Suspended anti-Israel groups still operating on Columbia campus, Jewish students claim
Despite being suspended for anti-Semitism, Jewish Voices for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine are allegedly holding unauthorized campus events.
Some Jewish Columbia students say they are participating with other anti-Israel groups during protests that call for an 'intifada.'
Despite being suspended by Columbia University until the end of the semester for allegations of anti-Semitism, Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) appear to still be holding unauthorized events on campus.
SJP in particular was charged with celebrating the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel performed by Hamas, calling it “an unprecedented historic moment for the Palestinians of Gaza.”
The decision on the part of the university has sparked turmoil on campus since November. Many students protested the decision by the university, saying that JVP and SJP’s free speech rights have been violated. Some Columbia faculty even walked out in protest, and many openly expressed their opposition to Columbia’s treatment of the anti-Israel student groups.
Many others, however, supported the university’s decision, including 500 alumni who thanked the school for penalizing SJP and JVP. Some people have even urged the university to permanently prohibit the two student groups.
[RELATED: REPORT: Alumni laud Columbia U for suspending anti-Semitic student groups]
Yet, despite the prohibition against these two student organizations, witnesses claim that the groups have continued to host unauthorized events in recent weeks. Members of the Columbia community have claimed to hear students attending protests chanting anti-Semitic slogans such as “intifada, intifada, long live the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
In an interview with Jewish Insider, a Columbia graduate student named Alon Levin said, “It feels like [JVP and SJP] have ramped up more [since they were banned by the University],” noting that they now host events “on a daily basis.”
Levin continued to say: “I’ve been to a few of these events so I can document what’s going on, and usually it’s not overtly under SJP or JVP but other groups that are under the banner of Columbia University student organizations that say they will pick up the slack for those groups by doing things like booking rooms.”
Despite SJP and JVP seemingly receiving cover from other groups during some occasions, in other instances, events are overtly held by JVP and SJP.
In response to one particular event hosted by JVP, a spokesperson for Columbia said that the university had “communicated with JVP that this is an unsanctioned event by an unsanctioned student group.” Yet, Jewish Insider has reported that the school has taken no definite action to prevent the group’s events from occurring while the ban is still in effect.
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University, Jewish Voices for Peace, and Students for Justice in Palestine for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
