Columbia profs face pushback for canceling class to 'process' election, but not after Oct. 7 attack: 'Double Standard'
Columbia University and Barnard College professors adjusted class schedules for student well-being following the recent U.S. election but did not do so after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Some Columbia students criticized this decision as inconsistent and biased against Jewish students.
Professors at Columbia University and Barnard College canceled or shortened classes for the emotional health of students following the presidential election, despite not doing so for the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas against Israel.
“Columbia has a serious problem with neutrality,” Columbia student Eliana Goldin told The New York Post about the allegedly inconsistent class cancellation. “For an institution that claims to care so much about equality and equity, their empathy clearly doesn’t apply to the Jews. I’m sure that if Harris won, the university would not have canceled classes.”
One professor to cut her class short was Barnard College professor Amelia Simone Herbert who teaches a course entitled “Race, Space and Urban Schools.”
“I hope you are all taking care,” Herbert wrote. “I recognize that processing the results of a national election can be heavy and having space to breathe and go a bit slower is vital,” adding that she could “remain in the room for anyone who wants to use it as a workspace or a space to reflect with others.”
“I have decided to cancel our class today,” wrote Columbia Professor Michelle Greene. “The current events would make it difficult to concentrate on factorial ANOVA, and although I had planned an alternative lecture on modern polling methods and their blind spots, it feels a bit tone-deaf to deliver it today. Be good to yourselves, check in on your friends.”
Multiple Columbia students criticized the decisions to cancel classes as hypocritical, given that classes have generally not been canceled for anti-Semitic attacks at the school.
“This is where the double standard comes in,” one Columbia student told The New York Post. “You are protecting people because of stress, but when you have several Jewish students say, ‘Hey, not only are we stressed but we fear for our lives,’ not once did they cancel classes.”
“It’s very telling that some in the Columbia community feel more threatened by the results of a democratic election than by openly violent terror sympathizers threatening to burn down Western civilization,” added a Columbia graduate student.
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“Barnard College did not cancel or adjust class schedules this week,” a Barnard College media relations representative told Campus Reform via email.
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University and Barnard College for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
