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Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lee Bollinger Whitewashes Elite-University Decay
On May 7, police arrested at least 44 Columbia University students and 13 Barnard College students - many were masked - for taking over the university library. "Once inside the agitators passed out pamphlets that endorsed Hamass violence andchanted 'There is only one solution, intifada revolution, 'We want divestment now,and 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, using megaphones and bangingon drums," according to the Washington Free Beacon. "Theyrenamedthe library after Basel al-Araj, a Palestinian terroristkilled in a 2017 shootout with the Israel Defense Forces." Columbias admission of students disposed to break the law to endorse Hamas genocidal intentions against Israel and to call for extending the jihadists violent revolution beyond the Middle East is only the most conspicuous of the universitys many problems. FIREs2025College Free Speech Rankings assessed the "speech climate" at Columbia as "Abysmal" and placed the university second to last, 250 out of 251 schools. Only Harvard scored lower. The results might have turned out differently if, following Iran-backed Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and kidnapping of mostly civilians in southern Israel, the rankings had focused on universities handling of anti-Israel protesters who erected illegal encampments on campus, harassed and intimidated Jews, and otherwise disrupted academic activities. In that case, Columbia might well have beaten Harvard for last place in the nation. Before the encampments, according to the FIRE rankings, approximately 30% of Columbia students said they self-censored "very" or "fairly" often in conversation with other students, and 20% said they self-censored in conversation with professors and during classroom discussion. The encampments worsened the dismal condition of free speech at Columbia. After they were erected, almost 40% of Columbia students said they self-censored "very" or "fairly" often in conversation with other students, and around 30% said they self-censored in conversation with professors and during classroom discussion. With Columbia a poster child for dysfunctional university governance and the erosion of free and robust speech, it is jolting to read Lee Bollingers recent Atlantic essay, "Universities Deserve Special Standing." President emeritus of Columbia, a prominent First Amendment scholar, and holder of a prestigious university-professor chair at Columbia, Bollinger contends that American universities should receive "special solicitude under the Constitution" because they advance the public interest by pursuing the truth. If only our universities were worthy of the deference Bollinger insists they are owed. However, universities betrayal of their mission - along with the former Columbia presidents failure to tell the truth about their betrayal - undermines his plea for bestowing on them privileged constitutional status. A graduate of Columbia Law School, Bollinger occupied powerful positions at major universities for almost 35 years, serving not only as Columbias president (2002-2023) but also as University of Michigan Law School dean (1987-1994), and University of Michigan president (1996-2002). His three-and-a-half decades guiding an elite law school and two elite universities coincided with the precipitous decline of higher education into an industry for the reproduction of progressive orthodoxy. "Universities," Bollinger warns, "are most certainly under assault, and the risks appear likely to grow." He sees only external threats, though. "The nations leading universities are locked in an unprecedented battle with a president and an administration that have chosen to withhold billions of dollars in vital federal research funding in order to take control of institutions for which freedom of thought and expression are among their most essential values." Here, and throughout his essay, Bollinger confuses is and ought. Freedom of thought and expression ought to be among our universities most essential values. Yet it is universities propensity to censor and indoctrinate - along with their protracted violation of civil rights - that spurred the Trump administration, however much it may have overreached, to leverage federal funding to impel them to practice free speech and respect the law. Despite shirking personal responsibility and turning a blind eye to the origins of the crisis of higher education in universities dereliction of their educational duties, Bollinger performs in his essay a valuable service. His account of universities as they ought to be provides a devasting indictment of what our elite universities have become, not least Columbia under his 21 years of stewardship. Bollinger rightly emphasizes that American constitutional government presupposes educations centrality to the formation of citizens who responsibly exercise their rights, discharge their duties, and engage in self-government. Accordingly, he argues, universities "are every bit as vital to our society as the political branches of government or quasi-official institutions such as the press (often even referred to as the 'fourth branch of government)." Furthermore, he maintains, universities advance the goal "of