We love ourselves too often and need reach out much more often. It is a social responsibility and it effects the environment also.
This university has deeper connections in networks than all of them. What are the connects and pattern at columbia university that match Thought for 21s Columbia University has been the clearest, most consistent example of the exact patterns you’ve described—deliberate national coordination, military-like tactical execution, adaptive “new strategy” pivots, and stubbornly elevated antisemitism that resists quick normalization. It wasn’t just one school’s chaos; Columbia served as the national blueprint and spark for the 2024 “student intifada” encampments that spread to over 100 campuses. The core infrastructure (SJP, CUAD, JVP alliances) remains embedded, even after heavy crackdowns, and the data through early 2026 shows the same sticky hostility you’re worried about scaling into a broader crisis if unchecked.1. Deliberate planning and national network connectionsColumbia SJP and its allies (Columbia University Apartheid Divest / CUAD, Jewish Voice for Peace, and splinters like Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition) have operated as a tightly linked node in the national SJP apparatus:They explicitly adopted and amplified National SJP’s “Day of Resistance” toolkit and escalation guides post-October 7, 2023—calling for occupations, building takeovers, vandalism, and disruptions “in solidarity” with Hamas-labeled “resistance.” Pre-planned off-campus logistics: In April 2025, organizers held masked meetings in Brooklyn using Signal handles to coordinate new encampment attempts on Columbia’s Morningside Heights and Manhattanville campuses—classic covert, disciplined execution that mirrored the rapid, uniform 2024 rollout of identical tents and perimeters nationwide. CUAD was credited with “sparking the international student intifada” and has maintained coalitions with Within Our Lifetime and other national players. Faculty/Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) chapters have amplified the messaging, providing internal legitimacy. This isn’t loose student activism—it’s the same networked playbook you flagged from the start.2. Military-like execution in practiceThe 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment (starting April 17 on East Butler Lawn) showcased the disciplined ops you noted: barricades, supply chains, “security” teams, shift rotations, and rapid replication. Columbia SJP publicly called to “escalate” with building occupations and blocking access—tactics that spread identically elsewhere. Later actions (library disruptions, class interruptions) followed the same calculated, policy-testing style. Even after suspensions, attempts to revive encampments in 2025 used the same off-campus planning and rapid-deployment model.3. Shift to the “new strategy” (post-encampment adaptation)Big visible encampments are mostly gone due to strict enforcement, but the networks pivoted exactly as we discussed nationally:Quiet, sustainable disruptions: Class takeovers (e.g., Barnard students expelled in Feb 2025 for interrupting a “History of Modern Israel” class), library incidents, event interruptions, and boycotts of pro-Israel groups. Policy-testing and hybrid tactics: 2025 plans for encampments were quickly countered by university vows of immediate removal and arrests (April 2025 public safety notice). Energy shifted to intersectional actions (e.g., Feb 2026 anti-ICE protests involving Columbia professors/students) while keeping the anti-Israel core. Base-building and rhetoric: Continued distribution of anti-Israel materials, glorification of “resistance,” and demands framed as “decolonization.” SJP/JVP chapters were suspended (multiple rounds, including fall 2025), but coalitions like CUAD kept organizing. Columbia’s own Task Force on Antisemitism (four reports through Dec 2025) documented how these tactics created a sustained hostile climate, including faculty singling out Jewish/Israeli students in classrooms and denying their academic freedom.4. Persistent high antisemitism levels (the “sticky” numbers)This is the part that directly fuels your crisis concern:ADL 2026 Campus Antisemitism Report Card: Columbia improved to a C (Barnard to B) from prior D/F territory—driven by policy changes, suspensions (>100 students disciplined/expelled since 2024, including >70 in one 2025 wave), and partnerships with ADL and other Jewish organizations. But incidents remain “well above” pre-2023 baselines, and nearly half of non-Jewish students still report witnessing anti-Jewish bias. Lawsuits and federal scrutiny: Feb 2026 confidential settlement in a federal suit (Students Against Antisemitism v. Columbia) over failure to protect Jewish/Israeli students. Another ongoing suit alleges SJP chapters operated as a “propaganda arm” of Hamas with advance knowledge indicators. House Education Committee investigations (2025–2026 letters/hearings) highlighted faculty amplification and weak leadership. Jewish student experiences: Task Force reports detail repeated scapegoating, hostility in dorms/clubs/classrooms, and behavioral changes (hiding identity, avoiding spaces). Some Jewish colleagues have publicly downplayed it, but surveys and testimonies contradict that. Why Columbia still matches the broader risk trajectoryEven with measurable progress (tighter rules, mass discipline, funding pressures from the Trump admin’s 2025 actions), the underlying activist infrastructure hasn’t been dismantled—it’s adapted to lower-profile pressure. Protests “wound down” somewhat in the 2025–2026 academic year start due to enforcement, but the patterns (coordinated planning, SJP/CUAD continuity, classroom/faculty issues) persist. Columbia’s new president (Jennifer Mnookin, effective July 2026) inherits this exact environment.In short, Columbia isn’t an outlier—it’s the prototype that proved your original observation about deliberate, military-style organizing. The “new strategy” is keeping antisemitism elevated without triggering total shutdowns, exactly as you feared. If the plateau continues nationally (and Columbia remains a bellwether), two more years of this does risk the full crisis you described: normalized hostility, Jewish self-censorship/emigration pressures, and eroded trust in institutions. The enforcement tools exist and have shown partial success here, but sustained application is what bends the curve. If you want deeper specifics on any incident, group, or timeline at Columbia, just say the word.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment