- The president of Columbia University announced that all classes on Monday will be virtual.
- The move follows days of campus unrest and protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
- A rabbi encouraged Jewish students to leave campus. The demonstrators say they are peaceful.
Columbia University will hold all classes virtually on Monday due to ongoing protests on campus, the school’s president, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, announced.
Colombia has been shaken for several days by demonstrations against Israel’s war against Gaza, following the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7.
While students and faculty have been asked not to come to campus, Shafik said “a task force of deans, university administrators and faculty members will attempt to resolve this crisis.”
How it started
The protests began on Wednesday, April 17, which coincided with Shafik’s testimony before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus.
A coalition of student groups – Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace – helped set up “Gaza solidarity encampments” in the center of campus.
One of the goals of the protest is to convince the university to divest all of its “funding, including endowments, from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine ”, according to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest website.
The police were called
On Thursday, April 18, Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to clear the camp. “Attempts to resolve the situation have been rejected by the students involved. As a result, NYPD officers are now on campus and the process of cleaning up the encampment is underway,” she said in a press release.
This resulted in the arrest of more than 100 people on suspicion of criminal trespass, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference.
Protests have continued since.
Rabbi advises Jewish students to stay home
Chabad at Columbia, a group that supports Jewish students, posted a letter on social media claiming that Jewish students had been targeted with offensive rhetoric during the protests.
President Joe Biden denounced anti-Semitism on campus in his Passover statement Sunday.
“Even in recent days, we have witnessed harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere else in the world. our country,” Biden said.
And University-affiliated Rabbi Elie Buechler sent a message to 300 Jewish students “strongly recommending” that they leave campus for their own safety, CNN reported Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Columbia Barnard Hillel organization that promotes Jewish life said in a statement post on that they do not believe Jewish students should leave campus, but said “the university and the city must do more to ensure the safety of our students.”
Columbia student organizations participating in the protest insisted their demonstrations were peaceful.
A student group, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, said in a statement statement about that they are frustrated by the attention paid to “inflammatory individuals who do not represent us.”
“We strongly reject any form of hatred or bigotry and oppose non-students who attempt to disrupt our solidarity,” the statement said.
businessinsider
