Columbia University crisis: Rabbi advises Jewish students to stay home
Columbia University is in deep crisis Rabbi advises Jewish students to stay home during Passover due to intense pro-Palestinian protests. Passover is a major Jewish holiday that begins today and will end on April 30, 2024 evening.
A rabbi is a chief religious official of a synagogue in the United States. An Ivy League School’s rabbi told Jewish students to stay home during Passover. They issued this alert keeping in consideration intense fights at Columbia University while holding pro-Palestinian protests.
Rabbi Elie Buechler is a rabbi affiliated with Columbia University’s Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. He emphasized a group of approximately 300 mostly Orthodox Jewish students to return home and stay there. He expressed deep concerns about the safety of Jewish students on campus.
Elie Buechler said recent events at Columbia University have made it clear that Columbia’s University Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee the safety of Jewish students. NYPD refers to the New York City Police Department.
White House and New York officials have already criticized the violent clashes at university campus. Because of the intense atmosphere, University officials have stated students can attend classes and even take exams virtually during Passover.
It came after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023. Since then, tensions have increased at Columbia University and many other universities.
However, the crisis at Columbia University deepened after university administrators testified before Congress last week regarding antisemitism on campus and the rise of pro-Palestinian protests in and around campus.
This current situation has gained widespread criticism of Minouche Shafik from her opponents. Republican US Representative Elise Stefanik has demanded that Columbia President Minouche Shafik resign immediately due to campus leadership’s lost control of its campus.
Apart from Elise Stefanik, the Republican head of the Education Committee, Virginia Foxx warned university administrators that there would be repercussions if they did not stop on-campus pro-Palestinian protests.
Virginia stated Columbia’s continuous inability to restore peace and order immediately to campus shows a serious violation of the University’s Title VI obligations. It is a law that provides federal funding to educational institutes. Hence, it needs to be addressed right away.
Protestors occupied South Lawn on the Columbia University campus last Wednesday making shiftable tents. Hence, it led to a confrontation with the NYPD and arrests of 100 people for disrupting peace and order on campus.
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