by In the weeks after October 7, Columbia University was the scene of rising tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas on American college campuses.
A Jewish student said it was assaulted after putting up hostage posters. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students accused each other of supporting genocide in a series of heated protests and counter-protests.
But as the fall semester ended, Columbia faded from the spotlight even as its peer schools, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania in particular, came under scrutiny for their responses to the war and allegations of anti-Semitism on campus.
Supporters of Colombian President Nemat Shafik credit his diplomatic skills with averting a similar public relations crisis. But her critics said she had bowed too much to the demands of Israel supporters, angering students and some faculty members, but she kept powerful donors and trustees happy.
He could have also benefited from a little luck.
When Congress invited her to a hearing on anti-Semitism on December 5 with her peers from Harvard, Penn and MIT, Dr. Shafik said she couldn’t go. She told representatives that she had already planned to attend the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, where presented a panel on women leaders.
The congressional hearing did not go well. The president of the University of Pennsylvania lost her job and the president of Harvard was mired in weeks of controversy.
But instead of fighting for her position, Dr. Shafik was announcing a new initiative, called Values in actionin which he called for an informed debate, not “mockery and cruelty.”
Still, she is walking a precarious path.
Their call for compassion and respect, some students said, does not reflect what they say has been a repressive effort to rein in pro-Palestinian protesters that has gone further than at other Ivy League universities: In November, the administration Columbia made the extraordinary decision to temporarily suspend two pro-Palestinian student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
“I just think the university is not identifying the right threat,” said Deen Haleem, a third-year law student and leader of Law Students for Palestine. “The current threat right now is universities that are shutting down pro-Palestinian discourse.”
Through a spokeswoman, Dr. Shafik, who also goes by Minouche, declined to be interviewed. His supporters say he has taken a practical approach to the crisis and that he has done well in addressing different sectors that are often in conflict.
Board members, including pro-Israel voices, say they are satisfied with the way the president has maneuvered.
“I think it’s very difficult, but I think he did it as well as anyone could have done it,” said Victor Mendelson, a Columbia administrator who supports Israel and Dr. Shafik. “She has been receptive. She has been on campus and has taken great care to try to make everyone feel welcome. I mean, everyone who follows the rules, obviously.”
Like several of her Ivy League presidential peers, Dr. Shafik was appointed to her position only recently, in her case in July. An economist born in Egypt, she has deep experience in managing complex international situations. She is a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Most recently, she was president of the London School of Economics.
While known for her support of diversity initiatives, Dr. Shafik opinions on politics – and how their personal experiences may have influenced them – can be difficult to decipher. Mendelson said that when Columbia scrutinized her before she became president, the search committee was impressed that she had been “meticulously nonpartisan” in her previous work.
“You couldn’t understand his personal views because he wanted that equality on campus,” she said. “That’s one of the key reasons I supported his candidacy for president.”
Two days after the Hamas attacks on October 7, Dr. Shafik issued a declaration saying she was “devastated by the horrific attack on Israel” and adding that “we must reject the forces that seek to separate us.” But in the days that followed, the protests became so tense that the university closed its campus to outsiders and postponed a major fundraising campaign.
Then, on November 10, it suspended the two pro-Palestinian student groups. According a statement from Gerald Rosbergchair of the school’s Special Campus Safety Committee, the action was justified because the two groups had repeatedly violated university policies requiring them to obtain permission and give 10 business days’ notice before holding an event.
Student groups criticized the 10-day rule, saying it violated free speech protections. Jaxon Williams-Bellamy, a law student and University Senate delegate, said it was “too onerous and creates a chilling effect.”
Columbia administrators said the rule had been in place for years, although it was not always enforced, and that the school was working with the Senate to change the policy.
Mr. Rosberg’s statement also cited “threatening rhetoric” during one of the groups’ protests, but the students said they were never informed what that rhetoric was. A student outside a Nov. 9 protest had shouted anti-Semitic curses, but he was not affiliated with any of the student groups and was yelled at by pro-Palestinian protesters, several students said.
The university administration later said that the rhetoric was not the cause of the suspension.
Other actions by Dr. Shafik have included the creation of a antisemitism working group along with a “Doxing Resource Group” to help student protesters facing harassment after their identities are revealed online, a tactic that has specifically targeted pro-Palestinian students. He has also attended interfaith meetings, Hillel events and a Muslim Student Association meeting, and has met with students affected by the war, his office said.
However, he has not met with leaders of the suspended Palestinian groups, student leaders said.
The new civility initiative aims to calm the campus through a series of listening forums and training sessions, among other things. The 18 deans of the school released a joint letter In support of the program, he asked pro-Palestinian protesters to stop chanting phrases such as calls for “an intifada,” because many consider them “anti-Semitic and deeply hurtful.”
Rashid Khalidi, the influential Palestinian historian at Columbia, issued a scathing statement in response: “This statement amounts to a new norm that prohibits using or learning about these terms and their histories, in favor of privileging a politics of sentiment. While perhaps appropriate for a kindergarten, it is difficult to imagine an approach more contrary to the most basic idea of a university.”
The deans’ letter also calls on students to recognize the anguish of pro-Palestinian students who mourn the loss of life in Gaza.
Ester R. Fuchs, one of the co-chairs of the new task force on anti-Semitism, credited Dr. Shafik with “lowering the temperature” on campus.
“More than 300 kids recently gathered to light Hanukkah candles on campus, for example, and you don’t hear about it,” he said. “There was no incident.” Claire Shipmanco-chair of the university’s board of trustees, praised the president’s calm approach to crisis management.
“We need to focus as a university – and this is where Minouche is so good – on moving to a place where people listen and talk, not just protest,” Shipman said.
But student organizers see it differently. The request to self-police protest chants feels like a trap and not free speech, said Mohsen Mahdawi, co-founder of Dar, the school’s Palestinian student union.
“I’m all for compassion and tolerance,” he said. “But there should be no double standards. People must be treated with equality and dignity.”
Some students predicted that Dr. Shafik’s efforts to contain conflict on campus would only lead to more conflict in the next semester. The columbia student board voted to declare non-cooperation with the event policy, reported the Columbia Spectator. Pro-Palestinian groups reorganized and are planning protests under the name Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Yoni Kurtz, 21, is a junior history student and Hillel student president. He said that while some Jewish students were uncomfortable with the tenor of some pro-Palestinian demonstrations, suspending the groups was not the right decision.
“There is a real distrust on the part of virtually any student you talk to about almost anything the administration does or does, regardless of basically their political beliefs,” he said. “Most students don’t really believe that the administration has their best interests in mind.”
