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Columbia Task Force’s Final Report Finds Widespread Antisemitic Bias in Classrooms

Weak enforcement is blamed, with implementation unresolved during a leadership transition.

Overview

  • The final report details instructors targeting Jewish and Israeli students with slurs and accusations, including being called an “occupier,” “one of the murderers,” and told “it’s such a shame that your people survived in order to commit mass genocide.”
  • Investigators found instructors injected anti-Israel rhetoric into courses unrelated to the Middle East, citing examples in astronomy, Arabic, feminism, photography and other disciplines despite rules requiring faculty to stick to course subjects.
  • The document recounts a January incident in which protesters stormed a class taught by a visiting Israeli professor, describing it as a flagrant breach of academic freedom.
  • Examples of faculty activism include a public health instructor leading protest chants and labeling gifts from Jewish donors as “laundering blood money,” with the report noting his contract was not renewed.
  • Recommendations call for stricter enforcement of anti-discrimination policies, religious accommodations, and bans on pressuring students to protest, while noting persistent cultural failures despite a prior $221 million federal settlement and ongoing leadership uncertainty.