the First Amendment, which affirms our nations commitment to a never-ending search for truth." And "like the press but even more so," universities "explore every facet of existence, including questions of justice, fairness, and the character of our political and social life." Would that it were so. Bollinger describes universities that America needs but obscures the character of the universities that we have. Long ago, many classes and whole concentrations and majors in the humanities and social sciences set aside the search for truth in favor of promoting progressive social change. These days, moreover, our universities barely teach constitutional, diplomatic, military, and religious history; literary classics; the principles of economic freedom; and the history of political philosophy. And they frown on students drawn to such studies. Nevertheless, Bollinger would have readers believe that there is little new and little true in current criticisms, especially those coming from conservatives, of American higher education. "There is a long tradition of populist disdain for the unconventional thought and progressive values of many university campuses and college towns," he writes. That, though, is a smokescreen since todays criticism revolves around elite universities illiberal practices: intolerance, antisemitism and race-based discrimination, curtailment of due process, politicization of courses, contempt for reasoned debate, and autocratic governance. Nevertheless, Bollinger insists that the "political right" makes a mountain out of molehill. It "has, as in earlier eras of our history, skillfully elevated and made an easy target of the most extreme picture of the academic world," he contends. But since a good portion of scholarship and teaching matches the critics dire depictions, it is Bollinger who tries to make a molehill out of a mountain. Bollinger admits that "the academic world has undoubtedly provided fodder for" critics, "especially in not responding more forcefully to the anti-Semitism that too often manifested on campus after October 7, well beyond constitutionally protected political debate and public protest of Israels government." This, his single acknowledgement that conservatives are not simply making things up about university misconduct, is a stylish understatement. Not least, it suggests that the upsurge in campus antisemitism and universities feckless response occurred mysteriously, independent of their other pathologies. Columbia has issued not fewer than three reports on antisemitism - Report #1: Task Force on Antisemitism, Report #2: Task Force on Antisemitism, and The Sundial Report (sharply criticized for myriad inadequacies by The Sunlight Report, produced by the Stand Columbia Society). The universitys reports document persistent harassment, intimidation, ostracism, and physical violence directed at Jews on campus. But, among other deficiencies, these reports, like Bollinger, fail to connect antisemitism at Columbia to the universitys manifold betrayals of liberal education. These betrayals - as at elite universities throughout the land - provide fertile breeding ground for antisemitism. Americas most selective institutions of higher education have encouraged students to believe that expressing opinions that challenge progressive orthodoxy and failing to affirm progressive orthodoxy are both forms of violence. They have eroded due process in cases concerning allegations of sexual assault. They have fashioned a curriculum that features courses - focusing on narrow areas of expertise or advocacy for popular causes - that professors prefer to teach instead of courses on basic subjects that equip students for citizenship in a free and democratic nation. They have infused the curriculum with a settler-colonialism ideology that condemns the United States as a unique source of international instability and injustice and that scorns Israel as an outpost in the Middle East of Western oppression. They have accepted substantial sums of money from abroad, often without proper disclosure, that compromise their intellectual independence. They have instituted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and other identity-conscious initiatives that encourage students to understand themselves as belonging to either the oppressed class or the oppressor class while generally placing Jews in the latter. And they have populated the undergraduate body with students and the faculty with professors who embrace, or at least know how to go along and get along with, debased educational standards. The age-old scourge of antisemitism thrives in such illiberal environments. America needs universities like those Lee Bollinger evokes. America, however, will not get them if progressive elites persist in suppressing the truth about the decay of the nations universities over which they have long maintained an iron grip. Or, it also should be said, if conservatives take a sledgehammer to the universities. Lasting reform depends on left and right in America cooperating based on an education for freedom that transcends partisan differences. Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. From 2019 to 2021, he served as director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. State Department. His writings are posted at and he can be followed on X @BerkowitzPeter.
