Universities become hotbeds of anti-semitism: Columbia and Yale are still pitchforked into news (UPDATED)

Columbia University is facing a full-blown crisis heading into Passover as a rabbi linked to the Ivy League school urged Jewish students to stay home and tense confrontations on campus sparked condemnation from the White House and New York officials.

The atmosphere is so charged that Columbia officials announced students can attend classes and even possibly take exams virtually starting Monday – the first day of Passover, a major Jewish holiday set to begin in the evening.

Tensions at Columbia, and many universities, have been high ever since the October 7 terror attack on Israel by Hamas. However, the situation at Columbia escalated in recent days after university officials testified before Congress last week about antisemitism on campus and pro-Palestinian protests on and near campus surged.

The latest crisis has opened Columbia President Minouche Shafik up to new attacks from her critics, with Republican US Rep. Elise Stefanik demanding she step down immediately because school leadership has “clearly lost control of its campus.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the House Education Committee, sent a letter on Sunday to university leaders warning them of consequences if they do not rein in protests on campus.

“Columbia’s continued failure to restore order and safety promptly to campus constitutes a major breach of the University’s Title VI obligations, upon which federal financial assistance is contingent, and which must immediately be rectified,” Foxx wrote.

Underscoring concerns about student safety, Rabbi Elie Buechler, a rabbi associated with Columbia University’s Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, confirmed to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that he sent a WhatsApp message to a group of about 300 mostly Orthodox Jewish students “strongly” recommending they return home and remain there.

In his message, Buechler wrote that recent events at the university “have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety.”

“It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved,” the message reads.

The White House condemned “in the strongest terms” the ongoing anti-Israel protests at colleges across the U.S., including at Columbia University in New York City, on Sunday, saying they have no place anywhere in the U.S.

“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable and dangerous – they have absolutely no place on any college campus or anywhere in the United States of America,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said. “And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms.”

A Jewish student at Yale University was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag during an anti-Israel demonstration on Saturday night at the school’s campus in New Haven, Conn.

“Tonight at Yale, I was assaulted by a student today at an anti-Israel protest. He stabbed me in the eye with a Palestinian flag. Now I’m in the hospital. This is what happens when visibly Jewish students try to attend and document these rallies,” Sahar Tartak, a sophomore, tweeted after the incident.

Tartak, who is studying history and is the editor-in-chief of the independent Yale Free Press college newspaper, was attempting to film the pro-Palestinian encampment set when she and a friend were confronted by five activists who formed a wall and would not let them pass.

“One of them takes their Palestinian flag and waves it in my face, and then jabs it in the face,” Tartak told The Jerusalem Post.

Tartak reported the incident to the campus police, who called an ambulance. She went to the hospital and was discharged without suffering permanent damage.

She said that protesters pushed her and her friend repeatedly. Earlier documentation that Tartak posted to X showed the demonstrators commemorating the recently deceased Walid Daqqa, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist who was convicted of murdering an Israeli soldier in 1984.

An Israeli assistant professor at Columbia University’s business school has been denied entry to the main campus, according to posts on social media, amid a week of tense anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests.

In a post on X, formerly, Twitter, Shai Davidai says the reason he was refused entry to campus was because the university “cannot protect my safety as a Jewish professor.”

“This is 1938,” he adds, referring to the dismissal of Jewish staff from universities in Nazi Germany in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

In video footage of a confrontation between Davidai and Columbia University COO Cas Holloway, the assistant professor claims he is being denied entry because of his Jewish identity.

“I have not just a civil right as a Jewish person to be on campus, I have a right as a professor employed by the university to be on campus,” he says.

“You cannot let people that support Hamas on campus and me, a professor, not go on campus,” he can be heard saying in the video.

University President Minouche Shafik issued at 1:14 a.m. on Monday her first statement to the Columbia community since authorizing the New York Police Department to sweep the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” expressing that she is “deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus.”

She also announced a same-day shift to virtual classes as a means to “deescalate the rancor” and “give us all a chance to consider next steps,” encouraging students living off campus to refrain from coming to campus and faculty and staff who can work remotely to do so.

“The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days,” Shafik wrote. “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. We need a reset.”

At Barnard, Executive Vice President for Strategy and Chief Administrative Officer Kelli Murray announced in a 6:37 a.m. Monday email to the community that Barnard classes would also shift online for the day. Barnard President Laura Rosenbury is yet to communicate directly with the Barnard community about Thursday’s arrests, suspensions, or the ongoing campus protest activity. Her last community email was on April 15, regarding the appointment of Provost Rebecca Walkowitz.

