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ensure safety on our campus. Trying to reconcile the free speech rights of those who want to
protest and the rights of Jewish students to be in an environment free of harassment or
discrimination has been the central challenge on our campus, and many others, in recent months.
As protests grew, we worked to secure the campus and ensure the safety of our students.
We restricted access to our campus to those with valid Columbia identification, increased the
public safety presence across all of our campuses, brought in external security firms, and added
resources to our existing safety escort programs.
It also became clear that our policies and structures in place were not well designed to
cope with the unprecedented scale of the challenges we faced. To address this, I along with my
colleagues immediately put in place changes. We updated our policies and procedures to
respond to the events on our campus, with the goal of ensuring safe and responsible events such
that all members of our community can participate in their academic pursuits without fear for
their safety. We launched an updated reporting and response process in an effort to make it
easier to report allegations of hate speech, harassment, and other forms of disruptive behavior,
including antisemitic behavior. This included improved training processes on Title VI and
reporting obligations for staff working with students and groups, enhanced reporting channels,
and supplementing internal resources through a team of outside investigators. We are in the
process of establishing an office with the sole purpose of investigating and responding to
allegations of discrimination, including antisemitism, in our community.
In October, we also quickly formed a Task Force on Antisemitism with the purpose of
addressing the root causes behind the antisemitic incidents at our University by independently
identifying problems and offering solutions. Thus far, the Task Force has done important work,
and we are already working to implement many of its recommendations. These steps will be
further supported by our longer-term efforts, which include a review of our event policies,
revisions to orientation sessions and mandatory training for students to specifically address
antisemitism, and additional investments in scholarship and programming that elevate campus
debate on difficult issues.
Some of these steps have provoked strong reactions from students, faculty, and outside
groups across the ideological spectrum, but we believe they were necessary. We do not, and will
not, tolerate antisemitic threats, images, and other violations. We have enforced, and we will
continue to enforce, our policies against such actions. We believe we can confront antisemitism
and provide a safe campus environment for our community while simultaneously supporting
rigorous academic exploration and freedom. This is my highest priority right now at Columbia,
and I believe we are moving in the right direction. There is, to be sure, much more work to do,
and we welcome feedback from our students and other members of the Columbia community,
from Jewish leaders and organizations, and from this Committee.
I have approached our response with four principles: ensuring the safety of Columbia’s
students and faculty; demonstrating care and compassion; balancing freedom of speech while
ensuring members of our community feel safe and welcome; and using education to address the
problem of antisemitism.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