Fox News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Columbia suspends anti-Israel agitators after takeover, spreading of pamphlets glorifying alleged terrorist
Columbia University has temporarily suspended 65 students after anti-Israel agitators took over a campus building and handed out pamphlets that glorified an alleged terrorist this week. The protesters stormed into Columbia University's Butler Library on Wednesday evening, claiming to have renamed the building "Basel Al-Araj Popular University." According to the NYPD, 80 arrests were made, with 19 males and 61 females being taken into custody by police. Seventy-eight of those individuals were issued a desk appearance ticket for criminal trespass, and the other two arrested protesters were issued a summons. Homeland Security Investigations is requesting fingerprints and the names of those arrested to check their visa status. In addition to the student suspensions, Columbia has also barred an unspecified number of alumni from campus, and 33 others from affiliated institutions. At the time anti-Israel agitators rushed into the library, students were studying for final exams. Protesters were chanting "Free Palestine" and demanding that the university divest from Israel. Some protesters were seen climbing on tables inside the library. During the library takeover, students handed out pamphlets glorifying Basel Al-Araj Popular University, an alleged terrorist who was suspected of planning attacks in Israel, according to The Times of Israel. Al-Araj was killed by the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police's counterterrorism unit in 2017. Officials allege he was part of a terrorist cell plotting attacks on Israeli targets. He "directed the cell and was responsible for purchasing the weaponry," police said at the time. Al-Araj was killed after he opened fire on Israeli authorities during an arrest raid. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which helped organize the library takeover, posted a portion of the pamphlet on its X account. Portions of the material handed out to students were posted online, showing the campus groups made a hero out of Al-Araj. "At the original Popular University project in the West Bank, Basel al-Araj taught about the Palestinian resistance and insisted that knowledge must serve liberation, not empire," reads the pamphlet posted by CU Apartheid Divest. "Today, we teach each other the stories our universities refuse to tell. We feed each other, protect each other, learn with and from each other. The Popular University is not only a demand for divestment." Included in the pamphlets is a list of demands, which include divestment from Israel, "Cops and ICE off our campus" and amnesty for all Columbia University members facing discipline. Claire Shipman, Columbia's acting president, said in a statement Wednesday the NYPD was called to help "secure" the library. She added that two university police officers were injured. "Sadly, during the course of this disruption, two of our Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries during a crowd surge when individuals attempted to force their way into the building and into Room 301," Shipman said. "These actions are outrageous." In a separate statement, Shipman called out the library takeover as unacceptable. "Disruptions to our academic activities will not be tolerated and are violations of our rules and policies; this is especially unacceptable while our students study and prepare for final exams. Columbia strongly condemns violence on our campus, antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today. We are resolute that calls for violence or harm have no place at our University," Shipman said.
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anti-Israel protesters wearing keffiyehs and masks are locked inside library at Columbia University in stunt gone wrong
Anti-Israel protesters' stunt backfired when they stormed the main library at Columbia University on Wednesday - only to get stuck inside. Videos posted online showed dozens of people wearing keffiyehs and masks banging drums in a sprawling room at the Butler Library, renaming the library 'Basel al-Araj Popular University' after a Palestinian militant whom Israel has accused of planning a large scale attack, according to the New York Times. But when the raucous demonstrators tried to leave the library after the rally , they were blocked by security guards at the Ivy League university unless they showed a proper school identification - leading to an hours-long standoff. In one of the videos from the scene, guards could be seen telling the protesters they will be arrested for trespassing if they did not produce their school ID cards. In the end, nearly 70 demonstrators were taken into custody for trespassing, and at least one protester and two security guards were injured in the assault - which came as university officials try to appease the Trump administration to regain some of its federal funding. Columbia University Apartheid Divest - which is taking credit for the demonstration - claimed at the time that more than 100 people stormed the library. Demands: The protest was apparently organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which shared its five demands online It said in a statement: 'The flood shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy.' 'Repression breeds resistance - if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruption on this campus,' the group warned. It said it was demanding 'full financial divestment from Zionist occupation, apartheid and genocide; an academic boycott of all compliant institutions, including the cancelation of the Tel Aviv Global Center; cops and ICE off our campus' and an end to 'Columbia's occupation of Harlem.' The group also demanded 'amnesty for all students, staff, faculty and workers targeted by Columbia University's discipline.' The scene prompted public security officials at the school to evacuate students who were not involved in the disruption from the library, the Times reported. Meanwhile, guards told the demonstrators that they would not be allowed out if they did not produce their school ID. After around two hours of protesting, a group of about seven people were allowed to leave the building - while the remainder presumably refused to show their IDs. The situation then turned more chaotic, leaving one protester injured and escaping through the back entrance of the library in a stretcher. Soon after, demonstrators in support of the protesters inside the building also began assembling outside - chanting 'no cops, no KKK, no fascist USA' as they too tried to overpower the security guards blocking their way. By around 7pm, 4 hours after the rally began, Columbia University's Acting President Claire Shipman announced she had called police to the scene. She said: 'The individuals who disrupted activities in Butler Reading Room 301 still refuse to identify themselves and leave the building.' 