Activists say seminary president sweet-talked cops to get them on locked-down Columbia campus: WATCH
An individual with a group of 'professors,' 'clergy,' and 'people from the neighborhood' said that Union Seminary president Serene Jones convinced cops to let the group on campus.
Video circulating on social media shows two non-student adults who say they successfully gained access to the currently restricted Columbia campus with the help of Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary, an independent Manhattan seminary affiliated with Columbia.
The Columbia campus has been restricted to university ID holders only since late last week, in order to mitigate impact of anti-Israel campus protests that have so far produced cancelled classes and 100 arrests. Students are still occupying the ‘encampment’ that was arrested Wednesday ahead of university leadership’s testimony at a Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism.
The footage, taken by Columbia Spectator Staff Writer Jessica Schwalb, documents a conversation between Schwalb and a man holding a plastic Vuvuzela horn and a woman, seen on camera walking with a larger group.
Columbia University: The President of the Union Theological Seminary, @serenejones is abusing her position of power. Serene is sneaking non-student anti-Semites & H@mas supporters onto campus to join the harassment against the Jewish students.
🎥@jessicaschwalb7 pic.twitter.com/qGYPBVH7R8— Manhattan Mingle (@ManhattanMingle) April 22, 2024
The woman tells Schwab that they are with “Union Seminary,” explaining when questioned that the group is not all students but rather made up of students, professors, clergy, and “people in the neighborhood.”
”But it sort of came from Union Seminary,” she explains before going on to describe how Jones had sweet-talked police into letting the group in without Columbia ID cards.
”Well, some people have IDs, ‘cause from Union, it’s connected to Columbia,” she explains. “Some people, like me, didn’t, and the president of Union Seminary talked us in.”
”She got us in, like she talked to the cops and got us in,” says the woman, who later appears to only know Jones by her first name.
”And the cops just let you through?” Schwalb asks.
”Columbia secruity, yeah,” the man responds”
”But it was not– yeah. I think it’s the grey hair,” the woman added.
Campus Reform reached out to Jones and Union Theological Seminary for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
