Columbia University, which agreed to a $221 million settlement in July in a federal probe of Jew-hatred, stated on Sept. 2 that it is investigating “incidents that took place today and over the weekend that involve potential violations of the university’s student anti-discrimination and discriminatory harassment policies and university rules.”
“The university takes these incidents seriously, and the individuals involved are being notified that the university will immediately pursue its process for disciplinary action regarding their conduct,” Columbia stated.
“These individuals are being informed that further actions designed to intimidate or harass specific groups of students will not be tolerated and will result in immediate action, including interim measures ranging from campus access restrictions to interim suspensions,” it added. “Actions that target community members for harassment based on identity are a violation of our policies.”
Columbia didn’t mention antisemitism in its announcement. A social media account that identifies with Jewish and Israeli students at the Ivy League school posted what it said was an image of a spokesman for an anti-Israel encampment at Columbia in 2024 with a sign stating “some of your classmates were Israel occupation forces criminals committing genocide in Palestine.”
“Why is he still on campus?” the account stated. “Telling students to be automatically suspicious of Israelis is textbook discrimination.”
An account identified as belonging to a Barnard College student posted a photo that appeared to show the same man, and the same person standing beside him, bearing signs stating “Hillel protects war criminals” and “Hillel supports genocide” on Sept. 1.
“A few members of CU Apartheid Divest protested Columbia/Barnard Hillel’s club fair and distributed Columbia/Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace leaflets encouraging Jewish students to ‘drop Hillel,’” the student posted.
“Why are they smiling? Because they are enjoying being allowed to openly spread antisemitism on the Columbia campus,” stated the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association.
Gil Zussman, professor and chair of the electrical engineering department at Columbia, stated that he was “happy to see a very quick response from Columbia that clearly outlines consequences.”
“Clear communication and quickly enforcing rules is important and a welcome change from two years ago,” he stated.
The student identified as the encampment spokesman is among the named defendants in a U.S. federal court lawsuit filed on behalf of Israeli soldiers returning to the United States who say that Jew-hatred at Columbia prevent them from pursuing their studies.
