Campus Chaos: Columbia Goes Remote After Protests Intimidate Jewish Students
Columbia University’s president canceled all in-person classes Monday and urged faculty and students who do not live on campus to stay away, after a weekend of anti-Israel protests swelled and included threatening messages to the school’s large Jewish student population.
The extraordinary move was announced in an early-morning email Monday, after Columbia had increased university police presence and taken other security measures on Saturday, to no avail.
“Columbia in Chaos,” blared the headline of the student newspaper, The Columbia Spectator.
The situation had drawn the attention Sunday of the White House, which issued a statement condemning all calls for violence and “physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community” on Columbia’s campus. Members of Congress and local politicians had pledged to escort the students on Monday and demanded police protection.
“I will be coming to Columbia University to walk with the Jewish students,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Jewish Democrat from Florida wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “If the university won’t protect them, Congress will.”
But such escorts won’t be necessary, since Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, announced early Monday that all classes would be taught remotely to, as she put it, “deescalate the rancor.”
“Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm,” wrote Shafik, who is known as Minouche, wrote in the email, in which she announced a “working group” of faculty and administrators that would try to work with student protesters to allow the university to “peacefully complete the term and return to respectful engagement with each other.”
“These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas,” she noted. “We need a reset.”
Meanwhile, at the Connecticut campus of Yale University on Monday morning, police in riot gear arrested students engaged in a pro-Palestinian encampment there for several days. Also at Yale, a Jewish student reporting on protests was jabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag on Saturday night. The incident occurred after a group of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators allegedly formed a human chain around two visibly Jewish students trying to enter campus.
The turmoil at Columbia, which has seen ongoing demonstrations against the war in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, intensified in recent days. Students and local activist groups gathered on and off the campus over the weekend to protest the administration’s authorization of a police crackdown on students who had pitched tents — they call it the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” — on Columbia’s lawn and the suspension of three students for their involvement in the protests. More than 100 people were arrested on Thursday, including Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi.
Columbia’s 5,000 Jewish students received mixed messages on Sunday from their communal leaders about whether they could safely remain on campus during the holiday of Passover, which begins Monday evening.
Rabbi Elie Buechler, who leads the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Columbia and Barnard, advised over 290 students in a WhatsApp message to return home. “It deeply pains to me to say that I would strong recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved,” Buechler wrote.
He added: “It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus. No one should have to endure this level of hatred, let alone at school.”
But the local chapter of Hillel International recommended that students stay put. Brian Cohen, the executive director of Hillel at Columbia and Barnard, said in a Facebook message that the university and the city of New York are responsible for ensuring the safety of all students. The organization designated the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, where Hillel is housed, for students looking for a quiet place to study or be with friends.
Columbia’s chief operating officer, Cas Holloway, had announced “additional coverage” at Kraft during Passover, among other enhanced security measures, in an email to the community on Saturday. Overall, the email said, the number of safety personnel on campus had been doubled, to 111 per shift. Enhanced identification-checks around the gates of the Manhattan campus were also added.
Jewish students had told reporters they felt uncomfortable and unheard on campus last week, after the arrests of Palestinian protesters, and Shafik’s testimony before a Congressional committee on Wednesday, where some House members grilled her on the college’s response to antisemitism, while others questioned her commitment to protecting pro-Palestinian speech.
Things only got worse over the weeked. On Saturday, a group of Jewish students singing the Israeli national anthem next to an Israeli flag were harassed by pro-Palestinian protesters. One such protester, wearing a keffiyeh was filmed holding a sign that read “Al Qasam’s next target” – referencing Hamas’ military wing — with an arrow pointing at the students.
In a statement on Sunday, Hillel called on the university to “act immediately in restoring calm to campus” and for the city government to “ensure that students can walk up and down Broadway and Amsterdam without fear of harassment.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams posted to social media Sunday: “I am horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University campus. Hate has no place in our city, and I have instructed the NYPD to investigate any violation of law they receive a report about and will arrest anyone found to be breaking the law.”
Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Republican from Brooklyn who was arrested in October for carrying a gun near a pro-Palestinian rally, said she requested an NYPD escort for students.
Chabad at Columbia said in a statement that it will hold a Passover Seder on campus Monday evening, “celebrating the redemption of our people.”
In her Monday letter to the community, Shafik acknowledged the backlash against her decision to ask the New York Police Department to clear the protest encampment, which had remained peaceful, and arrest scores of students.
“Better adherence to our rules and effective enforcement mechanisms would obviate the need for relying on anyone else to keep our community safe.,” she said. “We should be able to do this ourselves.”
But she said she would not let “one group dictate terms and attempt to disrupt important milestones like graduation to advance their point of view.”
“Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus,” Shafik continued. “Antisemitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken.”
This story was originally published in the Forward. Click here to get the Forward’s free email newsletters delivered to your inbox.
Jacob Kornbluh is the Forward’s senior political reporter. Follow him on Twitter @jacobkornbluh or email kornbluh@forward.com.