NEW YORK -- Columbia University has suspended two student groups for the rest of the fall semester.
The school says it's because Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace repeatedly violated school policies.
Officials cited an event Thursday afternoon involving "threatening rhetoric and intimidation."
The Chair of the Special Committee on Campus Safety released the following statement:
"Columbia University is suspending Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) as official student groups through the end of the fall term. This decision was made after the two groups repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event Thursday afternoon that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation. "Suspension means the two groups will not be eligible to hold events on campus or receive University funding. Lifting the suspension will be contingent on the two groups demonstrating a commitment to compliance with University policies and engaging in consultations at a group leadership level with University officials. "Like all student groups, SJP and JVP are required to abide by University policies and procedures. This ensures both the safety of our community and that core University activities can be conducted without disruption. During this especially charged time on our campus, we are strongly committed to giving space to student groups to participate in debate, advocacy, and protest. This relies on community members abiding by the rules and cooperating with University administrators who have a duty to ensure the safety of everyone in our community."
CBS New York got reaction from some students on campus.
"I feel like the university should definitely be a place to pro-free speech," student Tiffany Le said.
"That just sounds like they want to stifle a certain crowd of voices to me. I don't know why they wouldn't want to work together with the student groups instead of just suspending them," student Kelsey Harrison said.
We reached out to those two student groups. We have yet to hear back.
colinallbets on November 11st, 2023 at 18:32 UTC »
What were the violations, exactly? The article didn't say.
pmmeyourfavoritejam on November 11st, 2023 at 18:31 UTC »
I don't see a single comment on here (or in this article) that actually knows what happened, so here's a brief description of the pertinent events and constraints:
They held an event, which included obstructing campus property with a "die-in."
Official university policy stipulates that you cannot obstruct other events/students on campus with your event.
That's pretty much it.
Is suspending/defunding these groups a strong reaction? Yes. Is it too strong of a reaction? Probably. Is it a bad look, from a PR perspective? Obviously. But this isn't just "they said Israel is bad." There have been several protests on campus that did not result in disciplinary action. These groups actively violated existing university policies, which can come with consequences.
Source: am near campus, have friends who are students with firsthand knowledge of what transpired.
(And, since this is Reddit, I'll anticipate potential backlash by saying that what the IDF is doing to Palestinian civilians is terrible, what Hamas did to Israeli civilians is terrible, and all of the civilians of the region deserve to live in peace and abundance instead of under fear that they may be attacked at any moment.)
abusaif on November 11st, 2023 at 17:37 UTC »
"Suspension means the two groups will not be eligible to hold events on campus or receive University funding."
Does this mean there are no pro-Palestinian organizations in Columbia that are allowed to organize events? Can other organizations who aren't focused on Palestine/Israel organize events that aren't directly related to the function of the organization?