Columbia president wrong on protests, says Jewish professor

Prof Davidai outside Columbia University’s gates on April 22 after his access to the campus was revoked allegedly for his own safety – ZUMAPRESS/Avalon

The president of Columbia University must admit her mistakes or step down, a Jewish professor who has led criticism of the tumultuous Gaza war protests at the school has said.

Shai Davidai accused Baroness Shafik, a British peer, of failing to prevent anti-Semitism at the New York university following the Oct 7 attack on Israel by terror group Hamas.

He claimed that a “vacuum of moral leadership” had forced Jewish students to abandon their lessons while openly pro-Hamas academics radicalised their peers.

“I think Columbia needs an airing out of the stable. It’s very tempting to say just change the president but it’s not just the president,” he said.

“It doesn’t feel like they are willing to enact change and do better. And if things stay that way then… I think the entire governing body needs to be changed.”

He called on Lady Shafik and the board of trustees to change course, saying they needed to admit: “We’ve gotten a lot wrong. We want to do better.”

Baroness Shafik surveys the damage to Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on Wednesday – Indy Scholtens/Getty

Columbia has been riven by tensions and protests for months, with a pro-Palestine encampment set up outside its main library on April 17.

Prof Davidai, who has become one of Columbia’s most prominent Jewish voices, made headlines when he was shut out of the campus in April – apparently because the university could not guarantee his safety.

“There are parts of the administration, who support the movement and support Hamas, that are hateful of Israel, that are anti-Semitic,” he said.

“Other parts of the administration are just afraid of conflict. They really did think that if they don’t do anything, this will disappear.

“You have partly callousness and partly cowardice… there has been just a vacuum of moral leadership. I think in the end that’s the story of what happened.”

Before Israel launched its military action in Gaza, Columbia student groups signed a letter hailing the Oct 7 massacre as an “unprecedented historic moment” and declaring their “full solidarity”.

Prof Davidai, a self-confessed “Lefty liberal” who favours a two-state solution in the Middle East, said he did not have a personal grievance with Lady Shafik. However, he said she should have immediately condemned the statement.

“At least at Columbia, Hamas won,” he said. “Hamas won because no one at Columbia had stood up and said no Hamas on campus.”

In a video statement issued on Friday, Lady Shafik explained her decisions but did not apologise for the way the university had handled the protests.

She said Columbia had engaged in good faith with demonstrators, but they crossed a line when they occupied a hall on the campus on Tuesday. Police were called in to clear it out.

“It was a violent act that put our students at risk, as well as putting the protesters at risk,” she said. “I walked through the building and saw the damage, which was distressing.”

‘Students indoctrinated by pro-Hamas academics’

Prof Davidai argued that students had been indoctrinated by pro-Hamas academics, who sent them out to protest like “generals” directing “footsoldiers”.

He said: “One thing that is really angering to me is to see these professors for six months telling students to become more and more violent and telling them ‘you should take over a building’.

“But when the time came to get arrested the professors were not there… they were very happy to be in their four or five-bedroom apartments.”

Two Columbia professors are under investigation for alleged “discriminatory remarks”. Another has been sacked for writing on social media: “I’m with Hamas & Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad.”

Prof Davidai went on to accuse Columbia of “appeasing” terrorism by negotiating with students who demanded it sell its stake in businesses that allegedly fund or profit from Israel’s military action.

Analysis by the New York Times notes that this accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of Columbia’s $13.6bn endowment. Columbia University has been approached for comment.

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