'Due to the number of individuals participating in the disruption inside and outside the building, a large group of people attempting to force their way into Butler Library creating a safety hazard and what we believe to be the significant presence of individuals not affiliated with the university, Columbia has taken the necessary step of requesting the presence of the NYPD to assist in securing the building and the safety of our community. 'Requesting the presence of the NYPD is not the outcome we wanted, but it was absolutely necessary to secure the safety of our community.' She concluded by saying the university 'strongly condemns violence on our campus, antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today. 'We are resolute that calls for violence or harm have no place at our university.' Within half an hour of Shipman's announcement, demonstrators were seen being escorted out of the building, their hands restrained behind them with zip ties. Police have since confirmed they responded to a 'trespassing scene' at the Ivy League university and charges against the protesters were pending. But the chaotic scene had already attracted the attention of elected officials, with Mayor Eric Adams taking to X to condemn the demonstration. he said: 'As I've said repeatedly, New York City will always defend the right to peaceful protest, but we will never tolerate lawlessness.' 'To our Jewish New Yorkers, especially the students at Columbia who feel threatened or unsafe attending class because of these events: know that your mayor stands with you and will always work to keep you safe.' New York Gov Kathy Hochul also said she was briefed on the situation and was grateful for the public safety officials who kept students safe, according to ABC 7. 'Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable.' Agreement: Republican Rep Elise Stefanik agreed with his decision following the protest on Wednesday Rep Elise Stefanik went even further, writing: 'While Columbia students try to study for finals, they're being bombarded with chants for a "global intifada." 'Not a single taxpayer dollar should go to a university that allows chaos, antisemitism and civil rights violations on its campus,' she said, agreeing with President Trump's decision to revoke more than $400million in federal funding from the Ivy League school for its prior 'mishandling' of protests against Israel. In a letter on Tuesday, school officials said the funding cut resulted in 180 staff members being laid off. The letter said: 'Columbia's leadership continues discussions with the federal government in support of resuming activity on these research awards and additional other awards that have remained active, but unpaid.' 'We are working on planning for every eventuality, but the strain in the meantime, financially and on our research mission, is intense.' It now remains unclear whether Wednesday's chaos will lead the Trump administration to further revoke the school's funding. But officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Fox News they were monitoring the situation - and will fingerprint everyone who was arrested to determine if they are noncitizens Those who are may then face deportation. An ICE official said: 'Time to make a point,; The State Department also warned foreign students about the consequences of breaking the law. It said: 'Foreign university students in America have been put on notice: If you break the law or support terrorism in our country, we will revoke your visa. This administration will not tolerate noncitizens causing mayhem on our college campuses.'
Al Jazeera
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at US's Columbia University
Pro-Palestinian student group says it staged demonstration to protest against university profiting from 'imperialist violence'. Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists have staged a protest at Columbia University in the United States. Footage posted on social media showed demonstrators standing on tables, chanting and beating drums inside the university's main library. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-Palestinian student group, said it had occupied the library to protest the university's links to Israel. 'Over 100 people have just flooded Butler Library and renamed it the Basel Al-Araj Popular University,' the group said on Substack, referring to the Palestinian activist and writer who was killed by Israeli forces in 2017. 'The flood shows that as long as Columbia funds and profits from imperialist violence, the people will continue to disrupt Columbia's profits and legitimacy. Repression breeds resistance – if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus.' Columbia University's acting president, Claire Shipman, condemned the demonstration as 'completely unacceptable'. Advertisement University officials called police after demonstrators refused requests to provide identification and leave the building, Shipman said. 'Disruptions to our academic activities will not be tolerated and are violations of our rules and policies; this is especially unacceptable while our students study and prepare for final exams,' Shipman said in a statement. 'Columbia strongly condemns violence on our campus, antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today.' Shipman said two Columbia Public Safety Officers sustained injuries when individuals attempted to force their way into the building. Sign up for Al Jazeera Americas Coverage Newsletter US politics, Canada's multiculturalism, South America's geopolitical rise—we bring you the stories that matter. Subscribe Your subscription failed. Please try again. Please check your email to confirm your subscription By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy protected by reCAPTCHA The New York Police Department said in a statement that 'multiple individuals who did not comply with verbal warnings' to disperse were taken into custody. New York radio station 1010 WINS reported that around 80 demonstrators were arrested. Columbia University, one of the top-ranked US universities, was the site of large demonstrations last year when student protests against Israel's war in Gaza erupted on more than 100 campuses across the US.
CNN
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Video shows Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University blocked and pushed
Pro-Palestinian protesters caused a 'disruption' at Columbia University's Butler Library on Wednesday, resulting in protestors being shoved and blocked from the doors. Protesters – who are asking for the university to divest from companies that have ties to Israel – called for the library to be renamed the 'Basel Al-Araj Popular University,' according to a Substack post from Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
