hope other states do this too!
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Cooper Union barricades Jewish students inside library (nypost.com)
This is just about as scary as it gets for Jewish students. There are videos where you can hear the pounding on the doors and chanting. What the heck is happening on college campuses?
NYU students held up anti-Semitic âkeep the world cleanâ protest signs (msn.com)
And at some of the so-called âeliteâ institutions? I sincerely hope parents and students are keeping this in mind during the next application cycle and resist blindly applying just because the college has a T20 ranking.
I agree with you - that was an underwhelming response at best. I watched the video of police trying to get the students to remove the words. The one (masked, of course) student refusing to unless they provided him with a written college policy saying he isnât allowed to project onto a campus building 
I wish they would have just smashed the projector - there, light show over. What about a statement on the punishment for the students?
Why arenât the schools expelling kids for this stuff? If youâve forced fellow students based on their religion (!) into hiding you donât deserve to be there.
It just feels like there are so many other stupid things the kids could have projected that would get them into huge trouble.
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âtheyâ are investigating. Will the students get expelled, who knows, but apparently there is a âdue processâ.
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Maybe follow the money trail? (I also posted this in the politics forum)
Qatarâs War for Young American Minds | The Free Press (thefp.com)
The barricading at Cooper Union just happened yesterday. I would not respect any school that announced an expulsion overnight unless it was in response to something like a criminal conviction where an investigatory process has already taken place. For one thing, when youâre dealing with crowds like this, you need to make sure youâre punishing the right kids. You have a responsibility to distinguish ringleaders from passive protestors from curious passers-by. This wonât be an easy case, even though the sum of the actions was clearly threatening.
For context, Iâve worked with students being disciplined for over twenty years and have been involved with several hundred such processes.
GWâs statement looks just right to me. Itâs what I would advise them to say if I were their counsel.
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I know one Jewish student there now⊠This is scary and ridiculousâŠ
Police officers have been re-stationed in front of the Hillel and the Chabad house at Northwestern. They had been pulled but are back again. Not sure if itâs in response to what happened at Cooper Union. So sad that this is necessary.
Seems the college at some point decided to separate the counter-protestors from the protestors. Police had been on scene the entire time, as this had been a planned demonstration.
If reports from last night are correct, police didnât have to interfere; there was no damage to property, nor any physical altercation.
It might be relevant that this was not some band of protestors chasing down arbitrary students because they were a certain race or religion - but was reported as being two groups of demonstrators, both having chosen to engage.
Nevertheless, banging against a door serves no other purpose than make people fear about their safety, which I donât agree with.
My understanding is that the Jewish students who were barricaded in the library were not part of the protests. They were just Jewish kids who were in the library studying. Is this not the case? There are reports that they called 911 when the pro Palestinian protesters started banging on the door and that NYPD was blocked from entering the library by Cooper Unionâs private security.
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What âbarricadesâ were used?
I donât know what the facts were - but here is what was reported:
The protesters went upstairs, and the Jewish students â who had been counter-protesting outside â went into the library on the lobby level, the student said.
The students say they were studying in the library after attending an earlier rally in Cooper Plaza.
âŠ
The NYPD says three community affairs officers were at the school for the planned demonstration. A spokesperson says about 20 students demonstrated outside the presidentâs office, who said she did not feel in danger, before they made their way towards the library.
Which doesnât rule out that they were âjust Jewish kidsâ, and âstudyingâ, and also counter-protesters prior to starting to study. And naturally, according to the college, there had already been people in the library who were truly âjust studyingâ, before counter-protestors entered.
This is why a thorough review of the facts in an investigation is warranted, rather than speedy judgments.
The report I read said those in the library were offered the opportunity to depart from a back exit, which the school President used. NYPD stressed no one was barricaded at any time
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The NYU law student that lost her job offer is doubling down. The sign in this article is abhorrent which is why Iâm not posting a screenshot of it.
If this is not a display of anti-Semitism then what would be the one? Demand to kill every Jew directly? Are we in Iraq or in the USA? This is not freedom of speech, it is pure hatred. This should be criminally prosecuted.
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Email from Barnardâs president today, commenting on the campus and community events of the past weeks, and outlining initiatives and initial steps they are taking in response:
A Time for Action | Barnard College
Dear Members of the Barnard Community,
This weekend will mark three weeks since the terrorist organization Hamas massacred more than 1,400 innocent Israeli civilians. The ensuing war has led to more tragic deaths of Israelis and Palestinians, and there is no end in sight. The Barnard community is global and diverse, and our hearts are heavy as we watch the conflict unfold. Some of us grieve the loss of loved ones, and many of us fear for the safety of family and friends in Israel, Gaza, and surrounding areas.
The war is also taking a toll on our campus. I am appalled and saddened to see antisemitism and anti-Zionism spreading throughout Barnard and Columbia. The massacre resulted in the largest single-day slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust, but I have encountered posters in our halls and tunnels that justify the deliberate murder of innocent civilians, employ racial slurs, espouse misinformation, and call for the elimination of entire groups of people. I see students walking to class with bowed heads in fear of what and who they will encounter. I have learned about what is happening on social media and especially on Sidechat, where members of the Barnard and Columbia communities anonymously attack one another using profanity and death threats.
