The College Fix

“We do not deserve a first day of school.”

That was one of the chants that greeted Columbia University students on their first day of school on Tuesday as the New York City-based school kicked off its fall semester with yet another anti-Israel protest.

The Columbia University Apartheid Divest group held signs and chanted in front of a campus building as part of a “picket line” it organized for the first day of school calling on students and faculty to “hold the line” and “call out sick for Palestine” in a post on Instagram that also stated “while you’re learning, Gaza’s burning.”

In a separate incident, Columbia’s iconic alma mater statue was vandalized with red paint by a group calling itself “Unity of Fields,” Instagram posts show.

“This action is the first of many. We will not stop until the university fully divests from all forms of settler-colonial violence,” the group stated on the post. “… We refuse to allow Columbia to return to a state of ‘normalcy’. ‘Normalcy’ is the structurally impelled displacement and eventual destruction of the Palestinian people.”

BREAKING: Columbia’s Alma Mater statue has been vandalized on the first day of classes.

The group responsible, Unity of Fields, released a deranged statement that you can find below. pic.twitter.com/2LnGCcwwF4

— Stu (@thestustustudio) September 3, 2024

The actions come as a Columbia task force on antisemitism reported the institution fell short of its duties to protect pro-Israel and Jewish students and called for more anti-bias training and other measures to quell and address the problem.

“The task force conducted listening sessions with nearly 500 students at Columbia, Barnard College and Teachers College. Based on students’ accounts, the group made recommendations ‘for fixing flawed administrative systems, improving campus climate, and building consensus for a more inclusive and pluralistic university’ in a report released Aug. 30,” Inside Higher Ed reported.

“…Students reported having their necklaces ripped off their necks, being pinned against walls, being spit on and kicked out of student groups. Some reported avoiding particular majors or faculty members altogether.”

The unrest on the first day of school at Columbia also comes on the heels of an imam recently telling students to “take out” Shai Davidai, an outspoken Jewish professor at the Columbia Business School.

“How do we create a situation in which [his professorship is] in jeopardy?” the religious leader said, according to a video. “…That might silence 100 other professors if you’re able to take out somebody like that and make them an example, that might shut up 100 more.”

The apartment building of Columbia University’s chief operating officer was vandalized by anti-Israel activists in August, including red paint, live crickets and mealworms.

Its President Minouche Shafik resigned from her position in August, as did three top Columbia administrators after they were caught mocking Jewish leaders and students in a series of texts.

In fact the Ivy League institution has been wracked with antisemitism for nearly a year, prompting a congressional probe.

In May, anti-Israel student activists took over a campus building, trapping janitors and destroying property. Columbia canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony in response.

MORE: Columbia has more full-time employees than undergrads, including an Earth Observatory DEI director

IMAGE: Unity of Fields / Instagram

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