Her statement came after an increase in reports of antisemitic incidents on and off campus amid ongoing protests. President Joe Biden condemned antisemitism at universities across the country in a Sunday statement, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) characterized the spike in reports of antisemitic incidents at Columbia as “outrageous and un-American” in a Sunday post on X.

On campus, students continue to demonstrate in support of the University’s divestment from companies with ties to Israel, removal of NYPD presence, and the reversal of disciplinary action taken against protesters involved with Wednesday’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”

Billionaire donors like Robert Kraft and Leon Cooperman are weighing their support for Columbia University amid rising campus tensions over pro-Palestinian protests.

Friction at Columbia has escalated in recent days, amid reports of antisemitic speech on and around the campus, where students have set up a tent encampment to protest Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Kraft, who has donated millions to the school, condemned the protests on Monday, hours after Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik announced that classes would be held virtually “to deescalate the rancor” of the protests.

“I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken,” Kraft said in a statement. “It is my hope that Columbia and its leadership will stand up to this hate by ending these protests immediately and will work to earn back the respect and trust of the many of us who have lost faith in the institution.”

Kraft is the chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group and the founder of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS). He also owns the New England Patriots. In 2000, Columbia opened the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life in his name and in 2007, the school dedicated an athletic field to him “for his extremely generous contributions.”

FCAS and The Kraft Group did not immediately respond to a request for clarification as to whether Kraft’s statement meant he would officially pause his financial contributions to Columbia.

Protesters demanding Yale University divest from military manufacturers and expressing “solidarity with Gaza” amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas were arrested Monday after officials said they refused to disband an encampment on campus. Demonstrations then spilled out into the streets of New Haven, Connecticut.

For the last several days, a pro-Palestinian protest group called “Occupy Beinecke” erected a 24-tent encampment outside of Yale’s Beinecke Plaza. In a statement on Instagram, the group said the encampment was also in solidarity with the recent protests at Columbia University, which resulted in multiple arrests last week and this weekend. In Boston, MIT and Emerson College campuses also saw student protests.

At Yale, university and New Haven police officers removed the protesters camped outside the Schwarzman Center on Monday and blocked entry to Beinecke Plaza. The demonstration spilled onto the streets of New Haven, where Yale’s campus is located, about 80 miles north of New York City.

Video posted on social media showed students marching down Grove and College Streets, changing and cheering.

Police arrested 45 protesters on Monday. In a statement to CBS News, a Yale spokesperson said the university repeatedly asked the protesters to vacate the plaza and when many did not leave voluntarily, they were arrested. The spokesperson said the students who were arrested will also be referred for Yale disciplinary action, which includes a range of possible sanctions including reprimand, probation and suspension.

This past week, in the long-standing spirit of anti-war, anti-apartheid movements throughout history, Jews for Ceasefire has joined together with students across campus in a week-long occupation of Beinecke Plaza to call for Yale’s divestment from weapons manufacturing and to imagine possibilities for collective liberation and a free Palestine. There have been so many inspiring moments—interfaith singing and prayer, teach-ins, hundreds gathered to protect each other from arrest, community members coming to show support. There have also been many challenging moments. While we object to and are deeply saddened by the accusation that this protest is anti-Jewish, we also recognize that members of our Jewish community have felt unsafe or uncomfortable because of the demonstrations, as we have heard in conversation with our peers and as Rav Jason shared in his email to the Jewish community today. Part of what collective liberation means to our organization is radical empathy—holding space for those feelings and responding to those who feel that way with compassion. At the same time, we feel it is critically important to highlight the fact that Jewish voices have been welcomed and included in the organization and realization of this event. We are deeply grateful to all of the organizers for their curiosity about our perspectives and for creating the opportunity to learn from each other and build community.

Protest is hard. It inspires, creates power, and spurs us into action. At the same time, it is messy, divisive, and can develop beyond our control. We are all attempting to learn as we go, and sometimes we fall short. Last night, a counter-protester said she was poked in the eye with a flag. Such an action, whether or not it was intentional, is unacceptable. We are fundamentally committed to maintaining a non-violent and welcoming protest environment in which all community members can make their voices heard. In pursuing this standard, just as we are committed to ensuring the safety of our participants from the risk of videotaping and doxxing, we are also committed to making sure that engagements between counter-protesters and protesters do not escalate. Our marshals, students wearing orange safety vests who are specifically trained to de-escalate situations and protect people, are committed to everyone’s safety. In the future we will have more marshals on site, and we will communicate more clearly to untrained protesters not to engage with counter-protestors in any way. We are working to implement these changes in order to avoid any similar altercations going forward. We hope that through all of these actions—both through the protest itself and through recognizing and responding to harm when it happens—we might build a world where compassion leads, or as we sing: olam chesed yibaneh.