Columbia University president Minouche Shafik condemned the “intimidating and harassing behavior” that has occurred on the New York City campus over the past several days and announced that classes would be held remotely on Monday.
“Antisemitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken,” Shafik said in a statement. She further suggested that “tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas.”
Shafik added that, over the coming days, deans and administrators will convene to resolve the “crisis” on campus and will continue “discussions with the student protesters and identifying actions we can take as a community” to enable a peaceful semester and a return to respectful conduct.
“I know that there is much debate about whether or not we should use the police on campus, and I am happy to engage in those discussions,” Shafik wrote. “But I do know that better adherence to our rules and effective enforcement mechanisms would obviate the need for relying on anyone else to keep our community safe. We should be able to do this ourselves.”
New York City police arrested 108 anti-Israel activists at Columbia University on Thursday after the university’s president asked law enforcement to step in and break up the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
Elie Buechler, an Orthodox Rabbi at Columbia/Barnard and co-director of the school’s Jewish Leaning Initiative on Campus, urged over 290 Jewish students Sunday morning to go home and remain there until “campus has dramatically improved.”
The Columbia/Barnard Hillel wrote on social media Sunday evening that “We do not believe that Jewish students should leave Columbia. We do believe that the University and the City need to do more to ensure the safety of our students.” The university’s Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life will remain open.
Columbia University announced on Sunday that, in response to “extraordinarily challenging circumstances,” it more than doubled its safety personnel per shift, enhanced perimeter safety, improved ID checks for entering campus, and added additional safety measures to the Kraft Center for Jewish Life.
National Review previously reported that representative Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) — chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee — sent a letter to Shafik and the two board of trustees co-chairs on Sunday night calling for order to be restored on campus.
“Columbia’s continued failure to restore order and safety promptly to campus constitutes a major breach of the University’s Title VI obligations, under which federal financial assistance is contingent, and which must immediately be rectified,” Foxx wrote. “If you do not rectify this danger, then the Committee will not hesitate in holding you accountable.”
President Biden’s statement on Passover, released on Sunday, denounced antisemitism, some of which had occurred at schools.
“The ancient story of persecution against Jews in the Haggadah also reminds us that we must speak out against the alarming surge of Antisemitism – in our schools, communities, and online. Silence is complicity,” reads Biden’s statement. “Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”