger, deepening with each passing day. You shared your hopes and dreams, your fears and insecurities, knowing that no matter what the future held, you would face it together.

And then, one magical evening, Pedri got down on one knee and asked you to be his forever. It was a moment you would never forget—the way his eyes sparkled with love and adoration, the way his voice trembled with emotion as he professed his undying love for you. And as you said yes, tears of joy streaming down your cheeks, you knew that your life would never be the same again.

Now, as you stand hand in hand with Pedri, watching the sunset paint the sky in hues of pink and gold, you feel a sense of peace wash over you. For in Pedri's arms, you have found your home, your safe haven in a world filled with chaos and uncertainty.

As the stars begin to twinkle overhead, you lean in to kiss Pedri, your heart overflowing with love and gratitude. For in Pedri, you have found not only a lover but a partner, a soulmate to share life's journey with until the end of time. And as you gaze into each other's eyes, you know that no matter what the future may hold, as long as you have each other, you will always find your way back home.

[american-troubadour]

Phil Ochs performing at the "Remember the War" benefit at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, New York. December 6, 1971.

Photographed by Don Koblitz

Columbia Daily Spectator; Vol. CXVI No. 37, December 7, 1971:

[soon-palestine]

JVL Introduction

The Presidents of three leading US universities were falsely accused of condoning anti-Semitism on their campuses in a highly partisan ambush in front of US congressional hearing in December. Now the Columbia President, Minouche Shafik, is being summoned and 23 of her Jewish faculty are urging her not to give in to attempts to equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism and to defend academic freedom at her campus.

They strongly contest assertions that antisemitism is rife at Columbia. They accept that many students are unsettled by the intensity of debate around the Gaza catastrophe but being uncomfortable is far from being discriminated against or threatened.

They deplore the recent actions of the University’s management to use disciplinary processes to clamp down on protest and see this as an abandonment of Columbia’s record of confronting smears and slanders levelled against staff and students and committing to free inquiry and robust disagreement.

MC

This article was originally published by Columbia Spectator on Wed 10 Apr 2024. Read the original here. Jewish faculty reject the weaponization of antisemitism

by 23 Columbia and Barnard faculty, Columbia Spectator

Dear President Shafik,

We write as Jewish faculty of Columbia and Barnard in anticipation of your appearance before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on April 17, where you are expected to answer questions about antisemitism on campus. Based on the committee’s previous hearings, we are gravely concerned about the false narratives that frame these proceedings to entrap witnesses. We urge you, as the University president, to defend our shared commitment to universities as sites of learning, critical thinking, and knowledge production against this new McCarthyism.

Rather than being concerned with the safety and well-being of Jewish students on campuses, the committee is leveraging antisemitism in a wider effort to caricature and demonize universities as hotbeds of “woke indoctrination.” Its opportunistic use of antisemitism in a moment of crisis is expanding and strengthening longstanding efforts to undermine educational institutions. After launching attacks on public universities from Florida to South Dakota, this campaign has opened a new front against private institutions.

The prospect of Rep. Elise Stefanik, a member of congress with a history of espousing white nationalist politics, calling university presidents to account for alleged antisemitism on their campuses reveals these proceedings as disingenuous political theater.

In the face of these coordinated attacks on higher education, universities must insist on their freedom to research and teach inconvenient truths. This includes historical injustices and the contemporary structures that perpetuate them, regardless of whether these facts are politically inexpedient for certain interest groups.

To be sure, antisemitism is a grave concern that should be scrutinized alongside racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and all other forms of hate. These hateful ideologies exist everywhere and we would be ignorant to believe that they don’t exist at Columbia. When antisemitism rears its head, it should be swiftly denounced, and its perpetrators held to account. However, it is absurd to claim that antisemitism—“discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews,” according to the Jerusalem Declaration’s definition—is rampant on Columbia’s campus. To argue that taking a stand against Israel’s war on Gaza is antisemitic is to pervert the meaning of the term.

