Tag: Columbia

  • Tensions flare at US universities over Gaza protests

    Tensions flare at US universities over Gaza protests

    New York, United States – Tensions flared between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators at several US universities Monday, as in-person classes were cancelled and demonstrators arrested.

    The protests, which began last week at Columbia University with a large group of demonstrators establishing a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on school grounds, have spread to other campuses, including Yale, MIT and others.

    Some Jewish students at Columbia have reported intimidation and anti-Semitism amid the days-long protest, which is calling for the prestigious New York institution to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

    Classes were moved online Monday, with university president Nemat Shafik calling for a “reset” in an open letter to the school community.

    “Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus,” she said.

    “Anti-Semitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken.

    “To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday,” she added.

    Last week, more than 100 protesters were arrested after university authorities called the police onto the private campus Thursday, a move that seemingly escalated tensions and sparked a greater turnout over the weekend.

    Mimi Elias, a social work student who was arrested, told AFP on Monday: “We are going to stay until they talk to us and listen to our demands.”

    “We don’t want anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. We are here for the liberation of all,” Elias said.

    Joseph Howley, an associate professor of classics at Columbia, said the university had reached for the “wrong tool” by involving police, which had attracted “more radical elements that are not part of our student protests.”

    “You can’t discipline and punish your way out of prejudice and community disagreement,” Howley told AFP.

    Disciplinary action

    As the holiday of Passover began Monday night, social media images appeared to show pro-Palestinian Jewish students holding traditional seder meals inside the protest areas on multiple campuses, including at Columbia.

    Further downtown, police began detaining protesters who had set up their own encampment at New York University at around 8:30 pm, the New York Times reported, after the school called the students’ behavior “disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing.”

    There were also demonstrations at MIT, the University of Michigan and Yale, where at least 47 people had been arrested on Monday after refusing requests to disperse.

    “The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind,” the Ivy League university said in a statement.

    At Harvard, university officials on Monday suspended the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, the student group said on Instagram.

    They were ordered to “cease all organizational activities” for the rest of the term, or risk permanent expulsion after holding an unregistered demonstration last week, student newspaper the Harvard Crimson reported, citing an email to the group.

    Universities have become the focus of intense cultural debate in the United States since Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s overwhelming military response, as a humanitarian crisis grips the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

    President Joe Biden on Monday said he condemned “the anti-Semitic protests.”

    “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” he told reporters, without further details.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Israeli professor in America gets slammed by internet for Islamophobia

    Israeli professor in America gets slammed by internet for Islamophobia

    A professor in the Management Division of Columbia Business School, Shai Davidai, has been under fire by the academia and students who have been vocal against the Zionist narrative at American universities as Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues to get condemned.

    In a recent post on his social media pages, he uploaded a video of a Muslim leading Jummah prayer at Columbia University, saying, “Let the world know”, in an effort to portray the act as regressive or extreme.

    Here is how people responded

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Background

Supporters of professor Davidai, led by the #EndJewHatred movement, staged a protest on Wednesday urging University President Minouche Shafik to resign, alleging insufficient protection for Jewish students.

The protest followed Shafik’s testimony at a House Committee hearing titled “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism.”

Davidai, in his address, has accused Shafik of dishonesty and called for her resignation, pledging to ensure the safety of Jewish and non-Jewish communities in collaboration with future university leadership.

On the other hand, hundreds of students from Columbia University and outsiders have been demonstrating and have set up and an encampment.

Shafik authorised police to clear tents, stating that they have breached the university’s rules and policies by holding unauthorised demonstrations as well as not engaging with administrators.

The police have arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian student protesters at New York’s Columbia University Thursday, a day after the president of the prestigious school was grilled in Congress over accusations of anti-Semitism on campus.

  • A hundred pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at New York’s Columbia University

    A hundred pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at New York’s Columbia University

    Police arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian student protesters at New York’s Columbia University Thursday, a day after the president of the prestigious school was grilled in Congress over accusations of anti-Semitism on campus.

    “NYPD officers moved in to ensure the safety of the campus, the students and the staff made more than 108 arrests, and the NYPD ensured that there was no violence or injuries during the disturbance,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference.

