I’d be interested in hearing from people in academia what Americans can do to inflict consequences on Columbia for its craven and contemptible behavior.
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Small schools are so much better! Brandeis, Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams, Bates, Colby…. Brandeis promotes social justice and instills it in their students! No fraternities or sororities because they focus on including all, no grade inflation either!
Larger school, but Wesleyan U in Middletown is another good one, and pres of univ immediately pushed back on the trump’s anti-DEI policies. My nephew loves it there.
The country benefits from the diversity of institutional types. The privates are never going to educate the volume of the publics, and a @kevinmkruse.bsky.social is never going to be able to speak as freely at a public. Even a Bob Jones provides everyone else an outlet from those shithead parents.
They are not the same sort of research universities that Columbia, Cornell & Penn are. Takes big money to run state of the art science & tech programs. Those schools have to go after big govt grants.
You name small liberal arts colleges. Columbia has 3x more grad students than undergrads.
You’re the lawyer, you tell me! I *work* there and am happy to hear a suggestion that helps and not just further damages the place. Some idiots suggested I stop showing up to teach. What the hell does that do mid semester but punish my students and create a pointless additional mess?
As someone that worked at an institution that was in a similar spot not too long ago, tell your bosses about all the negatives you’re hearing and support colleagues in their efforts (internal). Work to keep the narrative honest and accurate (external and internal).
I mean, I literally sent my “boss” Ken’s tweets. I get the frustration with it but I am also very frustrated with people trying to increase and further pressure Columbia rather than helping release pressure and make it easier to do that stuff. It is dumb backseat driving to me.
You’re not going to be able to do anything about the randos out for their pound of flesh. You can embrace and use it to fuel change, or ignore it until it passes.
I know it sucks right now. It’s ok to be angry, righteously angry at the craven assholes that did this. Also, save some “memorabilia” for the future. In time, this will be history to share.
One of the biggest forms of protest I saw while working in higher education was alumni joining to cancel gifts and withhold donations. A lot of universities rely on that money, and it adds up quickly. Our international alumni were the most vocal, and they had the money to back it up.
In case of Columbia that cuts both ways - Robert Kraft suspended donations in 2024 in response to Pro-Palestinian protests. Universities must be steadfast in standing for principled values (ie academic freedom, civil liberties) and not be beholden to donor classes or political winds.
Kraft has money, but you would be surprised how many extremely wealthy alumni have their hand in the university. Due to funding, unis are unfortunately beholden to donors and political whims. My institution has 9 trustees, 6 appointed by a red state governor and 3 alumni elected. They make the call.
Indeed, you could be surprised how many alums are for this type of treatment of a student voicing
concern. Universities are often gauging sentiment of alum to inform their response to this type of political statements.
99% of faculty, staff and students are blameless here. It sucks to tear down higher ed institutions in this current climate, when the policies are being made in the admin building to please rich-ass trustees. These are the people who need to feel the pressure, not some random molecular biologist.
At a private university, the board usually elects its own members. So it’s tough. But those members usually have primary jobs. That might be a point of leverage- boycott the companies they control.
But probably better to work on admin? Votes of no confidence, preeminent tenured faculty leaving for greener pastures, which will happen in a hot minute with grant cancellations.
Turn down a letter of acceptance (this is when most institutions are sending out acceptance letters) and tell them explicitly that you are not accepting their offer because of these recent events.
Look, Columbia has done plenty to deserve many people’s ire. But, you’re doing the administration’s bidding. Christopher Rufo literally said he’d like to kill off a university. What do you think his first target is?
It's wild how everything they've done for the last 2 years has been designed in a lab to make everyone across the entire political spectrum hate them. Its as if they want the school to be destroyed.
Katrina Armstrong is the interim President of Columbia University. You'll note in this screengrab of her "about" page she says, ironically, that she is committed to addressing inequity.
Don’t interview or hire their undergrads. Don’t interview or hire their grad students. Refuse their participation in research projects. And don’t participate in any they’re conducting.
Don't apply. If you're an alum, don't donate (and tell them why). If you're a NYC resident and you safely can, try to avoid CUIMC. Refuse speaking invitations. Don't bid on their contracts.
And when their upper admin jumps ship for the private sector, don't hire them.
A friend of mine is resigning the Board. Several alumni are pulling contributions. The Faculty are, I hear, considering a vote of no confidence (or some such) in the administration which I do NOT think will force an ouster but may induce one.
The Trump admin is targeting Columbia with escalating official sanctions and your proposed solution is to…target Columbia with popular sanctions? And driving more nails into its coffin will help US higher ed how exactly? You need to think this through a little more carefully.
Columbia is doubling down on supporting the administration’s agenda, cooperating in attacking anti-Israel speech, and responding in appalling ways to things like this new ICE detention. Sorry. Quislings get pushback.
