#Barnard College

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

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[odinsblog]

Dear President Shafik,

We write as Jewish faculty of Columbia and Barnard in anticipation of your appearance before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on April 17, where you are expected to answer questions about antisemitism on campus. Based on the committee’s previous hearings, we are gravely concerned about the false narratives that frame these proceedings to entrap witnesses. We urge you, as the University president, to defend our shared commitment to universities as sites of learning, critical thinking, and knowledge production against this new McCarthyism.

Rather than being concerned with the safety and well-being of Jewish students on campuses, the committee is leveraging antisemitism in a wider effort to caricature and demonize universities as hotbeds of “woke indoctrination.” Its opportunistic use of antisemitism in a moment of crisis is expanding and strengthening longstanding efforts to undermine educational institutions. After launching attacks on public universities from Florida to South Dakota, this campaign has opened a new front against private institutions.

The prospect of Rep. Elise Stefanik, a member of congress with a history of espousing white nationalist politics, calling university presidents to account for alleged antisemitism on their campuses reveals these proceedings as disingenuous political theater.

In the face of these coordinated attacks on higher education, universities must insist on their freedom to research and teach inconvenient truths. This includes historical injustices and the contemporary structures that perpetuate them, regardless of whether these facts are politically inexpedient for certain interest groups.

To be sure, antisemitism is a grave concern that should be scrutinized alongside racism, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and all other forms of hate. These hateful ideologies exist everywhere and we would be ignorant to believe that they don’t exist at Columbia. When antisemitism rears its head, it should be swiftly denounced, and its perpetrators held to account. However, it is absurd to claim that antisemitism—“discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews,” according to the Jerusalem Declaration’s definition—is rampant on Columbia’s campus. To argue that taking a stand against Israel’s war on Gaza is antisemitic is to pervert the meaning of the term.

Labeling pro-Palestinian expression as anti-Jewish hate speech requires a dangerous and false conflation of Zionism with Jewishness, of political ideology with identity. This conflation betrays a woefully inaccurate understanding—and disingenuous misrepresentation—of Jewish history, identity, and politics. It erases more than a century of debates among Jews themselves about the nature of a Jewish homeland in the biblical Land of Israel, including Israel’s status as a Jewish nation-state. It dismisses the experiences of the post-Zionist, non-Zionist, and anti-Zionist Jews who work, study, and live on our campus.

The political passions that arise from conflict in the Middle East may deeply unsettle students, faculty, and staff with opposing views. But feeling uncomfortable is not the same thing as being threatened or discriminated against. Free expression, which is fundamental to both academic inquiry and democracy, necessarily entails exposure to views that may be deeply disconcerting. We can support students who feel real and valid discomfort toward protests advocating for Palestinian liberation while also stating clearly and firmly that this discomfort is not an issue of safety.

As faculty, we dedicate ourselves and our classrooms to keeping every student safe from real harm, harassment, and discrimination. We commit to helping them learn to experience discomfort and even confrontation as part of the process of skill and knowledge acquisition—and to help them realize that ideas we oppose can be contested without being suppressed.

By exacting discipline, inviting police presence, and broadly surveilling its students for minor offenses, the University is betraying its educational mission. It has pursued drastic measures against students, including disciplinary proceedings and probation, for infractions like allegedly attending an unauthorized protest, or moving barricades to drape a flag on a statue. Real harassment and physical intimidation and violence on campus must be confronted seriously and its perpetrators held accountable. At the same time, the University should refrain whenever possible from using discipline and surveillance as means of addressing less serious harms, and should never use punitive measures to address conflicts over ideas and the feelings of discomfort that result. Where the University once embraced and defended students’ political expression, it now suppresses and disciplines it.

The University’s recent policies represent a dramatic change from historical practice, and the consequences are ruinous to our community and its principles. In the past, Columbia has periodically confronted attacks against pro-Palestinian speech, ranging from the vile slanders against Professor Edward Said to the reckless accusations from the David Project. But where for decades the University stood firm against smear campaigns targeting its professors, it has now voluntarily accepted the job of censoring its faculty in and outside the classroom.

Columbia’s commitment to free inquiry and robust disagreement is what makes it a world-class institution. Limiting academic freedom when it comes to questions of Israel and Palestine paves the way for limitations on other contested topics, from climate science to the history of slavery. What’s more, students must have the freedom to dissent, to make mistakes, to offend without intent, and to learn to repair harm done if necessary. Free expression is not only crucial to student development and education outside the classroom; the tradition of student protest has also played a vital role in American democracy. Columbia should be proud of having participated in nationwide student organizing that helped secure civil rights and reproductive rights and helped bring an end to the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.

We express our support for the University and for higher education against the attacks likely to be leveled against them at the upcoming congressional hearing. We object to the weaponization of antisemitism. And we advocate for a campus where all students, Jewish, Palestinian, and all others, can learn and thrive in a climate of open, honest inquiry and rigorous debate.

Many members of our University community share our perspective, but they have not yet been heard. Columbia students, staff, alumni, and faculty can sign here to show your support for this letter’s message.

—Jewish faculty reject the weaponization of antisemitism

The 23 authors of this letter are Jewish faculty members of Barnard College and Columbia University. This letter derives from a much longer one by these same 23 faculty sent to President Shafik on April 5.

[eyesfullofmoon]

"Wilting like daisies and Hopping like fish, students at Barnard College in New York fill a college requirement in relaxation. Having found that too many students are too tense, Barnard has inaugurated a session in relaxation in its Physical Education Department which every freshman must attend."

Photos 1 and 2: "The mandatory relaxation class at Barnard College included this “dropping daisy” exercise which was done in seven steps, moving in a slow progression from standing tall to laying on the floor."

