According to a report released on Friday by the university’s task force on antisemitism, Jews and Israelis at Columbia University experienced verbal abuse, humiliation in classrooms, and exclusion from student organizations during the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that rocked the campus last year. Their complaints were frequently discounted or disregarded by faculty and administration.
Citing “serious and pervasive” problems uncovered through nearly 500 student testimonials, the faculty task force recommended revamped anti-bias training for students and staff and a revised system for reporting complaints about antisemitism.
It said student groups should stop issuing political statements unrelated to their missions, saying Jewish students felt pushed out of many clubs and organizations.
The task force also offered a definition of antisemitism that included discrimination or exclusion based on “real or perceived ties to Israel” and “certain double standards applied to Israel.” Such double standards, the report said, include the “calls for divestment solely from Israel” — something that has been a key demand of pro-Palestinian groups as the death toll in the latest war between Israel and Hamas soared.
Columbia University’s Task Force on Antisemitism has issued a report aimed at preserving the right to protest, protect the rights to speak, teach, research, and learn, and combat discrimination and harassment, including antisemitic harassment. The report was issued four days before the scheduled start of classes for Columbia’s fall semester. Interim President Katrina Armstrong said the university has already moved to expand trainings and streamline its handling of harassment complaints in line with the new report’s recommendations.
The task force report comes two weeks after the resignation of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, who faced heavy scrutiny for her handling of the protests and campus divisions over the Israel-Hamas war at the Ivy League school. Pro-Palestinian protesters first set up tent encampments on Columbia’s campus during Shafik’s congressional testimony in mid-April, where she denounced antisemitism but faced criticism for how she had responded to faculty and student complaints. The school sent in police to clear the tents the following day, only for the students to return and inspire a wave of similar protests at campuses across the country.
The report cited incidents where Jewish students had been threatened or shoved, or subjected to blatantly antisemitic symbols like swastikas. It also described a broader pattern of Jewish students feeling ostracized from classmates who had once been friends. In one reported instance, an Israeli student described feeling forced off a school dance team because she would not support its decision to join the pro-Palestinian Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition.
The task force said in many cases, Jewish students chose to leave groups because of an “uncomfortable” atmosphere, but in some cases they were told to leave. The report is the second to be issued by the task force in recent months, the first outlined rules for demonstrations. An upcoming report will focus on “academic issues related to exclusion in the classroom and bias in curriculum.”
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Source: HT
