CAIR Condemns Columbia’s ‘Cowardly, Racist Capitulation’ to Trump Administration Demands
CAIR Condemns Columbia’s ‘Cowardly, Racist Capitulation’ to Trump Administration Demands
March 21, 2025- 8:52 pm
Muslim civil rights and advocacy group calls on Columbia president and Board to resign in shame
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/21/25) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned Columbia University’s “cowardly, racist capitulation” to the Trump administration after the school agreed to single out the faculty of its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department for special supervision, among other concessions to demands the administration made as part of its Israel First agenda.
CAIR is also calling on the faculty and staff of Columbia to demand the resignations of President Katrina Armstrong and board members who approved her decision.
In a statement CAIR said:
“Columbia University has officially confirmed that there is no depth to which it will not sink, no academic principle it will not disregard, and no student or professor it will not sacrifice, to satisfy the demands of the Israeli government’s supporters, including the anti-Palestinian fanatics controlling the Trump administration. Singling out its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department for special supervision in response to demands is nothing short of a cowardly, racist capitulation.
“Our country is living through a new McCarthy era, and Columbia is its worst symbol. We encourage every principled faculty and staff member at Columbia to take a lesson from the bravery of their students and join us in demanding the resignations of President Armstrong and every trustee member who endorsed her unconscionable decision.”
“Let’s be very clear. The death of academic freedom at Columba is a consequence of the anti-Palestinian politicians, lobby groups and donors who could not tolerate the sight of students–Jews, Christians and Muslims, African-Americans and Arabs-Americans, and others of various backgrounds—protesting for Palestinian human rights.
“Rather than considering student demands to divest from Israel and other human rights violators, Columbia preferred to call in the NYPD to brutalize their students, turn over their students to ICE, and silence criticism of the Israeli government under the guise of countering antisemitism. But it wasn’t enough for Israel’s supporters. Now Columbia has effectively given the federal government veto power over their own school.
“Columbia University has fallen, and now we must ensure that no other school follows in their shameful steps.”
BACKGROUNDER:
CAIR previously designatedColumbia University as an “institution of particular concern” due to the hostile environment on campus and threat to the safety of Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish and other students, staff, and faculty who stand against occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
Columbia University has reportedly failed to protect its students from religious, racial, and ethnic discrimination, actively suppressed the free speech of students protesting genocide, and carried out a campaign of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia, making it among the most hostile campuses for anti-genocide voices.
Although Columbia University’s president claims educational diversity initiatives are “designed to recruit and support a community of students, faculty, and staff that is diverse in every way,“ reports of how the university has treated anti-genocide protestors suggest the language does not include voices opposing apartheid, occupation, and genocide.
In January 2024, students at Columbia University were reportedly sprayed with a hazardous, foul-smelling chemical agent by two individuals while at a protest in support of Palestine. At least 10 students reportedly sought medical care.
Dozens of students reported symptoms such as burning eyes, nausea, headaches, abdominal and chest pain, and vomiting. A university spokesman reportedly made an initial statement seemingly blaming students for the attack, claiming that their protest was “unsanctioned and violated university policies and procedures.” Three days following the incident, Dennis A. Mitchell, Interim Provost at Columbia University announced, “the alleged perpetrators identified to the University were immediately banned from campus while the law enforcement investigation proceeds.” Later, at a congressional hearing in April, Columbia University President, Minouche Shafik, reportedly revealed for the first time publicly that the two individuals allegedly responsible had been suspended.
In November 2023, Columbia University administrators canceled an event with Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, thirty minutes before it was scheduled citing unnamed security concerns.
In a lawsuit filed against Columbia University, the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal accused the university of “violating its own policies” by suspending Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). The university had reportedly altered policies and language regarding student group events following several protests held on campus by the two groups and then referenced newly introduced language in their decision to suspend them. David Lurie, the president of the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors, exclaimed that university administrators’ reported decision to make updates to student group policies on their own superseded “well-established, extensive procedures” for the sanctioning of student speech and believes that the new policies were created “in order to use it exactly as [the university] did.” Joseph Howley, a professor at the university argued that there is “no precedent for simply banning a student group – certainly not like this, unilaterally, without transparency.”
Columbia University administrators continued to violate educational diversity initiatives on April 18, 2024, when more than 100 Columbia University and Barnard College students were arrested after President Shafik reportedly authorized the New York Police Department to sweep an encampment established by students who were protesting the relentless attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Columbia was under investigation following a civil rights complaint filed by Palestine Legal, alleging discriminatory treatment of Palestinian students and their supporters.
In addition, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik reportedly proposed introducing “peace officers,” who would have the authority to use force and arrest students engaged in protests. Reportedly, the 290 campus security officers cannot arrest or physically engage with students unless in self-defense.
As leaders of an institution of higher education, the Columbia University administration has collectively failed to stand up to its policies and standards of free speech and failed to meet its obligations to protect all its students from discrimination.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com