I am also appalled and saddened by the anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim rhetoric on our campus. I have heard members of our community group all Palestinians with Hamas and use dehumanizing language toward Arabs and the people of Gaza. I have learned that students are being doxxed simply because they belong to our Muslim Students Association or other student groups.
The safety and well-being of our students is my top priority, and we must do better. Hate speech and discrimination are unacceptable anywhere on our campus, and we will continue to remove hateful posters, encourage our community to report hate and discrimination, and investigate and respond to all such reports. But we must do more. We must develop a proactive approach designed to prevent such hate and discrimination in the first place. Only then will we be able to strengthen our community of care and respect and be a place where all students feel safe and experience a strong sense of belonging.
This is a time for action. Here are some of the concrete steps that I have taken and will soon take to strengthen our community:
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Safety: I have increased the number of safety officers on our campus and strengthened our safety protocols and training as protests take place on and near the Columbia campus and outside groups publicly dox some of our students on nearby streets. These protocols include daily dialogues with the NYPD and regular communication with safety personnel at Columbia. We have closed our gates and required IDs when needed, and we will continue to do so.
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Resources for Students: We are providing more forms of support to students, including drop-in advising and wellness hours as part of our new weekly Tea on Tuesday. You may learn about all resources for students here.
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Policies: I have led our senior team in reviewing and improving various policies at Barnard, including those related to on-campus events and postings and student group funding. We will continue to revise our policies so that we may more quickly take action in response to hate speech and discrimination.
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Structural Changes: I have placed our Office of Nondiscrimination and Title IX under the leadership of Jennifer Rosales, our Vice President for Inclusion and Engaged Learning and Chief Diversity Officer, and charged the office with developing proactive trainings and programming designed to identify and eliminate all forms of hate. This move also increases our ability to more thoroughly and swiftly investigate reports of hate speech and discrimination on our campus.
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Streamlined Communications: To ensure students promptly receive the support they need, I have created a new email address for all questions and issues related to this crisis, including those related to safety, mental health, and academic success. The address is redacted, and emails sent to that address will receive a response within 48 hours. For emergencies on campus, students should continue to contact Barnardâs CARES Community Safety at 212-redacted. For off-campus emergencies, students should call 911.
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Community Sessions and Task Force: The Office of the Provost and our Center for Engaged Pedagogy have provided guidance to faculty about preventing and reporting hate speech in the classroom, and faculty have otherwise been meeting to discuss ways to thoughtfully address the conflict in class. I will soon convene a task force charged with holding additional community sessions with students, staff, and faculty to further identify and analyze ways to improve our culture, policies, and practices and to be more proactive in times of crisis. I will ask the task force to provide me with their recommendations by the end of the calendar year, even as we continue to make real-time changes necessary for the well-being and safety of our community.
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Dialogue: To model one way of moving from posters and the anonymity of social media to true dialogue, I will personally host small breakfasts for groups of students who seek to have safe and respectful discussions about the dynamics on our campus. All opinions and viewpoints will be welcome, but we will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any other form of hate in these discussions or anywhere else on our campus. Some members of Barnardâs senior staff will also host similar discussions with students.
We will share our progress on these and other action plans here, and I encourage regular visits to that webpage for up-to-date information.
For now, I know that change is possible. Over the past few weeks, some students have exemplified the very best of Barnard by supporting one another across differences of religion, nationality, and political opinion. They are peacefully, constructively, and respectfully discussing nuanced and deeply emotional topics from a place of compassion and open-mindedness. They embrace and care for one another across their multiple identities and different points of view. They are living Barnardâs mission.
This is the Barnard to which I hope we will all aspire.
With belief in our community,
Laura Ann Rosenbury
President, Barnard College
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Another major donor pulls support from his alma mater.âŠColumbia.
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âA top litigation law firm in New York City has been retained to bring suit against any university where a Jewish or Israeli student or professor has felt threatened or unsafe (must be currently enrolled or employed).
We are looking for people to be a part of the suit as a plaintiff, filing a claim under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
There is zero cost to the participant. The goal of the suit is to prevent antisemitism/antizionism from being on college campuses, and to protect the Jews/Israelis on those campuses.
There is no assurance that the name of the plaintiff can be kept confidential so anyone interested must be comfortable with this.
We seek plaintiffs for the following universities: Princeton, Michigan, Stanford, UCLA, Wisconsin. If there are people willing to be plaintiffs from other large-brand schools, we would be open to hearing from themâ
I have the contact info if anyone is interested. PM me. Serious inquiries only is their request.
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Add NYU to your list. Do you have a video of the NYU professor who is scared for Jews on capus? He will be your ideal candidate. PM me and I can forward you the video. Professor wanted it to be shared.
Itâs not âmyâ list. But they are apparently open to anyone willing to talk to them. I will give contact info to serious inquiries via PM. I am not involved in this. I can just pass along the contact information.