How Columbia’s president avoided the fallout from the Israel-Hamas protests
In the weeks after October 7, Columbia University was the scene of increasing tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas on American college campuses.
A Jewish student said yes attacked after putting up posters of hostages. Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students accused each other of supporting genocide in a series of heated protests and counter-protests.
But as the fall semester drew to a close, Columbia faded from the spotlight, even as its peer schools, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania in particular, came under scrutiny for their responses to the war and claims of anti-Semitism on campus.
Supporters of Colombian President Nemat Shafik are praising her diplomatic skills in avoiding a similar PR crisis. But opponents said she has gone too far in accommodating the demands of Israeli supporters, angering students and some faculty members but leaving powerful donors and administrators mostly satisfied.
Perhaps she had also benefited from a bit of luck.
When Congress invited her to a December 5 congressional hearing on anti-Semitism with her colleagues from Harvard, Penn and MIT, Dr. Shafik that she couldn’t go. She told representatives that she was already planning to attend the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, where she introduced a panel on women leaders.
The Congressional hearing did not go well. The president of the University of Pennsylvania lost her job and the president of Harvard became embroiled in weeks of controversy.
But instead of fighting for her job, Dr. Shafik has launched a new initiative called Values in actionin which she called for informed debate, not “taunts and cruelty.”
Yet she walks an uncertain path.
Her call for compassion and respect, according to some students, does not reflect what they say. It has been a repressive effort to rein in pro-Palestinian protesters that has gone further than at other Ivy League universities: In November, Columbia’s administration made the extraordinary decision to temporarily suspend two pro-Palestinian student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
“I just don’t think the university is identifying the right threat,” said Deen Haleem, a third-year law student and leader of Law Students for Palestine. “The current threat right now is the universities shutting down pro-Palestinian speeches.”
Through a spokeswoman, Dr. Shafik, who is also called Minouche, to be interviewed. Her supporters say she has taken a practical approach to the crisis and has done well to address different constituencies that are often at odds with each other.
Board members, including pro-Israel voices, say they are pleased with the way the president has maneuvered.
“I think it’s very difficult, but I think she did as well as anyone could have done,” said Victor Mendelson, a Columbia trustee who represents Israel and Dr. Shafik is supportive. “She responded. She has been around campus a lot and has done her utmost to make everyone feel welcome. Of course I mean everyone who follows the rules.’
Like several of her Ivy League colleagues, Dr. Shafik was only recently appointed to her role – in her case in July. She is an economist born in Egypt and has deep experience in dealing with complex international situations. She is a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund. She most recently served as president of the London School of Economics.
Although she is known for her support of diversity initiatives, Dr. Shafik views on politics – and the way her personal experiences may have influenced them – can be difficult to decipher. Mr. Mendelson said that when Columbia scrutinized her before she became president, the search committee was impressed that she had been “scrupulously impartial” in her previous job.
“You couldn’t figure out her personal views because she wanted that equality on campus,” he said. “That’s one of the main reasons why I supported her candidacy for president.”
Two days after the Hamas attacks on October 7, Dr. Shafik makes his statement a statement She said she was “devastated by the horrific attack on Israel,” adding that “we must reject forces that are trying to tear us apart.” But in the days that followed, the protests became so tense that the university closed its campus to outsiders and postponed a major fundraiser.
Subsequently, on November 10, the two pro-Palestinian student groups were suspended. According to a statement from Gerald Rosbergthe chair of the school’s Special Committee on Campus Safety, the action was justified because the two groups had repeatedly violated university policy requiring them to seek permission and provide ten business days’ notice before holding an event.
Student groups criticized the 10-day rule, saying it violated freedom of expression protections. Jaxon Williams-Bellamy, a law student and University Senate delegate, said it was “too burdensome and creates a chilling effect.”
Columbia administrators said the rule had been in place for years, although it was not always enforced, and that the school was working with the Senate to change the policy.
Mr Rosberg’s statement also mentioned “threatening rhetoric” at one of the groups’ demonstrations, but the students said they were never informed what that rhetoric was. One student on the fringes of a Nov. 9 protest had shouted anti-Semitic curses, but he was not affiliated with any student group and was shouted down by the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, several students said.
The university administration later said the rhetoric was not the cause of the suspension.
Dr.’s other actions Shafik include creating a anti-Semitism task force together with a “Doxing resources group“to help student protesters who face harassment after their identities are revealed online, a tactic that has mainly targeted pro-Palestinian students. She has also attended interfaith meetings, Hillel events and a Muslim Student Association meeting, and met with students affected by the war, her office said.
However, she has not met with leaders of the suspended Palestinian groups, student leaders said.
The new civility initiative is intended to calm the campus, including through a series of listening forums and training. The school’s 18 counselors have been released a joint letter in support of the program, calling on pro-Palestinian demonstrators to stop chanting phrases, such as calls for “an intifada,” which “may be perceived by many as anti-Semitic and deeply hurtful.”
Rashid Khalidi, the influential Palestinian historian at Columbia, issued a scathing statement in response: “This statement amounts to a new norm that prohibits the use of or learning about these terms and their history in favor of privileging a emotional politics. While perhaps appropriate for a preschool, it is difficult to imagine an approach more at odds with the most fundamental idea of a university.”
The deans’ letter also asks students to acknowledge the fears of pro-Palestinian students who are mourning the loss of life in Gaza.
Ester R. Fuchs, one of the co-chairs of the new anti-Semitism task force, mentioned Dr. Shafik ‘lowering the temperature’ on campus.
“For example, recently over 300 kids gathered on campus to light Hanukkah candles, and you don’t hear about that,” she said. No incident occurred.” Claire Schipmanthe co-chair of the university’s board of trustees, praised the president’s calm approach to crisis management.
“We need to focus as a university – and this is where Minouche is so good – on moving to a place where people are listening and engaging, not just protesting,” Ms Shipman said.
But student organizers see her differently. The request to self-police protest songs feels like a trap and not freedom of expression, said Mohsen Mahdawi, co-founder of Dar, the school’s Palestinian student association.
“I’m all for compassion and tolerance,” he said. “But there should be no double standards. People must be treated equally and with dignity.”
Some students predicted that Dr. Shafik to contain the conflict on campus in the coming semester would only lead to more conflict. Columbia’s student body has voted to declare non-cooperation with the events policy. the Columbia Spectator reported. Pro-Palestinian groups reorganized and planning protests under the name Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Yoni Kurtz, 21, is a history major and student president of Hillel. He said that while some Jewish students were uncomfortable with the tenor of some pro-Palestinian demonstrations, suspending the groups was a step too far.
“There is a real distrust among virtually every student you talk to about virtually anything the government does or will do, regardless of their political beliefs,” he said. “Most students really don’t believe that the government has their best interests in mind.”