Columbia University activists are planning a protest of Veterans Day — which organizers want to “reclaim” from the “Israel-US wr machine” in the name of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
The unsanctioned student group Columbia University Apartheid Divest is circulating flyers for the event — set for Monday on the Ivy League school’s main Morningside Heights campus.
“Veterans Day is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” a flyer for the agitator group’s event said.
“The American war machine should not be honored for the horrors unleashed on others,” the flyer added. “Instead, we will celebrate Martyrs Day in honor of those martyred by the Israel-US war machine. A day to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of those martyrs.”
Campus veterans outraged by the plans are planning a celebration of veterans at the same time to counter the antagonists.
The protest was viewed as a slap in the face after the on-campus vitriol sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel — much of which wound up directed at student-veterans.
“That post really shook the hornet’s nest,” said Sam Nahins, a 31-year-old Air Force veteran and Columbia graduate student who completed his undergraduate at the school in the spring.
“They’ve never hid their disdain for veterans. But now it’s really out in the open,” he added. “Last year when students and faculty members were running around dressing up as jihadist and screaming death to America, death to western civilization, death to everything but their cause, I had friends get called infidels, and murderers and baby killers.”
Most concerning to Nahins is the effect something like a “Martyrs Day” demonstration might have on the mental health of his fellow campus vets following such a tumultuous year — especially after one of his best friends from school took his own life just months ago.
That friend was Brandon Christie, a US Marine Corps veteran who was working on a undergraduate degree in mathematics-statistics when he stopped going to class in the weeks after Oct. 7 last year.
Christie eventually dropped out of school altogether, and after vanishing in September was found dead apparently by his own hand in an upstate park days later.
“This has all been really detrimental towards the mental health of veterans, and just nothing was really being done about it,” Nahins said.
Nahins — who has acted as an unofficial liaison between the school’s large veterans community of more than 700 students — raised such concerns to administrators after finding out about the “Martyrs Day” plans, and on Sunday had a “meaningful” call with Columbia’s interim-president Katrina Armstrong, he said.
“When I told President Armstrong that about what happened last year, she really seemed to be very taken aback by it,” he said.
Armstrong was appointed interim-president in August after her predecessor Minouche Shafik stepped down over her handling of a series of anti-Israel demonstrations, which escalated into violence and destruction until the NYPD was forced to raid a barricaded campus building in April.
The school told The Post that it stands by its veterans community — the largest of all Ivy League schools — and downplayed the reach of the “Martyrs Day” organizers.
“Columbia is proud of our students, faculty and staff who are veterans, and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice and the invaluable contributions they offer to our community,” a campus spokesperson told The Post. “The University honors its veterans on Veterans Day and every day, and we are proud to be participating in the New York Veterans Day Parade tomorrow, as we have for more than a decade.”
“We are aware that a small group has called for a demonstration tomorrow, and our public safety team is monitoring for any disruptions to campus activity. As always, we are committed to preserving our core mission to teach, create, and advance knowledge,” the spokesperson added.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest did not respond to a request for comment.
The group’s flyer has made its rounds outside of campus — including to some New York lawmakers who reacted with disgust.
“Any effort to dishonor our veterans is disgraceful and must be confronted head-on. Columbia University cannot allow these un-American terrorist supporters to insult the brave men and women who defended our freedoms,” said Queens Councilman Robert Holden, who saw the flyer.
“These lunatics will not reclaim Veterans Day — not today, not ever,” he added.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
