Antisemitic rot runs deep at Columbia and other ‘elite’ universities

The antisemitic rot runs deep at supposedly “elite” universities, and it cannot be rooted out without widespread changes in both admissions and hiring.

Three deans have resigned from Columbia University after being placed on leave over text messages mocking Jewish students and their concerns about the antisemitic protests that took place on campus. Vice Dean Susan Chang-Kim, Dean of Undergraduate Student Life Cristen Kromm, and Associate Dean for Student and Family Support Mathew Patashnick are all out, while Dean Josef Sorett “apologized” but is staying in place.

The group text messages were a combination of antisemitic tropes and privileged dismissals of the concerns Jewish students had for their own safety, including Chang-Kim asserting that being concerned about antisemitism “comes from such a place of privilege." Sorett insisted in his private “apology” to Columbia’s Board of Visitors that the texts of the individuals on this faculty team somehow did not “indicate the views of any individual or the team.”

This is the same Columbia that allowed antisemitic encampments to ramp up the antisemitism on campus until the university moved to virtual classes to “de-escalate the rancor” that it allowed to fester. It is also the same Columbia that has had antisemitism issues going back to at least 2004 and helped push forward the diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology that empowers terrorist sympathizers and belittles the experiences of Jewish people who are the victims of bigotry.

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Three resignations are a good start, but that is all it is. The fact that Sorett will remain in his position while refusing to take accountability for his own comments means that little else will change at Columbia. What the university needs is a full reevaluation of its hiring processes and admissions and to strip all DEI policies from the university’s operations. Anything less is like moving around antisemitic chairs on the Titanic.

A few resignations and additional DEI training are not going to erase the antisemitic culture that has taken root on Columbia’s campus or on the campuses of the other Ivy League and “elite” universities that nurtured antisemitism, which led to massive terrorist-sympathizing protests and encampments. Instead, Columbia and other universities are babying both administrators and students who fostered this environment because they are not serious about combatting antisemitism.