Labeling pro-Palestinian expression as anti-Jewish hate speech requires a dangerous and false conflation of Zionism with Jewishness, of political ideology with identity. This conflation betrays a woefully inaccurate understanding—and disingenuous misrepresentation—of Jewish history, identity, and politics. It erases more than a century of debates among Jews themselves about the nature of a Jewish homeland in the biblical Land of Israel, including Israel’s status as a Jewish nation-state. It dismisses the experiences of the post-Zionist, non-Zionist, and anti-Zionist Jews who work, study, and live on our campus.

The political passions that arise from conflict in the Middle East may deeply unsettle students, faculty, and staff with opposing views. But feeling uncomfortable is not the same thing as being threatened or discriminated against. Free expression, which is fundamental to both academic inquiry and democracy, necessarily entails exposure to views that may be deeply disconcerting. We can support students who feel real and valid discomfort toward protests advocating for Palestinian liberation while also stating clearly and firmly that this discomfort is not an issue of safety.

As faculty, we dedicate ourselves and our classrooms to keeping every student safe from real harm, harassment, and discrimination. We commit to helping them learn to experience discomfort and even confrontation as part of the process of skill and knowledge acquisition—and to help them realize that ideas we oppose can be contested without being suppressed.

By exacting discipline, inviting police presence, and broadly surveilling its students for minor offenses, the University is betraying its educational mission. It has pursued drastic measures against students, including disciplinary proceedings and probation, for infractions like allegedly attending an unauthorized protest, or moving barricades to drape a flag on a statue. Real harassment and physical intimidation and violence on campus must be confronted seriously and its perpetrators held accountable. At the same time, the University should refrain whenever possible from using discipline and surveillance as means of addressing less serious harms, and should never use punitive measures to address conflicts over ideas and the feelings of discomfort that result. Where the University once embraced and defended students’ political expression, it now suppresses and disciplines it.

The University’s recent policies represent a dramatic change from historical practice, and the consequences are ruinous to our community and its principles. In the past, Columbia has periodically confronted attacks against pro-Palestinian speech, ranging from the vile slanders against Professor Edward Said to the reckless accusations from the David Project. But where for decades the University stood firm against smear campaigns targeting its professors, it has now voluntarily accepted the job of censoring its faculty in and outside the classroom.

Columbia’s commitment to free inquiry and robust disagreement is what makes it a world-class institution. Limiting academic freedom when it comes to questions of Israel and Palestine paves the way for limitations on other contested topics, from climate science to the history of slavery. What’s more, students must have the freedom to dissent, to make mistakes, to offend without intent, and to learn to repair harm done if necessary. Free expression is not only crucial to student development and education outside the classroom; the tradition of student protest has also played a vital role in American democracy. Columbia should be proud of having participated in nationwide student organizing that helped secure civil rights and reproductive rights and helped bring an end to the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.

We express our support for the University and for higher education against the attacks likely to be leveled against them at the upcoming congressional hearing. We object to the weaponization of antisemitism. And we advocate for a campus where all students, Jewish, Palestinian, and all others, can learn and thrive in a climate of open, honest inquiry and rigorous debate.

Many members of our University community share our perspective, but they have not yet been heard. Columbia students, staff, alumni, and faculty can sign here to show your support for this letter’s message.

Sincerely,Debbie Becher, Barnard College Helen Benedict, Columbia Journalism School Susan Bernofsky, School of the Arts Elizabeth Bernstein, Barnard College Nina Berman, Columbia Journalism School Amy Chazkel, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Yinon Cohen, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Nora Gross, Barnard College Keith Gessen, Columbia Journalism School Jack Halberstam, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Sarah Haley, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Michael Harris, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Jennifer S. Hirsch, Mailman School of Public Health Marianne Hirsch, Faculty of Arts & Sciences (Emerita) Joseph A. Howley, Faculty of Arts & Sciences David Lurie, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Nara Milanich, Barnard College D. Max Moerman, Barnard College Manijeh Moradian, Barnard College Sheldon Pollock, Faculty of Arts & Sciences (Emeritus) Bruce Robbins, Faculty of Arts & Sciences James Schamus, School of the Arts Alisa Solomon, Columbia Journalism School

The 23 authors of this letter are Jewish faculty members of Barnard College and Columbia University. This letter derives from a much longer one by these same 23 faculty sent to President Shafik on April 5.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dov Fischer

Yes, like that hapless car dealer, many university directors and trustees have no grasp of the entirety of responsibilities they have accepted and assumed when they became directors and trustees, but they bear those fiduciary duties nonetheless.

