Columbia university admin under fire for antisemitic texts

(The Center Square) – Columbia University is getting slammed after transcripts of antisemitic texts sent between Columbia administrators were released, as was detailed by the U.S. Committee on Education and the Workforce.

This update comes after a previous release from the committee about alleged offensive texts that “downplayed” antisemitism issues at the university being sent between Columbia administrators, as The Center Square previously reported .

The texts were sent in a group chat between school deans during a panel discussing antisemitism that was hosted on Columbia’s campus as a part of an alumni weekend, according to a news release from the committee.

“Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) today is again demanding accountability for Columbia University administrators after releasing text messages received as part of the Committee’s ongoing antisemitism investigation that show the disparaging and dismissive attitudes Columbia’s administrators hold towards Jewish students,” the Education and the Workforce Committee said in their release.

Several of the text messages between Columbia’s administrators reinforced multiple harmful stereotypes of Jewish people, according to the release.

Stereotypes specifically aimed at Jewish people and money were used in the text message exchanges in a mocking manner.

Some of the messages were referencing an op-ed piece on antisemitism at Columbia that was written by Campus Rabbi Yonah Hain and published in 2023, according to the release.

“Amazing what $$$$ can do,” one text message said in reference to Hain’s op-ed piece.

Hain’s op-ed was published as a call to action concerning antisemitism at Columbia.

Hain talked about the “binary thinking” and “us versus them” attitude that many pro-Palestine protesters exhibited on Columbia's campus in his writing.

“The Columbia University community has lost its moral compass,” Hain wrote.

Hain highlighted the "suffering" of Jewish people in his op-ed.

“Much of the rest of the campus community – administrators, faculty and students – has lost its moral core,” Hain wrote. “I know the pressure and legitimate struggle for people on all sides of this conflict. But we must differentiate between political concerns and moral imperatives; it is a moral obligation that any laudation of the indiscriminate atrocities Hamas has perpetrated against Israelis or minimization of our campus’ Jewish community’s suffering not be accepted as legitimate in this discourse.”

Another text message pushed the stereotype of Jews and money even further, mentioning Lavine Family Executive Director Brian Cohen and referring to “huge fundraising potential” for him.

One scathing text sent between the deans said that it was “hard to hear the woe is me, we need to huddle at the Kraft center," which referenced Columbia's Kraft Center for Jewish Life.

Foxx slammed the administrators in the latest release, calling for “accountability” on campus at Columbia.

“Jewish students deserve better than to have harassment and threats against them dismissed as ‘privilege,’ and Jewish faculty members deserve better than to be mocked by their colleagues,” Foxx said in the release.

“These text messages once again confirm the need for serious accountability across Columbia’s campus,” Foxx said.

This incident at Columbia is not the first of its kind, as antisemitism has been on the rise at universities and other places in America, as The Center Square previously reported .

One text message from one of the Columbia deans referred to the administration at Columbia as being “jokers” for hosting the panel.

“This panel is really making the administration look like jokers,” the dean said in one of the text messages.

Another disparaging text message from this exchange detailed how the Jewish students were “privileged,” referencing them as “coming from a place of privilege.”

Some of the texts included the use of emojis that seemed to mock the university panel's antisemitism discussion even further, including the usage of a vomit emoji and a nauseous face emoji.