    The arrests and dismantling of tents that had been erected Wednesday also attracted a crowd of other demonstrators in support, according to an AFP journalist.

    According to The New York Times, the daughter of Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar was among those detained and she has been ordered to appear in court.

    The students were calling for the school, which has an exchange program with Tel Aviv University, to boycott all activities associated with Israel in light of the country’s war with Hamas and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

    University president Nemat Shafik requested police intervention to disperse the protesters, who she said had violated campus security regulations.

    Universities have become the focus of intense cultural debate in the United States since the October 7 attack and Israeli genocide in Gaza, as many students’ pro-Palestinian sentiments drew accusations of anti-Semitism.

    Congressional Republicans have taken up the issue, calling the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University to testify, and Harvard’s president Claudine Gay resigned shortly after.

    Shafik herself appeared in Congress Wednesday, where she said “anti-Semitism has no place on our campus.”

  • Pro-Palestinian students, protest groups suppressed in American schools, universities

    Three separate cases of suppression of pro-Palestinian students and groups have been reported in America in just one day as voices are raised higher against the genocide of Gaza. Israeli tanks have forced citizens of Northern Gaza to walk countless miles towards the South with their hands in the air, a scene that has been described as “The Second Nakba”.

    Columbia University announced that they are suspending pro-Palestine groups ‘Jewish Voice For Peace’ and ‘Students For Justice In Palestine’- both comprised majorly of Jewish students- who called for a ceasefire.

    Columnist and writer Fatima Bhutto, a Columbia alum, slammed the decision.

    Columbia University is the institute where famous academic Edward Said taught, who dedicated his life to bringing the occupation of Palestine to light.

    The current president of Columbia University, Egyptian-American economist Nemat Talaat Shafik, is drawing outrage from social media users.

    At Harvard University, a black student was evicted from campus housing for acting as a student safety marshal during the protests.

    Previously, pro-Palestinian supporters at Harvard were doxxed after an open letter by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee condemned the genocide of Gaza.

    In California, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was suspended for three days by Corona Del Mar School for responding ‘Free Palestine’ to racists who were bullying him. The school notice was shared on social media by journalist Amina Waheed, who said that the school admin told the boy’s aunt saying ‘Free Palestine’ was akin to calling for the death of all Jews.

    The action against students takes place while several documented cases of Islamophobia, racism towards Palestinians have come to light. On October 17, a Palestinian-American boy was stabbed to death by his neighbour. On October 30, Pakistani-American doctor Talat Jehan Khan was stabbed out side her apartment complex in Texas.

    Social media users showed outrage at Corona del Mar High School and the racism shown towards Palestinian children.

  • Fact Check: Bilawal Bhutto was not rejected as speaker by NYU, Columbia University

    Fact Check: Bilawal Bhutto was not rejected as speaker by NYU, Columbia University

    Claim: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto reached out to Pakistani students in Columbia University and NYU, both rejected to being his audience for a talk

    Fact: Bilawal Bhutto never contacted Pakistani students in NYU or Columbia University and so was never rejected by him

    On May 27, Shandana Gulzar Khan, a former PTI MNA made a tweet claiming that she has been told by “a person in a sensitive post”, that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reached out to Pakistani students at Columbia University and New York University, requesting them to arrange a talk with him but both organizations refused. The thread continues onwards and claims that after these two disappointments, Bhutto asked Pakistani students at Cornell to arrange a talk with him, which they first accepted and then at the insistence of the general student body, eventually rejected as well.

    This thread gathered 1,622 Likes, RTs and replies and has been shared to at least 562,647 followers on Twitter.

    Shandana Gulzar Khan’s tweet which refers to Bilawal Bhutto’s rejected request.

    The following day, on May 28, the Pakistani Students Association at NYU and the Organization of Pakistani Students at Columbia University both made announcements on Facebook clarifying that Bilawal Bhutto never contacted them so naturally they never rejected his proposal.

    To confirm with the final university, we reached out to the Pakistani students’ organization at Cornell on their Facebook page ‘Cornell University Pakistani Students Association’. They directed us to an Instagram post which clarified the same as the other two organizations.