What fiduciary duties do they have to the federal (and state) government? The Feds allocate millions of dollars to the universities for research. They allocate millions in Pell Grants and other federal financial grants to students so that the kids get a full unhindered education. They extend loans at advantaged interest rates and often end up writing off those loans, at the expense of the national budget and American taxpayer, when it becomes clear that the students cannot or will not pay the loans back. They grant the universities tax exemptions that waive millions in federal tax revenue so that donors will give more to the colleges and universities. Any single federal expenditure for a college entitles the federal government to subject matter jurisdiction and standing in any lawsuit brought over Director or Trustee malfeasance, misfeasance, or non-feasance in the conduct of fiduciary duties. (READ MORE: Catching Up on More Infuriating Things in the Past Month’s News)

Most students’ parents also would have legal standing to sue. If their kids pay all the tuition and dorm rent, or borrow it all, then such parents may not have standing. But if a parent has paid even one dollar, not to mention tens of thousands, or borrowed tens of thousands in Parent PLUS loans, toward paying tuition or dorm fees, then they have paid for their child to receive a full, unhindered education on a safe and peaceful campus. Any extended rioting or other insurrection on campus distorts the very purpose for which that money has been spent. It comprises, at the very least, a breach of contract. The failure of the directors or trustees to impose solutions, fire ineffective university presidents, demand the removal of toxic professors, and implement all steps necessary to secure the campus for reasoned and calm learning legally exposes them to great individual liability. And what a fabulous class action that lawsuit would be! One thousand parents suing Columbia University for $60,000 apiece, a winning class action for $60 million. I am almost tempted to return to practicing law.

All that is needed is a federal law like FIRREA and similar state laws, since states also finance educational institutions within their borders. Overnight, you will see one Claudine Gay after another, like that evil woman now at the helm of Columbia University, fired; students expelled and a great many deported back to the dirt holes whence they came, and a return to proper, reasoned, and respectful learning.

[fromchaostocosmos]

Protesters at Columbia University, the epicenter of anti-Israel protests that have upended college campuses across the United States, broke into a building on the New York school’s campus on Tuesday, barricaded themselves inside and unfurled an “intifada” banner from a window.

According to the Columbia Spectator, demonstrators also allegedly held workers there against their will for a short period of time.

The newspaper reported that a maintenance worker exited the building at 12:40 a.m. after yelling to be released, telling the crowd as he left that he had been “held hostage” inside. Three other workers reportedly left some 30 minutes later after the barricades blocking one door were removed.

This helps Palestinians, how?

[beardedmrbean]

A facilities worker at Columbia University claims to have been temporarily held hostage by anti-Israel protesters after a mob of anarchists stormed an academic building on the campus and barricaded its doors.

The insurrection began at approximately 12:30 a.m., when anti-Israel protesters who had been staying on the academic lawn of Columbia's Manhattan campus, where about 120 tents remain, stormed Hamilton Hall, an academic building used by the dean. The mob shattered windows, barricaded doors using tables and chairs, and obscured the windows of the facility.

The major escalation came hours after Columbia University administrators began suspending students who failed to leave their encampment.

"They held me hostage," a facilities worker who was in the building when the insurrection began said after he was allowed to leave, according to the student newspaper Columbia Spectator.

ANTISEMITIC RIOT AT COLUMBIA REACHES BOILING POINT AS AGITATORS TAKE OVER ACADEMIC BUILDING, BARRICADE DOORS

The worker exited the building at around 12:40 a.m., per the publication.

Early Tuesday morning, a mob of hundreds of anti-Israel protesters gained access shortly before 1 a.m., and they then began "moving metal gates to barricade the doors, blocking entrances with wooden tables and chairs, and zip-tying doors shut," Columbia Spectator reported.

CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY REVEALS 'TRUE COST' OF ANTI-ISRAEL MOB THAT TOOK OVER ACADEMIC BUILDINGS

Outside the Columbia University facility, the anti-Israel rebels, many of whom wore masks, locked arms in front of Hamilton Hall to form a human barricade.

The group also placed a banner over the facility, renaming it "Hind’s Hall," after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old who died during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

The students are demanding three things from the university: divest their financial support of Israel, become more transparent with what groups the university supports, and provide blanket amnesty to students who have taken part in the disruptive, weeks-long demonstration.

The seizure of the academic building comes after the university gave a deadline of 2 p.m. Monday for students to leave their encampment.

[drsonnet]

(2024)

APRIL 1968..#ColumbiaUniversity In 1968, students occupied buildings and hundreds were arrested. Credit...Larry C. Morris/ TheNewYorkTimes

A protest 56 years ago became an important part of Columbia’s culture.

During the Vietnam War, students seized campus buildings for a week until university officials and the police cracked down.

By Vimal Patel April 18, 2024

Columbia University is no stranger to major student protests, and the uproar that unfolded at the institution on Thursday had echoes of a much bigger revolt in 1968 — another time of upheaval over a war many students deeply believed was immoral.

That year, in April, in the throes of the Vietnam War, Columbia and Barnard students seized five campus buildings, took a dean hostage and shut down the university.

By April 30, a week after the protest started, university officials cracked down.

At about 2 a.m., police began clearing students from Hamilton Hall “after entering the building through underground tunnels,” according to the student newspaper, The Columbia Daily Spectator. Minutes later, police entered Low Library, again through tunnels, removing occupying students by force.

By 4 a.m., they had cleared all buildings, resulting in more than 700 arrests — one of the largest mass detentions in New York City history — and 148 reports of injuries, the student newspaper reported. Officers trampled protesters, hit them with nightsticks, punched and kicked them and dragged them down stairs, according to a New York Times report.

Most of the injuries were cuts and bruises, relatively minor as compared to some of the brutal arrests of protesters at the height of antiwar and civil rights demonstrations at the time. The university also sustained some property damage, including smashed furniture, toppled shelves and broken windows.

In the end, the protesters won their goals of stopping the construction of a gym on public land in Morningside Park, cutting ties with a Pentagon institute doing research for the Vietnam War and gaining amnesty for demonstrators.

The protests would also lead to the early resignations of Columbia’s president, Grayson L. Kirk, and its provost, David B. Truman.

The fallout from the violence hurt the university’s reputation and led to reforms favoring student activism. Today the university touts its tradition of protest as part of its brand.

On Thursday, another Columbia president, Nemat Shafik, took what she called an “extraordinary step” and authorized the New York Police Department to clear out a student encampment on campus.

[readingsquotes]

"This past Wednesday, April 17, current University President Minouche Shafik disgraced Columbia with her abject groveling before a right-wing-led committee of the House of Representatives. In response to every Republican importuning Shafik to metaphorically “jump,” her response was a metaphorical “how high?” Her appeasement of these MAGA culture warriors renders Neville Chamberlain in Munich a comparative profile in courage.

In Washington, D.C., Shafik seemingly promised those who stand for everything base in our politics to unleash an ideological reign of terror on faculty and students who support the Palestinians who are being massacred in Gaza. This was nothing new, but rather a continuation of months of repression against those whose speech Shafik, the trustees, and major donors disagree with. Based upon the flimsiest of purported justifications, the University suspended Columbia’s chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace—hardly an antisemitic group—and Students for Justice in Palestine.

Shafik and her administrators rewrote University policies to try to strangle and isolate peaceful protest. Together, they mobilized the University disciplinary processes to summarily suspend students, including several evictions of Barnard students. At her testimony, she made clear that faculty who supported the Palestinian cause would do so at the risk of their continued employment, not to mention their future advancement.

