Anti-Israel activist teaching at Columbia amid controversy over pro-Palestine protests
A Columbia University graduate student, Johannah King-Slutzky, who supported pro-Palestine protests in the spring, is now teaching a course on 'Contemporary Western Civilization.'
King-Slutzky, who has ties to left-wing causes and previously worked as a political strategist for progressive movements, advocated for providing humanitarian aid to student demonstrators during the protests.
A pro-Palestine graduate student at Columbia University who supported the anti-Israel demonstrations in the spring is teaching a class at the university.
The student is Johannah King-Slutzky, and she will be teaching a course on “Contemporary Western Civilization” this fall, as reported by the National Review.
During the spring semester, King-Slutzky fielded questions from reporters near Hamilton Hall, a building which the pro-Palestine demonstrators occupied for an extended period of time.
During her press conference, King-Slutzky advocated that the Columbia administration send assistance to the pro-Palestine demonstrators, specifically by providing what she called “basic humanitarian aid.”
“It’s ultimately a question of what kind of community and obligation Columbia feels it has to its students,” King-Slutzky said.
“Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill, even if they disagree with you?” King-Slutzky continued. “If the answer is ‘no,’ then you should allow basic . . . I mean, it’s crazy to say because we’re on an Ivy League campus, but this is, like, basic humanitarian aid we’re asking for. Like, could people please have a glass of water?”
Campus Reform reported earlier this year that, during that same protest, a banner inscribed with the word “INTIFADA” was hung from Hamilton Hall.
King-Slutzky is a student of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
King-Slutzky has long been associated with left-wing causes. According to her profile on Columbia’s website, King-Slutzky’s research interests include “Ecocriticism” and “Marxism.”
“My goal is to write a prehistory of metabolic rift, Marx’s term for the disruption of energy circuits caused by industrialization under capitalism,” King-Slutzky wrote in her online biography. “I am particularly interested in theories of the imagination and poetry as interpreted through a Marxian lens.”
“Prior to joining Columbia,” King-Slutzky continued to explain, “I worked as a political strategist for leftist and progressive causes and remain active in the higher education labor movement.”
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
