25 state attorneys general urge Columbia University president not to divest from Israel
25 state attorneys general sent a letter to Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong and urged her not to allow the institution to divest from Israel.
25 state attorneys general sent a letter to Columbia University Interim President Katrina Armstrong and urged her not to allow the institution to divest from Israel.
The letter, sent Wednesday, was co-led by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin. They were joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
”As the Attorneys General of South Carolina and Arkansas, we are joined by the Attorneys General of the 23 undersigned states to raise grave concerns about antisemitism on the campus of Columbia University, and to encourage your administration to hold the line against demands to divest from Israel,” they wrote. ”This issue is a matter of special concern to the states because students from across the country attend Columbia University.”
The letter cited an incident on Oct. 9 when Columbia University Apartheid Divest rescinded an apology the group made after a member said “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”
In the message rescinding its apology, Columbia University Apartheid Divest also endorsed “liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance.”
Columbia administrators were quick to denounce the statement.
“Statements advocating for violence or harm are antithetical to the core principles upon which this institution was founded,” Interim President Katrina Armstrong, Provost Angela Olinto, and the Executive Committee of the University Senate said.
The attorneys general commended Columbia for not divesting from Israel, and urged its administration ”to continue to maintain that position despite blatantly antisemitic pressure from some pro-Palestinian student groups.”
[RELATED: Columbia fundraising falls by nearly 30% following pro-Palestine protests]
”While balancing student speech rights against credible threats to people and property can be a delicate task, declining to divest should be an easy call,” they wrote.
