Columbia University ousts deans over texts with ‘anti-Semitic tropes’
Al Jazeera
US university says it will introduce a ‘vigorous’ anti-discrimination training programme after the incident.
Columbia University has placed three of its deans on indefinite leave after it says they exchanged text messages that downplayed Jewish students’ concerns about discrimination and echoed “anti-Semitic tropes”.
The deans’ messages were sent during a May panel discussion on Jewish life on the campus in New York City.
Among them were a message suggesting that a panelist could have used recent campus protests as a fundraising opportunity and another that appeared critical of a campus rabbi’s essay about anti-Semitism.
The panel about anti-Semitism was held a month after university leaders called in police to clear pro-Palestinian protesters out of an occupied administration building and dismantle a tent encampment that had threatened to disrupt graduation ceremonies.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik wrote a campus-wide email condemning the messages, which were unveiled by a committee of the United States Congress investigating claims of anti-Semitism at the university.
