According to a university spokesperson, Columbia University placed three administrators on leave this week while the school investigates their conduct at an alumni panel discussion on anti-Semitism on last month. The administrators were placed on leave later Leaked images appear last week showed the trio sharing disparaging messages during the event.
The seminar focused on Jewish life on campus amid tensions over Israel’s war in Gaza, taking place during a Columbia University Reunion on May 31.
The three administrators are Susan Chang-Kim, associate dean and chief administrative officer; Cristen Kromm, dean of university student life; and Matthew Patashnick, associate dean for student and family support, according to The Washington Free Beacon, the first one captures the images of text messages exchanged.
Ms. Chang-Kim also exchanged text messages during the event with Josef Sorett, president of Columbia College, according to The Free Beacon. In one exchange, Mr. Sorett texted “LMAO” for “laughing at me,” in response to a sarcastic message Ms. Chang-Kim wrote about Brian Cohen, the executive director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, according to Free lighthouse.
According to a university official, Mr. Sorett is cooperating with the investigation. He will be recused from matters related to the investigation while continuing to serve as dean.
Attempts to reach Mr. Sorett and other managers were unsuccessful.
A Columbia University spokesperson did not respond to questions seeking to confirm which administrators were placed on leave, what they were disciplined for, and why Mr. Sorett was not similarly disciplined. Because the investigation is pending, a spokesperson said the school would not address specific details about the incident or initial circumstances.
The image of the message was shared by a person sitting behind Ms. Chang-Kim at the event, according to The Free Beacon. As the panelists spoke, deans exchanged messages, photos show. “It’s hard to hear, but I’m trying to be open to understanding this point of view,” Ms. Chang-Kim once texted Mr. Sorett. He replied “yeah.”
In another exchange, Ms. Kromm texted her colleagues a message referring to an October 2023 opinion essay by Yonah Hain, the Columbia campus rabbi, titled “Alarm sound” and followed by two different vomiting emojis, the image shows.
According to the images, Mr. Patashnick accused one of the panelists of “making the most of the moment.” “The fundraising potential is huge,” he wrote.
The event was billed as including a discussion on the climate at Columbia since the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, the responsibility of universities in ensuring the safety of “not only Jewish students on campus but also of all students” and how Columbia can move forward.
Speakers on the panel included David Schizer, dean emeritus of Columbia Law School and co-leader of the university’s task force on anti-Semitism.
The controversy is just the latest to hit the elite university since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last fall and Columbia’s emergence as a center of campus protest. The campus has spread throughout the country.
Earlier this month, the website of The Columbia Law Review, one of the most prestigious student-edited law journals, was taken offline by the board of directors after its editors published one article argues that Palestinians are living under an “extremely complex structure of oppression” that amounts to crimes against humanity.
Last month, weeks after Columbia president Nemat Shafik asked the Police Department to enter the university’s Upper Manhattan campus to clear an encampment of pro-Palestinian students, the school’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a resolution of no confidence in his leadership abilities.
Virginia Foxx, Republican representative from North Carolina, chairwoman of the House Education & Workforce Committee, this week asked the university to share admin messages with the committee by June 26.
“I was appalled, but sadly not surprised, to learn that Columbia administrators had exchanged disparaging text messages during a panel discussing anti-Semitism at the university,” Ms. Foxx said. learn”. “Rector Josef Sorett’s weak private ‘apology’ to the university’s Board of Visitors shows that the school doesn’t understand that. Columbia’s Jewish community deserves better than this.”