I’ve argued for months that Trump’s aim is to *shutter* an entire edu to terrorize the sector. Next steps: revoking nonprofit status, and a P2025-fueled ultimatum of either dis-accreditation or accept a govt-imposed admin, a la Rufo at NCF. So your analysis isn’t any tougher than mine.
And it’s incumbent on all of us to show the other institutions that they’ll get slaughtered even if they bend over backwards to collaborate with the administration, as Columbia has done.
It’s my alma mater and neighbor for 30 years, so I know very well what’s happening: the *admin* is buckling. Your proposal would also punish fac, students, staff, neighbors, vendors. It’s more of the same ultraist pile-on “logic” that’s caused this mess.
Which part of “what Americans can do to inflict consequences on Columbia” did I misunderstand? As for my rec: I've been warning for 15+ years about this trap, and that the only solution is for faculty to build alliances with students to restrain administrations — in partic over runaway tuition.
That’s not a practical fix for the crisis at hand, obv. What we need now is detente. EVERYONE needs to (1) lower their weapons, (2) rally around fac/stu/staff, (3) isolate the admins, and (4) challenge the obvious corrupt complicity of Trump, NYPD, and some of the ultras who sparked this round.
How is that in any way targeted to what people are upset about here? Just join the Trump administration and destroy it then. Just because Columbia leadership’s responses have been bad does not mean they are the people responsible for their own university being attacked.
Let me put it another way, what are ways this point can be expressed to Columbia leadership that are not 100% aligned with the Trump agenda for the destruction of higher education and research?
But given what Columbia is doing now is itself unlawful, repercussions could be within the law. The problem is the "next Dem gov't" issue, plus that previous Dem gov'ts haven't protected us, so why should we expect that in the future.
You are painting too broad a brush here. A family member graduated from Columbia at the time of the protests. He had nothing to do with them. He was inconvenienced by having to attend class online. He went there because they had a great economics program. Now he is stigmatized for nothing! Hatred
If you're a professor who has students looking for letters of recommendation for grad school, tell them you'll not provide one to Columbia and work with them on other options.
Refusing to write needed recommendations for a particular school isn't a boycott. It's a collective punishment against the students.
Scale is the issue for you?
I agree with the first part - I don't think it's right to boycott letters of recommendation for students headed elsewhere. But for internal R&P, why would it hurt underrepresented faculty disproportionately?
As you said above, promotion and tenure depend on letters of evaluation. It’s harder ESPECIALLY for UR faculty working in smaller underrep specialties to find qualified reviewers.
So what will Columbia do if they can’t get reviewers? Promote and tenure anyway? Doubtful. At best, they’ll delay p/t, deny raises that boost lifetime earnings, and delay the protection of tenure
The wrongness of this statement is staggering. Academic job market collapsed years ago and never recovered. UR faculty remain underrepresented in the academy despite all those claims that everyone is “struggling” to hire them. Somehow, only white ppl are qualified I guess
Same thing you can do with any institute of higher learning: don't apply if you're looking, seek a transfer out if you're there, petition donors to redirect their money elsewhere, and be clear and vocal as to why you're doing all of those things.
I went to Bing to see if there was new news that I missed and didn’t see anything that really stood out to me- gently, & respectfully, what contemptible behavior?
Sincere question (I hope I don’t get blocked!): what cooperation with the ICE detention by Columbia are you referring to? I’m following this story closely (I think!), and I haven’t seen that accusation elsewhere.
Thank you for responding. Is there a particular statement #2 refers to, or just the mush of “we will work with the administration to address legitimate concerns about anti-semitism” they’ve issued since the $400MM funding cuts?
Their culture is still very based in religion- I wonder if that’s the angle? I haven’t looked at their current political landscape. I’ve only done community psychology research for there. Off to the research!! 🫠
I juuuust now realized that and came back to correct myself 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️😂😂 originally I was like- damn! Did they decide to take overflow prisoners too?! 🫠
Don’t mind me, over here killing it. I think too broadly sometimes 🙃
It starts and ends with the donors. If the big donors feel the pressure and stop donations and trust disbursements, that's the only thing Columbia will realistically listen to.
not lending your "thought leaders" for projects that lose you cash but used to give you a shared white paper. no teaming agreements. don't even bid. Tell them why. Tell their money why.
Find influential alumnae and get them to call. Nothing advancement hates more than fielding calls from angry alums. But they always listen to angry alums.
And, in the upcoming “accepted students day” season, families should make clear they are carefully considering where to put their money (this goes for all universities) as this kind of thing is bound to keep happening. I intend to ask for their position and strategies before my child commits.
