'I am experiencing hate' - Jewish students call on Columbia University's administration for support

Record ID: 1749180

  • Title: 'I am experiencing hate' - Jewish students call on Columbia University's administration for support
  • Date: 30th October 2023
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 30, 2023) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** MEDIA AT PRESS CONFERENCE ORGANIZED BY JEWISH STUDENTS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CALLING FOR ADMINISTRATION TO SUPPORT STUDENTS FACING ANTI-SEMITISM SPEAKER YONI KURTZ, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT, CLASS OF 2025, APPROACHING PODIUM WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT, CLASS OF 2025, YONI KURTZ, SAYING: “With my own eyes. I have witnessed client Columbia students resort to based bigotry. I've seen them parrot foul anti-Semitic tropes. I've seen them label visibly Muslim students as terrorists. I've seen them roar in approval for calls of violence against civilians. I've seen them take to social media nearly every day of the last three weeks to call for each other's deaths.” ENTRANCE GATES TO THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT, CLASS OF 2025, YONI KURTZ, SAYING: “Institutionally, I feel abandoned. While President Minouche Shafik’s statements condemning identity-based hate and antisemitism gave students some hope that the school administration would actually take concrete actions, the university's inaction has made us question whether Columbia University can actually maintain an environment where all students feel welcome and safe on campus.” VARIOUS OF GATES ON THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL, SECOND YEAR STUDENT, ELI SCHMIDMAN, SAYING: “Fuck the Jews. Fuck the Jews. Those words were said not here on Amsterdam, not on Broadway. Those words were said in Jerome Green Hall, Columbia's Law School Building. To be clear, I know this incident, in fact, occurred, because it happened to me. I was the one whom the anti-Semite chose to direct that message to.” WIDE OF COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL, SECOND YEAR STUDENT, ELI SCHMIDMAN, SPEAKING AT THE PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL, SECOND YEAR STUDENT, ELI SCHMIDMAN, SAYING: “Yesterday, on a Cornell [University] online discussion forum, someone threatened to split the throats of Jews. Jewish students were scared to leave their rooms, and the kosher dining hall was locked down. Last week, a mob of anti-Israel students trapped Jewish students in the Cooper Union Library. This is not, this is 2023. It is not 1942. And this is New York. It's not Nazi Europe. So, Columbia, what will you do to ensure that we are not the next Cooper Union or Cornell?” WIDE OF BARNARD COLLEGE STUDENT, CLASS OF 2026, JESSIE BRENNER, SPEAKING AT PODIUM / CAMERA VIEWFINDER (SOUNDBITE) (English) BARNARD COLLEGE STUDENT, CLASS OF 2026, JESSIE BRENNER, SAYING: “Hate is too strong of a word to fling around. But here I am experiencing hate. Hate is what people on our college campus feels towards us as we walk by, simply because we are Jewish. Hate is when the head of a Columbia club puts out a statement saying that all Jews are white supremacists, oppressors, Nazis, and that no Zionists are allowed in the club. She also said that the Holocaust was not special. So, when I'm asked, Do you feel safe at Columbia University? I say, No.” POLICE STANDING ON SIDEWALK (SOUNDBITE) (English) BARNARD COLLEGE STUDENT, CLASS OF 2024, NOA FAY, SAYING: “My Jewish sisters and brothers and I are on the receiving end of death threats from our peers. Undergraduates who have filed reports about these incidents have been left with no emotional support, no feedback, and no consequences for the perpetrators of these hateful actions. As a result of this inaction, there are Jewish students who do not feel physically safe on campus, and yet the unequivocal tone of the student body and frankly, the administration, prior to recent emailed statements, is ‘No, this is not what anti-Semitism is. This is not what you are experiencing’.” CAMERAS / REPORTER ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT, CLASS OF 2025, YONI KURTZ, SAYING: “We want them to clarify for us and outline exactly what their policies are regarding speech on campus, regarding bigotry on campus. We want them to actually effectively support both emotionally and practically students who are victims of anti-Semitic and other hate actions. We want them to create mandated university settings for students to come together across their differences and see each other as human because as much as that is Columbia's brand, as much as that is Columbia's thing on their website, it simply is not happening. And as many of our speakers said we want them to clearly differentiate between the Palestinian movement and Hamas terrorism.” WHITE FLASH END OF PRESS CONFERENCE / STUDENTS APPLAUDING SPEAKERS MINGLING POLICE ON SIDEWALK
  • Embargoed: 13th November 2023 18:07
  • Keywords: Columbia University Hamas Israel New York City Palestinians anti-Semitism campus students war
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001417530102023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
    Jewish students enrolled at Columbia University in New York City held a press conference on Monday (October 30) calling on the University administration to support students facing antisemitism.
    The students said that since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Jewish students at Columbia have been subjected to antisemitic incidents on campus. And they called the University’s response “underwhelming” and “impractical.”
    “The university's inaction has made us question whether Columbia University can actually maintain an environment where all students feel welcome and safe,” said Yoni Kurtz, from Columbia University’s class of 2025. “Institutionally, I feel abandoned.”
    "I am experiencing hate. Hate is what people on our college campus feels towards us as we walk by, simply because we are Jewish," said Jessie Brenner, a Barnard College student from the class of 2026. "So, when I'm asked, Do you feel safe at Columbia University? I say, No."
    Biden administration officials voiced alarm at data showing a rise in anti-Jewish incidents at U.S. universities and planned to meet American Jewish leaders on Monday to discuss steps to counter the surge, a White House official said.
    Tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups have sprung up on some U.S. campuses, including several in New York, prompting university officials to tighten security.
    The Anti-Defamation League last week reported a nearly 400% spike in U.S. antisemitic incidents overall since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Of 312 incidents between Oct. 7-23, about 190 were linked to the Israel-Hamas war, it said.
    (Production: Soren Larson, Christine Kiernan)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register