Columbia University Shuts Down, Advises Students To Stay Home As Campus Spirals Out Of Control

(FeaturedHeadlines.com) Columbia University announced the cancellation of its in-person classes and shifted to online education temporarily as anti-Israel protests erupted on its New York City campus and made the Jewish students at the college vulnerable to violence.

The announcement was made in the wake of increased threats of anti-Semitic violence during the Jewish annual event, Passover.

President of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, stated that the administration is shutting down the campus to de-escalate the situation and come up with a strategy to tackle these protests.

Passover is an annual Jewish event that started on April 22. Multiple Jewish student organizations have already increased the security of the students across the country in anticipation of violence.

Shafik stated that Columbia University has seen a massive surge in intimidation and harassment of Jewish students, which will not be tolerated at all.

She added that the University cannot allow a specific group of students to hinder educational activities, and everyone needs to sit down and have a dialogue to reach an agreement.

Columbia University also attracted criticism from all quarters. President Joe Biden condemned the on-campus violence, while the US Congresswoman from New York, Elise Stefanik, has called for Shafik’s removal for risking the security of Jewish students.

Amid rising protests at the Ivy League school, Shafik also appeared in a Congressional hearing where she denounced anti-Semitism. However, Republican lawmakers slammed her for not taking action against the protesters.

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx warned the University’s administration of facing the consequences should they fail to curb the demonstrations.

Apart from Columbia University, anti-Israel protests have erupted in multiple other top colleges nationwide, including New York University and Yale University, where Police arrested 47 protesters.

In 2022, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Harvard failed to condemn anti-Semitism in the aftermath of Hamas attack on Israel. This led to the resignation of the presidents of Harvard and Penn, while Sally Kornbluth of MIT refused to step down.