Contact @columbiauniversity.bsky.social trustees. Tell them that we will nor stand violation of rights happening
David Greenwald, Co-Chair https://www.friedfrank.com/
Claire Shipman, Co-Chair at @goodmorningafrica.bsky.social
Abigail Black Elbaum, Vice Chair - https://www.ogdencapproperties.com/
Make it well known how much they straight up exploit non-traditional students, especially veterans with their School of General Studies. And also, what a grift so many of their terminal masters degree programs are.
I'm unfamiliar and interested in learning more about this. Is there a resource you'd recommend as a good starting point? (I have no connection to Columbia but I'm interested in higher ed generally and higher ed law specifically)
In 1941 the president of Columbia vetoed Hemingway’s Pulitzer win because of the novel’s anti-fascist stance. Rather than award it to EH, no award for best novel was given for 1940. Long history of being on the wrong side.
Other similar tier institutions could make offers for foreign students to switch to their university at a discounted cost & free assistance with visas & other travel documents. Foreign students pay a lot of cash to attend school in the US.
@kenwhite.bsky.social Sadly, not much from my institution because we are not even in the same level as Columbia. Maybe some supportive words for the student?
Students should not go there. Finish the semester and transfer. Or take a sabbatical. The only thing worse than the federal handouts is starving them of tuition entirely.
Academic here. Authors could go out of their way to avoid utilizing/citing their work unless it is absolutely necessary. Collaborators could end partnerships, & those looking to establish studies might be inclined to find other partners. Lots of passive untraceable moves can punish moral bankruptcy
Columbia and other colleges do not have a good history of defending freedoms
"In an episode that seems to have been unique in the history of American academia’s responses to Nazism, Columbia expelled a student, Robert Burke, for leading that rally."
Meanwhile, the new UCLA chancellor sent a message to campus TODAY equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism and promising enforcement of “new laws and policies.”
It's bad enough that they label legitimate criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism, but now they're just flat out saying 'Anti-Israeli Bias' is also not allowed?
Can we get a list of countries we are not allowed to speak poorly of?
On the other hand, answering "what will you do?" with "we'll enhance relevant training, improve systems, enforce policies, and cooperate with stakeholders" is business-speak for "absolutely nothing lol".
I didn’t have high expectations of campus leadership, but this is somehow worse than I expected.
And given that none of the UC campuses are allowed to say anything about all this without approval of the UC Office of the President, this represents a *statewide* capitulation to Trumpism.
It was already a bad sign they appointed an ex-LAPD cop to the newly created position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Safety. This after the campus and local cops last year stood by when a gang of thugs attacked peaceful protestors, and the same police later attacked the protestors.
Meanwhile, the International Holocaust Remembrance Trust includes "holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel" in their definition of antisemitism.
In other words, it's antisemitic to conflate Israeli policy with Jewishness by calling criticism of Israel antisemitic.
Question: if I'm for say, Catalan or Patagonia independence, do I get kicked out of school and disappeared? Just Palestine, right? I mean *at the moment* I can say Trump sucks big green donkey dicks and nothing would happen. But if I say Palestinians are human beings, it's the dungeon.
Don't send your kids there. If they're already there, encourage them to transfer. Remember that there are great teachers and programs at public universities, which are still an incredible bargain. The Ivies have the resources to push back, but they don't and won't. Fuck 'em.
Agreed, if this is what they'll do publicly how far down into hell is their teaching going to go anyway? Find a uni (or even college for underclassmen) who are committed to an actual education.
As a retired college admin, I can confidently say that ongoing publicity and public information that damages the university brand will get attention. Uni’s google their names and pay attention to the top hits and one sentence blurbs search results return. Use the full name Columbia University and…1/
Use the full name, Columbia University, and have a top line takeaway sentence that’s easy for the search engines to pull, that clearly states a problem.
EG: Columbia University has declared war on free speech and students who exercise free speech should know they’re not safe in Columbia residences.
People posting on their favorite social media and other online platforms about Columbia University abandoning its mission and participating in the unlawful suppression of free speech and physical attacks on members of its community will show up in search returns, at the top if there are enough. /fin
Good question. This is tough! There are many students, faculty, and staff at Columbia that are being harmed by what's happening there and do not support their uni administration's actions. The key in my view is actions that pressure Board of Trustees and university administration.
They also have a big hospital/medical center/med school that does a ton of good work (plenty of Medicaid/Medicare clients, etc). I have great doctors there (including two of Arabic/Middle Eastern ethnicity...).
Other schools could make clear that the Columbia admins (who, as a class, love to jump from university to university in their career ladder) will never be hireable at another institution.
Continue these kinds of academic boycotts. And from an academic librarian's perspective, we can stop sending Columbia books through ILL, stop letting their students use our facilities, stop hosting their faculty at our events.