Photo 4: "Flopping fish exercise consists of rotating hips, then falling limp. Professor Marion Streng (foreground) helps student."

Photographed by Walter Sanders for the February 8, 1954 issue of LIFE Magazine.

[bfpnola]

ONE OF OUR FORMER VOLUNTEERS NEEDS YOUR HELP! PLEASE SHARE!

Hi! My name is Camaria, I am 18 years old, and a first-generation low-income freshman at Barnard College of Columbia University. Currently, I am in the process of planning for surgery in October for the removal of a benign jaw tumor, Ameloblastoma.

I became aware of this issue in December 2022 and have been going under treatment as it was a cyst. I spent nearly 5k of my savings paying for that treatment. However, in July, it was discovered that the cyst changed forms, becoming a solid tumor. This is forcing me to undergo serious surgical removal and reconstruction of my jaw. The tumor is eating up my teeth and bones as we speak, so I need this surgery as soon as possible.

I moved away from home a week after hearing the news: from New Orleans, LA to New York City. I am alone in college with little known family near me, planning for this surgery. Both of my parents have no money or savings to help pay for my surgery. My dad was laid off from his welding career due to bad eyesight from age. My mother is supporting my two younger siblings, ages 12 and 17, working as a server in a restaurant to make ends meet.

Bone implants are predicted to cost around 9-12k, and hospital bills are unknown. I also need to get prosthodontist work and dental implants as they are removing at least 7 teeth from my bottom row. Those will cost around 6k-8k, not including the $800 per dental implant. My insurance doesn’t cover any of the costs for my implants or prosthodontist work.

The surgeon has requested I pay 50% of the bone implant cost upfront, amounting to between 4.5k-6k before my surgery date of October 25th.

All donations will go towards the costs of helping me pay my bills. I can’t do this on my own and I’m pleading for help.

[zubeia]

now why does this encapsulate barnard students getting arrested by the nypd and evicted by the college they once called "home for the next four"

[killervelveteenrabbit]

Oren Root, a longtime New York City lawyer and Columbia University graduate who was at the school when anti-Vietnam War protests rocked it in 1968, said Shafik's summoning of police was "an extraordinary miscalculation."

"President Shafik and her advisers clearly didn't learn from history," said Root, who was a top editor at The Spectator, the Columbia student newspaper, in 1968 and 1969. “Calling in the cops was clearly a mistake. Things have not gotten any calmer.”

[bunniebusiness]

I cannot describe to you how it feels to go outside of THE PLACE THAT I LIVE and be met with 100s of NYPD officers. I cannot wrap my head around any other reason for Minouche Shafik to allow their presence other than an effort to stifle the free speech of students on a campus that prides itself on a history of student involvement in politics.

[heavenlyhades]

reminder that from 1933-1937, the Columbia president, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler (someone who had significant power as an academic and diplomat), refused to speak against Nazism. in 1933, just months after the book burnings, Butler invited Dr. Hans Luther, Nazi Germany's ambassador, to lecture on foreign policy at Columbia. Butler publicly expressed his respect for him.

for the past 36 hours, Columbia/Barnard students have rallied in front of the library named after Butler to protest the university's involvement in the genocide in Palestine. last night, Columbia president, Minouche Shafik, authorized the NYPD to arrest more than 100 peaceful protestors. Barnard president, Dr. Laura Rosenbury, suspended more than 50 students, giving them only 15 minutes to gather their items and leaving them unhoused at night in nyc.

no matter how much Columbia likes to pretend they support political freedom on campus, touting images of the 1968 Vietnam War protests as advertisements for their school, they are the enemy.

Support the CU/BC students who have spent years fighting for Palestine, who have sacrificed their education and housing to fight against injustice.

Fuck Minouche Shafik. Fuck Laura Rosenbury. Fuck Nicholas Butler. This school belongs to us.

Follow @cuapartheiddivest and @bcabolitioncollective on instagram. if you're local, protest outside the Columbia gates. Donate to mutual aid in Gaza.

[sitephi]

Absolutely fucking terrifying. i hope all those academics and pigs and anyone else protecting 'israel' dies painfully. İMAGİNE TREATİNG 18 YOS LİKE CRİMİNALS FOR PEACEFUL PROTEST AND PUTTİNG UP WANTED POSTERS + LİTERALLY DOXXİNG THEM.actual teen endangerment

[averycanadianfilm]

[nando161mando]

It’s cool how schools can’t punish pro-Nazi students because of the First Amendment but can mass arrest and suspend anti-war students because what First Amendment?🤔

[toastyslayingbutter]

Barnard College is a nasty place.

They are censoring pro-Palestinian voices and statements on campus.

Another university run by cowards.

[klairluna]

BARNARD’s SYMBOL IS ATHENA????? PLEASE LET ME IN HELLO???? AHAHAG

[epitome-the-burnkid-viii]

Sharing eye-opening news suppressed by the mainstream and much, much more daily! Watch my show #SupplementalBroadcast 🎱#youtuberecommendedchronicles🔮 on YouTube & Rumble New episodes posted regularly!!! 🧩🙏🎟️ #prophesy #conspiracy #currentevents #extraterrestrials #TheGreatAwakening

[barnardblr]

well i graduated from barnard a couple weeks ago 🤠

[geoffwhaley]

Book 950: Kaleidoscope - Cecily Wong

Book 950: Kaleidoscope by Cecily Wong #family #friendship #grief #loss #love #romance #siblings #sisters #travel #bookreview #books #bookbloggers

When someone from the publisher reached out about Kaleidoscope, this line caught me: “This book is heart-wrenching and hopeful and the characters truly shine on the page. It’s one of those books where I wish I could read it again for the first time all over again. And I’m so happy that you get to.” And I downloaded a copy almost immediately, but of course sat on it for a few months, allowing me…