Columbia University Pledges New Campus Antisemitism Reforms

Columbia University will enact a series of reforms to address campus antisemitism, interim president Claire Shipman announced on Tuesday as the institution nears a deal to pay $200 million to settle allegations that it exposed Jewish students and faculty to discrimination.

In a statement, Shipman said the university will hire new coordinators to oversee complaints alleging civil rights violations; facilitate “deeper education on antisemitism” by creating new training programs for students, faculty, and staff; and adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism — a tool that advocates say is necessary for identifying what constitutes antisemitic conduct and speech.

Shipman also announced new partnerships with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other Jewish groups while delivering a major blow to the anti-Zionist movement on campus by vowing never to “recognize or meet with” the self-titled “Columbia University Apartheid Divest” (CUAD), a notorious pro-Hamas campus group which has serially disrupted academic life with unauthorized, surprise demonstrations attended by non-students.

“I would also add that making these announcements in no way suggests we are finished with the work,” Shipman continued. “In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that antisemitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding will take time. It will likely require more reform. But I’m hopeful that in doing this work, as we consider and even debate it, we will start to promote healing and to chart our path forward.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Columbia University’s campus has yielded some of the most indelible examples of anti-Jewish hatred in higher education since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel set off explosions of anti-Zionist activity at colleges and universities across the US. Such incidents included a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

Amid these incidents, the university struggled to contain CUAD, which in late January committed infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may have been the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, ADP reportedly distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.

In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, CUAD distributed literature calling on students to join Hamas’s movement to destroy Israel.

“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” one of the pamphlets given to freshmen students said. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”

Other portions of the text expressed explicitly Islamist aspirations for global jihad, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose is to mobilize an army of Muslims worldwide.

Citing these issues, the Trump administration in March canceled $400 million in federal research grants and contracts previously appropriated to Columbia. Since then, the university has reportedly agreed to restructure itself to comply with conditions for restoring the money — a process which may see it review undergraduate admissions practices that allegedly discriminate against qualified Jewish applicants, enforce an “anti-mask” policy that protesters have violated to avoid being identified by law enforcement, and enhance the university’s security protocols to allow for a quick restoration of order if and when the campus is upended by unauthorized demonstrations.

In Tuesday’s statement, Shipman, Columbia’s fourth chief administrator since 2023, said that the institution is turning the page.

“I want to reiterate that the university has zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment based on protected traits, including Jewish and Israeli identity,” she said. “And while our university rules and policies are well-defined on this matter, beginning this 2025-2026 academic year, Columbia will make clear our ‘Zero Tolerance for Antisemitism and Hate’ in regular community messages.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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