On Monday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “The Brief,” Columbia University Professor Emerita Marianne Hirsch stated that “we know, and it’s pretty obvious, that these accusation[s] of rampant antisemitism and Columbia’s inability to curb it are really a form of obfuscating and silencing student protests against the brutal war that touches them very personally as an injustice that they’re witnessing on their phones and on their screens day after day after day.”
Host Jim Sciutto asked, “We’ve seen Columbia leadership make a series of concessions to the Trump administration on this and other issues. Do you see it as caving, Columbia is caving to political pressure?”
Hirsch answered, “Absolutely. I think that there are some in the Columbia administration that are saying that we’ve always — already wanted to make some of these changes. But I do not think that these changes are warranted. I also think that Columbia has conceded that there’s rampant antisemitism, for example, on our campus, when we know, and it’s pretty obvious, that these accusation[s] of rampant antisemitism and Columbia’s inability to curb it are really a form of obfuscating and silencing student protests against the brutal war that touches them very personally as an injustice that they’re witnessing on their phones and on their screens day after day after day. So, I think this is very deliberate. And, yes, I think Columbia, unfortunately, has capitulated to demands that are very unreasonable and that have a severe impact on academic freedom.”
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