At 4 pm on Tuesday, arrested and suspended Jewish students held a press conference, speaking about their experiences. This comes five days after the initial arrests and notices of interim suspension, which occurred on Thursday, April 18.

On Tuesday, April 23, a group of arrested and suspended Jewish Columbia students gathered outside of campus to speak at a press conference. The students spoke on their perspective on the current environment on campus, limited access to housing and dining since their suspensions, and offered calls to action to the wider community. 

Ahead of the press conference, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) posted an Instagram announcement depicting the reasons for holding the conference. SJP and CUAD affirmed student demands of divestment, financial transparency of University investments, and amnesty for students and faculty “arrested, disciplined, or fired in connection with the movement for Palestinian liberation.” Due to a “Meta shadowban on JVP and CUAD,” SJP and CUAD announced that the press conference would be live-streamed via BreakThrough News.

The press conference featured five Jewish students—Soph Askanase, Lea, Mahmoud, and two students named Sarah—and the William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita English and Comparative Literature Professor Marianne Hirsch. The students began by speaking about their experiences being arrested after being in the Encampment. 

One speaker, Sarah, asserted that, “Antizionist Jews have existed just as long as Zionism has,” while discussing the conflation of Judaism and Zionism and the recent media responses to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and related protests in or around Columbia.

Another speaker, identified as Lea, recited the poem “If I Must Die” by Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian writer killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in December. Lea, who identifies as Iranian and Jewish, continued her statement by rejecting the notion that Jewish students must also support the state of Israel, stating that she “is an inconvenience to the PR campaign that is the state of Israel” as a Jewish student who does not support the state. Lea stated that by participating in protests, she was “risking [her] livelihood, [her] status in this country, and the respect and the support of [her] family.” 

She further stated, “I see the trauma of Palestinians in my own family’s experiences, recognizing that it… is all part of the exact same system.” She elaborated by emphasizing, “Dehumanization, exile, and genocide have no religion, have no race, and have no logic.” Lea condemned Columbia and Barnard for suspending Jewish students, and stated that the students demonstrated “willingly and proudly” because “[their] vision is unclouded.” Lea was suspended from Barnard but not arrested. Lea was followed by another student speaker, Mahmoud, who is a Palestinian graduate student. He stated that he believes “the struggle to achieve… Palestinian and Jewish liberation is intertwined” and “goes hand-in-hand.”

In her statement, Professor Marianne Hirsch spoke to the erasure of pro-Palestine Jewish students in recent media coverage. She stated that she is “afraid” that Jewish students in the demonstrations are not being heard and that “singling out only certain Jewish students who are expressing fear… that is being amplified and being promoted from the outside… is not making Jewish students or faculty or Jews in the country safe,” she continued by stating her belief that it is “promoting further division and probably further antisemitism.” She ended her initial statement by reading the demands from the Barnard and Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors that requested suspended students be given amnesty. She then asked listeners to remember that [the pro-Palestine movement] is “a “political movement” that “criticizes the state of Israel” and is “not directed against an identity, which is Jewishness.” She ended her statement by concluding that Columbia “cannot be a sustainable institution if we cannot criticize states, including our own.”

When asked whether she had seen antisemitism on campus, Hirsch responded by saying that she is also seeing “Anti-Palestinian or anti-Muslim groups” causing harm to students, further elaborating, ”that’s what I meant about singling out groups.”

Student speakers expressed concern over their limited access to campus. “They silence us, suspend us, ban us from spaces to practice our faith,” a speaker named Sarah remarked. The speaker explained that some Jewish students who were suspended following the arrests no longer have spaces on campus to practice their religion and observe holidays like Passover. 

A repeated sentiment from the students and professor at the press conference centered on the recent campus visits and statements from politicians diverting attention away from Gaza, with one student stating, “Clearly [the arrests and suspensions are] a distraction. More than 30,000 Palestinians are dead and more than 85% of the population of Gaza is displaced.” Professor Marianne Hirsch later echoed this sentiment, saying, “We have much more attention on what is happening on college campuses than what is happening politically,” referring to the current events in Gaza.

When asked about negotiations between student organizers and University administration, Mahmoud spoke about them briefly, stating that they are “making progress” but “cannot discuss the details” as many issues are “still on the table.”

The students were asked about the consequences they have faced as a result of suspensions. One Barnard student reflected on these restrictions, saying, “I did lose my housing, I am not allowed in any dining halls, as well… according to the [suspension notification] email, I am considered disruptive to the safety and community of campus because of my arrest.” The students stated that those who have lost access to housing are in communication with each other and seeking legal options. When asked about the specific violations that led to their suspension, they said they were told that they were “disrupting pedestrian and vehicular traffic, emphasizing that this was in relation to “sitting on a lawn.” They also affirmed that the suspension notification from Barnard accused them of  “posing a threat to the [campus] community.”

When asked about the recent reports of Jewish students feeling unsafe on campus, Askanase continued to echo Hirsch’s comments. “I think it’s very important to remember that being uncomfortable is not the same as being unsafe,” they said. “I empathize with individuals who feel uncomfortable with certain rhetoric… I would encourage everyone to listen to a variety of perspectives.” She cited alleged incidents in which students who reportedly had injuries such as a seizure, an asthma attack, and a dislocated wrist after being arrested as examples of students being physically unsafe.

A reporter asked if any of the students were Palestinian, to which Mahmoud responded, saying that Palestinian students are “facing anti-Palestinian hate” that has not been acknowledged by the University. He continued by stating that he is not suspended or arrested—and avoided media appearances for months—out of fear of being arrested and subsequently deported. When asked what he would do if faced with deportation, he responded, “I will live. We will continue to live…[Palestinian people] will prevail. We will prevail, no matter what will happen.”

Lastly, the students spoke about their experiences with harassment, particularly alleged harassment from Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidai, who was recently denied access to campus after trying to enter through the Earl Hall gates and go to the Encampment on Monday morning. President Shafik testified at her congressional hearing that Davidai currently has over 50 harassment complaints against him.  

Columbia via Bwog Archives