After abasing herself on Wednesday in Washington—in what appeared to this observer as a cynical attempt to avoid losing her prestigious position—Shafik called in the police on Thursday leading to the arrest of pro-Palestinian students who were camped out on South Lawn. These students were doing nothing to disrupt the University, nor threaten Jewish students. Maybe they were maliciously “threatening” the grass on the lawn. More seriously, what conceivable harm were those camped out on South Lawn causing? Was Shafik worried that letting them remain would make her look “weak,” or undercut her support from the trustees and major donors?"

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jonathan Ben-Menachem for Zeteo News (04.23.2024):

“Reprehensible and dangerous.” “Terrorist sympathizers.” “It’s not 1938 Berlin. It’s 2024, Columbia University, NYC.” The White House, Congressional Republicans, and cable news talking heads would have you believe that the Columbia University campus has devolved into a hotbed of antisemitic violence – but the reality on the ground is very different. As a Jewish student at Columbia, it depresses me that I have to correct the record and explain what the real risk to our safety looks like. I still can't quite believe how the events on campus over the past few days have been so cynically and hysterically misrepresented by the media and by our elected representatives. 

Last week, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, representing more than 100 student organizations, including Jewish groups, organized the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, a peaceful campus protest in solidarity with Palestine. CUAD was reactivated after the university suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace in the fall. On Wednesday morning, hundreds of students camped out on Columbia’s South Lawn. They vowed to stay put until the university divests from companies that profit from their ties to Israel. Protesters prayed, chanted, ate pizza, and condemned the university’s complicity in Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Though counter-protesters waved Israeli flags near the encampment, the campus remained largely calm from my vantage point.

Columbia responded by imposing a miniature police state. Just over a day after the encampment was formed, university President Minouche Shafik asked and authorized the New York Police Department to clear the lawn and load 108 students – including a number of Jewish students – onto Department of Corrections buses to be held at NYPD headquarters at 1 Police Plaza. One Jewish student told me that she and her fellow protesters were restrained in zip-tie handcuffs for eight hours and held in cells where they shared a toilet without privacy. The NYPD chief of patrol John Chell later told the Columbia Spectator that “the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.”  Since then, dozens of undergraduates have been locked out of their dorms without notice. Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia, notably gave students just 15 minutes to retrieve their belongings after returning from lockup and finding themselves evicted. Suspended students cannot return to campus and are struggling to access food or medical care. Students who keep Shabbat, and do not use electronics on the Sabbath, were forced to rely on technology in order to secure food and emergency housing. This crackdown was the most violence inflicted on our student body in decades. I implore you, as our Jewish Voice for Peace chapter does, to consider whether arresting Jewish students keeps us and Columbia safe.

Smears from the press and pro-Israel influencers, who have levied charges of antisemitism and violence against Jewish students, are a dangerous distraction from real threats to our safety. I saw politicians compare student organizers to neo-Nazis and call for a National Guard deployment, apparently ignorant of the lives lost at Kent State and in Charlottesville, and with very little pushback from national media. This is a repulsive form of self-aggrandizement that I can only assume is intended to preserve relationships with influential donors. Calls to more heavily police��our campus actively endanger Jewish students, and threaten the regular operations of the university far more gravely than peaceful protests.  [...]

On Monday, I joined hundreds of my fellow student workers for a walk-out in solidarity with the encampment; we listened respectfully as a similarly sizable group of Columbia faculty held a rally on the library steps. Frankly, it didn’t feel much different from the environment during my union’s most recent strike on campus – I felt inspired again by my colleagues’ commitment to making Columbia a safer and better place to work and study.  Later that night, a Passover Seder service was held at the encampment. Would an antisemitic student movement welcome Jews in this way? I think not.  [...] Here’s what you’re not being told: The most pressing threats to our safety as Jewish students do not come from tents on campus. Instead, they come from the Columbia administration inviting police onto campus, certain faculty members, and third-party organizations that dox undergraduates. Frankly, I regret the fact that writing to confirm the safety of Jewish Ivy League students feels justified in the first place. I have not seen many pundits hand-wringing over the safety of my Palestinian colleagues mourning the deaths of family members, or the destruction of Gaza’s cherished universities. 

