Jewish students at Columbia University were kicked out of their dorms, subjected to death threats, spit upon, chased and pressed against walls as the Ivy League school was transformed into a cesspool of anti-Semitic hate following Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
The investigation revealed new and disturbing details. The lengthy, 91-page document The survey, released Friday by the school’s faculty-led anti-Semitism task force, revealed the extent to which hate pervades the institution.
“Students reported being pushed, thrown to the ground, scolded for showing support for Zionist causes, and watched Israeli flags were burnedthe task force authors wrote.
“They reported that swastikas were painted on their dormitories, students were chanting slogans in support of Hamas, and they were being denied access to public spaces and opportunities simply because they were Jewish or Israeli.”
Testimony from nearly five hundred Columbia students informed the report, which found that those professing the Jewish faith had been pinned to walls and had their jewelry stripped while walking to and from synagogue. Others reported being spit upon and called ethnic slurs on campus.
A student who installed a mezuzah on her dorm door before the Israel-Hamas war has been forced to go outside since October because of people knocking on her door throughout the night, demanding an explanation from her about the Jewish state’s war in Gaza.
One anonymous student's testimony read, “If I walked on campus right now wearing my star or kippah or saying 'Am Yisrael Chai,' I could start World War III.”
According to the report, instructors tasked with guiding and advising students fostered a sense of isolation and uneasiness among Jews and Israelis on campus.
A faculty member who has studied the Israel-Hamas conflict extensively called a student who previously served in the IDF a murderer. Another professor elaborated, saying that two Jewish donors to the university had “laundered” the university with “dirty money” and “blood money.”
During the spring, when protests and encampments rocked the school's Morningside Heights campus, demonstrators, including outsiders and members of the university community, issued death threats against Jewish students. Meanwhile, protesters holding Israeli flags recalled being attacked.
“There is a sense of personal danger, and we look over our shoulders,” master’s student Omer Lubtan Granot, an Israeli veteran and father of a child, told an Israeli radio station in the wake of the occupation of Israeli border crossings by protesters. Academic Building Hamilton Hall In April.
Councilman Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx) called the students' testimony “appalling — and not surprising.”
“These are stories we’ve been hearing about, as the report says, even before the camps,” he told the Post, adding that anti-Semitism had been on the rise on college campuses even before October 7th.
“This type of behavior will continue without any type of consequences (for students and teachers).”
The task force offered a number of recommendations to address the issues detailed in the report, including better anti-bias training for students and staff as well as a new system for reporting anti-Semitism complaints.
The report was released just days before Columbia’s fall semester began and less than three weeks after university President Minouche Shafik abruptly resigned, citing a “period of turmoil” that had marred her brief tenure at the school.
Interim President Katrina Armstrong called He described the disturbing events as “completely unacceptable” and then announced new initiatives at the university in line with the panel's recommendations.
“This is an opportunity to acknowledge the loss that has occurred and to resolve to make the changes necessary to do better, and to rededicate ourselves, as university leaders, as individuals, and as a community, to our core mission of teaching and research,” he said.
