Columbia University: Protest Rules 'Don't Work'

Private text messages revealed this week by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce reveal top Columbia University administrators admitting their self-imposed rules on managing student protests "don't work," the Washington Free Beacon reported on Wednesday.

During a May panel discussion on Jewish life on campus, the administrators sent texts to each other referencing cards that Columbia faculty, or "delegates" have been distributing to protesters since last year in an attempt to break up large demonstrations.

The cards ask recipients to produce their student IDs and inform them of the repercussions if they do not break up the unauthorized gathering. They were initially distributed during in November of 2023 during a sit-in protest at Columbia and again in April.

In June, Columbia University suspended the three administrators for sending disparaging text messages during a panel about Jewish campus life. Those text were revealed to show the administrators mocking the panelists and one suggesting the purpose of the discussion on antisemitism was for its "huge fundraising potential."

An audience member took photos of the exchanges and first shared them with the Washington Free Beacon. The three administrators are Susan Chang-Kim, the university's vice dean and chief administrative officer; Matthew Patashnick, an associate vice dean for student and family support; and Cristen Kromm, a dean of undergraduate student life.

When the co-chair of the discussion, David Schizer, told the panel they would like to see the cards used more aggressively, the three administers dismissed them as ineffective.

"The delegate cards don't work," wrote Patashnick to Kromm and Chang-Kim who responded with "liking" his remark.

The text exchanges between high-ranking Columbia administrators reveal a dismissive attitude not only to the plight of Jewish students on campus but toward their own colleagues.

"Jewish students deserve better than to have harassment and threats against them dismissed as 'privilege,' and Jewish faculty members deserve better than to be mocked by their colleagues," said Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. "These text messages once again confirm the need for serious accountability across Columbia's campus."

Columbia made international news in April when pro-Palestinian demonstrators broke into Hamilton Hall resulting in dozens of arrests following a large-scale police operation. In late June, the City of New York dropped all criminal charges against the protesters.

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