As ever, there has certainly been a lot going on at Columbia.
Since February 24, pro-Palestine protestors overtook Barnard’s oldest building, Milbank Hall, incurring $30,000 in damages. The students participating in this demonstration—which they say was to protest the expulsion of two Barnard students involved in the disruption of Professor Shilon’s class—broke into the offices designated to support first-generation, low-income, and international students, and got the building shut down to outsiders for 6 hours. Those that had class were not able to attend; a number of classes were cancelled due to the disruption.
While the College ultimately dealt with the problem, the University’s only move was to highlight the administrative difference between Barnard and Columbia.
Soon thereafter, it became known that Barnard had expelled a student for participating in the Hamilton Hall occupation back in the spring semester of 2024. This was an advisable decision. Additionally, President Rosenbury of Barnard published an op-ed in the Chronicle of Higher Education that received notable approval from the Jewish community at Columbia.
“Expulsion is always an extraordinary measure,” President Rosenbury wrote, “but we did what needed to be done, and we will continue to do so.”
What happened at Barnard and Columbia?
“Barnard had the courage to take a stand,” President Rosenbury added, concluding her piece. “To protect and defend higher education, others must do the same.”
This is Barnard. The Barnard community is one of women who have the courage—the chutzpah!—to take a stand against true injustice, even when the masses demand that we cow into silence. Although detrimentally and inexplicably delayed, President Rosenbury’s piece has increased the hope that Barnard—the real Barnard—will prevail.
However, this is but a fraction of what has transpired in the last two weeks.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Columbia on March 4 for a Hillel-hosted event featuring an interview with the dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Keren Yarhi-Milo. Despite Hillel’s best efforts to maintain discretion—so as to ensure maximum security for all participants—knowledge of Mr. Bennett’s visit was ultimately leaked. An “emergency protest” (of the usual kind) ensued.
The next day, Dean Yarhi-Milo was accosted on her way to work by a student accusing her of having “blood on your hands,” exclaiming “there are over 140,000 Palestinians that have been killed—because of you!” Pro-Palestine protestors overtook the Milstein Center, Barnard’s library and the heart of its campus, later that day. Again, “the usual.” That is, if you consider distributing flyers branded by the “Hamas Media Office” to be usual—as well as calls for the death of the United States.
The occupation of Milstein was ultimately interrupted—by a bomb threat.
Thankfully, an NYPD bomb-squad arrived, but their efforts to inspect the premises were staggered. Protestors would not exit the building, even as a potential explosive rested in the vicinity. After warning that arrests would commence should law enforcement’s direction to exit go ignored, arrests did in time begin; the exact number remains unknown.
A most upsetting element to all this was that the student government of Barnard issued an official public statement supporting the protestors, and condemning Barnard’s decision to call the police in response to the bomb threat as “an act of cowardice.” In fact, many pro-Palestine protestors and their sympathizers allege that the Administration staged the threat as a tactic to disperse the demonstrators. This is to say, an observable portion of the student body believes the Administration committed a felony.
Two days following the Milstein fiasco, the United States government announced its plan to cancel $400 million in funding to the University. People were buzzing, as one might imagine.
In addition to all this news, though, our Jewish community sustained various personal attacks within the past few weeks. Students, Hillel staff, and at least one Columbia trustee were doxxed in the past few weeks. In my case, two friends and I were spotlighted on a social media post of various pro-Palestine/anti-Israel accounts describing us as “zionist students” that are “secretly pushing a mask ban (among other things, such as campus access and police on campus)” and “being bribed… by the trustees” due to our membership in a newly founded committee, Student Leadership Engagement Initiative (SLEI).
If this sounds like the medieval (literally) accusation of the conspiring, greedy, money-grabbing Jew, that’s because it is.
The reality is that my friends and I were not secretly pushing anything. Lishi Baker, Columbia College 2025, had very publicly advocated masking policies—due to protestors’ abuse of them to avoid identification—for months. I publicly (and proudly) supported him and the initiative, as had the other implicated student. A masking policy was also just one of many suggestions we hoped to offer the Administration in an attempt to increase campus safety, and our drafted letter made no mention of police.
So just like last century, and the century before that, and the century before that, and the century before that—
Lies were spread, and double standards were once again in vogue.
Most recently, however, a Columbia graduate—Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, which is to say a non-citizen—has been seized by federal authorities, as of Sunday March 9th. In coordination with the Department of State, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the recently graduated Columbia University SIPA student for leading “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
Jewish organizations and initiatives, and even individual Jewish students are alleged by many on campus to be the explicit cause of this action. Once again, if this sounds familiar—if it rings a bell of scapegoating, perhaps—that is because it is. The Jewish people have been blamed for centuries for the plight of others and often their very aggressors, as in this case.
Little else is currently known of the matter. It seems likely that events will continue to unfold at a fairly quick pace, but until then we can all only speculate as to what may happen next. The good news, though, is that the Jewish community remains largely unified and resolute at Columbia; there is no question that the environment and future of Columbia remains precarious but, as is also a centuries-old tradition: The Jewish people will survive.