I am wary of a hysterical campus discourse – gleefully amplified by many of the same charlatans who have turned “DEI” into a slur – that draws attention away from the ongoing slaughter in the Gaza Strip and settler violence in the occupied West Bank. We should be focusing on the material reality of war: the munitions our government is sending to Israel, which kill Palestinians by the thousands, and the Americans participating in the violence. Forget the fringe folks and outside agitators: the CUAD organizers behind the campus protests have rightfully insisted on divestment as their most important demand of the Columbia administration, and on sustained attention to the situation in Palestine. And we are not alone. College campuses across the United States have followed Columbia’s lead. 

Jewish Columbia University student Jonathan Ben-Menachem wrote in Zeteo debunking the false "antisemitic" smears used to attack protests against the oppression of Palestinians on campuses.

[killervelveteenrabbit]

Oren Root, a longtime New York City lawyer and Columbia University graduate who was at the school when anti-Vietnam War protests rocked it in 1968, said Shafik's summoning of police was "an extraordinary miscalculation."

"President Shafik and her advisers clearly didn't learn from history," said Root, who was a top editor at The Spectator, the Columbia student newspaper, in 1968 and 1969. “Calling in the cops was clearly a mistake. Things have not gotten any calmer.”

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by By Esha Karam, Shea Vance, and Sarah Huddleston Interim University President Katrina Armstrong apologized in her first interview with Spectator on Tuesday to those who were “hurt” by the New York Police Department’s April sweeps of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and occupied Hamilton Hall, during which police made over 200 arrests. Spectator asked Armstrong whether she agreed with former University President Minouche Shafik’s decision to authorize the NYPD to enter campus twice, which resulted in the largest mass arrests at Columbia since the University’s protests on campus in 1968. “I know that this is tricky for me to say, but I do understand that I sit in this job, right. And so if you could just let everybody know who was hurt by that, that I’m just incredibly sorry,” Armstrong said. “And I know it wasn’t me, but I’m really sorry. … I saw it, and I’m really sorry.” The University faced intense criticism from students, faculty, politicians, and free speech organizations following the April 18 sweep of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” which Shafik authorized less than two days after protesters pitched tents on South Lawn. NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said during a press conference following the arrests that “the students that were arrested were peaceful” and “offered no resistance whatsoever.” Less than two weeks later, police used electric saws, stun grenades, and other tactical gear to sweep Hamilton 22 hours after protesters occupied the building on April 30. Officers pushed protesters to the ground, slammed them with metal barricades, and threw one individual down the stairs outside Hamilton, according to videos reviewed by Spectator. One officer accidentally fired a gun inside the building. In a May 3 video posted to Instagram, Shafik acknowledged the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and Hamilton occupation, though she did not directly comment on the arrests. The Instagram post quickly garnered thousands of comments, most of them negative. Echoing her previous messages, Armstrong emphasized in the Tuesday interview her commitment to ensuring a balance between freedom of expression and the University’s academic mission. Armstrong announced updates to the University’s procedures for handling protests in a Sept. 5 email to the Columbia community, pointing to the Rules of University Conduct as the policy governing on-campus demonstrations. “As we face anything, we have to be very committed to the principles, and our principles are our students and are enabling an environment where people can have freedom of expression, and we support debate, and we do those things,” Armstrong said. “We have to be committed to our principles in terms of ensuring that our academic activities can continue. And so I think we have to be very clear about that, because that’s the commitment I made to our students and to our professors.” Armstrong, who assumed office on Aug. 14 following Shafik’s sudden resignation, underscored the importance of working with the community to “keep this campus peaceful, safe.” “I want to just say, I see the harm that happened,” Armstrong said. “And I am deeply committed that I work with all of you, I work with all of the community to both address that harm and to understand.”

Notice she doesn't mention Jewish students. Look for things to get worse at Columbia.

[fangbangerghoul]

The Columbia Spectator, New York, Tuesday, April 30, 1968

photo from this twitter post as the NYPD continues to brutality arrest students and push out journalists from reporting what is going on tonight.

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