Columbia University staff removed over use of ‘ancient anti-Semitic tropes’
MEMO | July 9, 2024
Three senior administrators at Columbia University have been “permanently removed from their positions” and remain on leave due to texts exchanged during an on-campus event about Jewish life, the university’s President Minouche Shafik announced yesterday.
The issue in question occurred during a panel discussion in May titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future” during which the deans exchanged texts disparaging students’ complaints about anti-Semitism.
Susan Chang-Kim, previously the vice dean and chief administrative officer, was dismissive of the students’ concerns, texting that they “come from such a place of privilege… hard to hear the woe is me.” Cristen Kromm, the former dean of undergraduate student life, used vomiting emojis and wrote, “Amazing what $$$$ can do.” Meanwhile, Matthew Patashnick, formerly the associate dean for student and family support, suggested that Jews on campus were just trying “to take full advantage of this moment. Huge fundraising potential.”
Shafik condemned their comments. In a letter released yesterday, she said that the comments were not only unprofessional, but also touched disturbingly on “ancient” anti-Semitic tropes. “Whether intended as such or not, these sentiments are unacceptable and deeply upsetting, conveying a lack of seriousness about the concerns and the experiences of members of our Jewish community that is antithetical to our University’s values and the standards we must uphold in our community.”
The event took place a month after university leaders called in New York City police to break up a pro-Palestinian protest camp which resulted in 108 arrests. Several students involved with the protest have been suspended and threatened with eviction from their graduate student housing for pro-Palestinian activism on campus.
Shafik described the decision to call in the police as an “extraordinary step” necessary to “support both the right to expression and the safety and functioning of our university” after the protesters refused to disperse.
Pro-Palestinian student groups condemned Columbia for allegedly supporting Israel while ignoring Palestinian suffering, and accused deans of labelling legitimate Palestinian resistance as “terrorism”. As pro-Palestinian protests escalated and Jewish students reported an increasingly hostile environment, Columbia came under growing scrutiny from students, alumni and even the US Congress regarding its response. The university is currently one of many institutions facing a federal investigation in this respect.

We are not allowed to question the loyalty of Jews to our countries, but then there is an Israeli president who says that Jews only have to be loyal to themselves.
We are not allowed to say that Jews always lie, but then there is Benjamin Netanyahu whose lies are to much for even Nicolas Sarkozy.
We are not allowed to say that Jews conspire against us, but then there is Barbara Spectre explaining that Jews are behind mass-immigration.
Conclusion: if Jews don’t want to hear stereotypical remarks about them, then they should stop to behave stereotypically, from the top down.
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“Pro-Palestinian student groups condemned Columbia for allegedly supporting Israel while ignoring Palestinian suffering, and accused deans of labelling legitimate Palestinian resistance as “terrorism.” Amen. The true “terrorist” on the block is militant-political Colonial Zionism — the ideology, its agents and complicit actors [try “Christian” Zionists on for size] everywhere but decidedly “on the ground” in historic Palestine with its genocidal platform Israel.
Viva Palestine!–Hamas and ALL of Palestine!
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Jordan Peterson had my ear and respect until his support of the genocide.
Candace Owens notes Peterson’s contradictions: https://youtu.be/iEOP5hKdgfc
Who is JP and what gave him is rise to rock-star status?
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I didn’t know of JP; thanks for your link to CO. I’m now satisfied that he’s a charlatan who, even though he’s a drug addict who can’t control his own mind and body, presents himself as a *psychologist* … uhhh, say what??? Hope I never come across him again….
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“The historical mission of our world revolution is to rearrange a new culture of humanity to replace the previous social system. This conversion and re-organization of society requires two essential steps: firstly, the destruction of the old established order, secondly, design and imposition of the new order. The first stage requires elimintion of all frontier borders, nationhood and culture, public policy ethical barriers and social definitions; only then can the destroyed old system elements be replaced by the imposed system elements of our new order. The first task of our world revolution is destruction.”
-Nahum Goldman, founder of the ‘World Jewish Congress’ – printed in his “The Spirit of Militarism” 1915
Nahum Goldman was a very powerful and influential figure within the Jewish cult. He was also very upfront and honest about their plans:
“The Jews might have had Uganda, Madagascar, and other places for the establishment of a Jewish Fatherland, but they wanted absolutely nothing except Palestine, not because the Dead Sea water by evaporation can produce five trillion dollars of metaloids and powdered metals; not because the sub-soil of Palestine contains twenty times more petroleum than all the combined reserves of the two Americas; but because Palestine is the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, because Palestine constitutes the veritable center of world political power, the strategic center for world control.”
Nahum Goldman again:
“I hardly exaggerate. Jewish life consists of two elements: Extracting money and protesting.”
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It crosses my mind that, if it were the Jews who lived in Gaza and were being attacked and killed in large numbers by a superior Arab force, would there not be an international uproar demanding that the Arabs stop, and a rush to impose sanctions on them for their genocidal behaviour?
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Rhetorical question, but yessss!
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