How about: stand by them. Columbia is first into the grinder because it is the most-Jewish, most-international, most-urban of our elite universities. And because that rotten bastard Trump has a nose for this stuff. Columbia hasn’t handled a lot of things well — but they can’t fight this alone.
I've been advised here that I'm a bad person for wishing consequences on Columbia for their fuckery. Be careful about those holier than thous. They are the woodwork here.
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my undergrad institution was more or less next door to an hbcu and the annual battle of the bands was reliably spectacular
You name small liberal arts colleges. Columbia has 3x more grad students than undergrads.
concern. Universities are often gauging sentiment of alum to inform their response to this type of political statements.
The Presidents contact information:
General Inquiries
Phone: (212) 854-9970
[email protected]
And when their upper admin jumps ship for the private sector, don't hire them.
Unfortunately, Columbia has wealthy alumni who wanted a bigger crackdown on protesters. Not so sure they didn't want exactly what has happened.
Are you even real?
Your own argument assumes Columbia’s demise is assured: Trump wants to destroy an edu, he picked the famous one in the city he hates; done deal.
At this point it can either be an object lesson to stiffen the spines of the others; or it can just… die pointlessly.
And how would you propose responding to what the administration is doing?
Might stiffen some spines
various ways to punish the institution as well but that has the big drawback that you don't really, substantively, want to do that
the "yolo we don't care about the law" approach is bad whoever's doing it
Fordham
Sarah Lawrence
UVA
Defending the indefensible because of your family member is a terribly weird hill to die on.
Scale is the issue for you?
Deny them that.
Don’t mind me, over here killing it. I think too broadly sometimes 🙃
*monthly donors are considered a pipeline for future big gifts/bequests. If these numbers tank, they will take notice.
Stop donating to them if you do.
Also, you have Thomas Jefferson as your avatar? Christian, Slaveholder and rapist of Sally Hemings?
Fuck ENTIRELY off, Russian asset.
David Greenwald, Co-Chair https://www.friedfrank.com/
Claire Shipman, Co-Chair at @goodmorningafrica.bsky.social
Abigail Black Elbaum, Vice Chair - https://www.ogdencapproperties.com/
Victor Mendelson, Vice Chair - https://heico.com/Kathy Surace-Smith, Vice Chair - https://nanostring.com/
Katrina Armstrong - @columbiauniversity.bsky.social
Interim President; Chief Executive Officer, Columbia University
Andrew F. Barth - https://guardiantrustcapital.com/
Duchesne Drew - https://www.mpr.org/
Keith Goggin
James P. Gorman - https://www.morganstanley.com/
Kikka Hanazawa - https://yabbey.com/
Jeh Johnson - https://www.paulweiss.com/
Adam Pritzker - https://www.assembledbrands.com/
Julissa Reynoso = https://www.winston.com/en
Jonathan Rosand - https://doctors.massgeneralbrigham.org/provider/jonathan-m-rosand/255259
James Scapa - https://altair.com/
Shoshana Shendelman - https://www.appliedtherapeutics.com/
Fermi Wang
Shirley Wang - https://www.plastproinc.com/
Alisa Amarosa Wood - https://www.kkr.com/
Other than that, I've got nothing. But seriously, I'm interested.
Me Google now
They kept with a long tradition
Thanks.
I always hated that damn school
What is going on now
Just a SHIT college in general
I offer him a small retainer to do this, right here and now.
So there. It is literally his business.
"In an episode that seems to have been unique in the history of American academia’s responses to Nazism, Columbia expelled a student, Robert Burke, for leading that rally."
http://new.wymaninstitute.org/2006/12/columbia-defends-its-nazi-links-everyone-was-doing-it/
Israel is a country, with politics and policies.
Judaism is a religion, with a God and a holy book.
Politics =/= Religion
I come from a very long line of Ashkenazi Jews. That doesn't mean I approve of Netanyahu's policies. His Israel can go eff itself.
Can we get a list of countries we are not allowed to speak poorly of?
On the other hand, answering "what will you do?" with "we'll enhance relevant training, improve systems, enforce policies, and cooperate with stakeholders" is business-speak for "absolutely nothing lol".
And given that none of the UC campuses are allowed to say anything about all this without approval of the UC Office of the President, this represents a *statewide* capitulation to Trumpism.
But must they ALL turn against us as we try to save ourselves?
In other words, it's antisemitic to conflate Israeli policy with Jewishness by calling criticism of Israel antisemitic.
EG: Columbia University has declared war on free speech and students who exercise free speech should know they’re not safe in Columbia residences.
This is mainly an admin issue.
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/04/23/over-1400-academics-around-the-world-commit-to-boycotting-columbia-events-following-student-arrests/
Drain them of all their students and staff.