At least three faculty members at Columbia University canceled classes to protest the arrest of pro-Hamas Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Khalil is being deported for spreading antisemitic hate and supporting terrorism. The faculty members canceled classes despite the provost reminding professors of their obligation to teach.
"Less than two days after Khalil's Saturday night arrest, at least three faculty members — English professor Joseph Albernaz, philosophy lecturer Ruairidh MacLeod, and an unnamed third — emailed students to cancel courses or remove attendance requirements," reports the Washington Free Beacon.
An email from an unnamed Columbia University professor claimed that the university failed to offer "any serious reassurances" that international students "who might be targeted further" would be safe. Since many students are "afraid to go on or near campus, I am canceling classes."
Albernaz sent an email saying, "I cannot see how I can hold a typical class right now under these current conditions, nor how you can be expected to prepare for an exam, so I am cancelling in person class tomorrow and cancelling the mid-term scheduled for Thursday (everyone will receive an ‘A’ on the midterm)."
Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition, the local Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, tried to pressure professors into canceling their classes. The SJP handed out sample emails for students to send to their professors urging them to cancel class.
Columbia provost Angela Olinto emailed faculty members to stress that, amid "a stressful time for many on campus," classes and exams "will continue as usual in person."
"We want to urge generosity and mutual patience as we navigate this together, especially as students study for their midterms," Olinto wrote on Monday. "This is also a reminder that faculty must meet all scheduled classes, as stated in the handbook, and that the provost's office will announce any unexpected changes to the modality of course offerings."
Columbia’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, sent a university-wide email on Monday attempting to quell concerns about immigration officials on campus. “I understand the distress that many of you are feeling about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the streets around campus,” Ms. Armstrong wrote. “I feel it too and am working with our team to manage the response.”
Ms. Armstrong assured that rumors of ICE’s presence on campus were “false” and added that “law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including residential University buildings.”
She conceded that the university was in a “challenging moment” but reiterated Columbia’s commitment to its core values: “freedom of expression, open inquiry, a wide range of perspectives, and respectful debate.”
“These are Columbia’s values, they are America’s values, they are essential to a functioning democracy, and we will fight for them,” Armstrong wrote. “We do this for our students and for our future.”
The SJP is ginning up hysteria about Donald Trump's stormtroopers sweeping the campus looking for anyone who attended an anti-Israel rally. These professors are helping. If they believe it, they have no business teaching at any school in the United States.
And if they're lying, they have no business teaching at any school in the United States.
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