As Columbia University was overtaken by pro-Palestine students in the last weeks, the repercussions for future graduates are only beginning to become clear.
A group of conservative federal judges informed the New York-based university that began and inspired copycat pro-Palestinian encampments that they will not be hiring any graduates from the school starting with the class of 2024.
In a letter to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik and Columbia Law School Dean Gillian Lester, the group of 13 federal judges explained the boycott and accused Columbia of becoming an “incubator of bigotry.”
Consequences
13 federal judges say they will no longer hire clerks from Columbia Law School OR Columbia College following the university’s abysmal response to the pro-Hamas encampment and antisemitism on campus. pic.twitter.com/yBXxDIxqmo
— Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) May 6, 2024
“As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education,” they said, calling out the Ivy League school for becoming “ground zero for the explosion of student disruptions, anti-semitism, and hatred for diverse viewpoints.”
“Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry,” they wrote. “As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country.”
“Freedom of speech protects protest, not trespass, and certainly not acts or threats of violence or terrorism. Speech is not violence, and violence is not speech. Universities that are serious about academic freedom understand the difference, and they enforce the rules accordingly,” the letter from the judges stated.
“It has become clear that Columbia applies double standards when it comes to free speech and student misconduct. If Columbia had been faced with a campus uprising of religious conservatives upset because they view abortion as a tragic genocide, we have no doubt that the university’s response would have been profoundly different,” they added.
The conservative judges presented the school with three steps to reverse the current atmosphere, including imposing “serious consequences for students and faculty who have participated in campus disruptions and violated established rules concerning the use of university facilities and public spaces and threats against fellow members of the university community.”
They also called for “neutrality and nondiscrimination in the protection of freedom of speech and enforcement of rules of campus conduct.”
U.S. Rep. Pat Cammack was pleased with the accountability, telling Fox Business that there are probably many more companies that will not be hiring the activist students upon graduation.
“For these students that want to protest and do stupid things, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes,” the Florida Republican said.
“For these students that want to protest and do stupid things, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes,” says Rep. Cammack of reports that federal judges won’t hire Columbia University students. Take a listen. pic.twitter.com/yVo8Yk2T0J
— Rep. Cammack Press Office (@RepKatCammack) May 8, 2024
“If Columbia had been faced with a campus uprising of religious conservatives upset because they view abortion as a tragic genocide, we have no doubt that the university’s response would have been profoundly different,” the letter from the judges argued. “By favoring certain viewpoints over others based on their popularity and acceptance in certain circles, Columbia has failed as a legitimate, never mind elite, institution of higher education.”
They also noted a need to address the faculty.
“Recent events demonstrate that ideological homogeneity throughout the entire institution of Columbia has destroyed its ability to train future leaders of a pluralistic and intellectually diverse country,” they wrote. “Both professors and administrators are on the front lines of the campus disruptions, encouraging the virulent spread of antisemitism and bigotry. Significant and dramatic change in the composition of its faculty and administration is required to restore confidence in Columbia.”
“The objective of our boycott is different—it is not to hamper academic freedom, but to restore it at Columbia University,” the letter concluded.
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Author: Frieda Powers
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