By Carol Tannenhauser
Columbia University permanently removed three top administrators from their positions this week following the release of photographs of text messages they exchanged during a May 31 panel discussion about Jewish life at the Ivy League school.
While the three will no longer hold those positions and are currently “on leave,” they remain employees of the university, according to a New York Times story.
During the May panel, on “the campus climate since the Israel-Hamas war began and the responsibility of universities to ensure the safety of all students,” the Columbia officials exchanged text messages that “referenced antisemitic tropes about Jewish wealth,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Hard to hear the woe is me,” one text read. “Amazing what $$$$ can do,” another observed. “If only every identity community had these resources and support.”
Another text used “vomiting emojis in reference to an op-ed about antisemitism authored by Columbia’s Campus Rabbi Yonah Hain,” according to the New York Post.
Over the course of the panel discussion, Susan Chang-Kim, who at the time was vice dean and chief administrative officer at Columbia College, was texting with her colleagues. An audience member sitting behind her photographed the messages on Chang-Kim’s phone, according to The Times. “The images were shared with The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website, which published an article.”
Chang-Kim’s texts were exchanged with Cristen Kromm, formerly the dean of undergraduate student life, and Matthew Patashnick, formerly the associate dean for student and family support. Josef Sorett, the dean of Columbia College, “also engaged with the administrators in the text exchange,” according to The Times, but will keep his position. He issued a public apology saying “I deeply regret my role in these text exchanges.”
In a statement, Nemat Shafik, Columbia’s president, described the text messages as “unacceptable and deeply upsetting, conveying a lack of seriousness about the concerns and the experiences of members of our Jewish community.” She called the messages “antithetical to our university’s values and standards.”
The university also announced on Monday that “beginning this fall, Columbia students, faculty, and staff will undergo required anti-discrimination training that will include a focus on antisemitism,” The Times added.
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Completely disregarding the lack of morality behind these texts.
You are an Associate Dean? Of an Ivy League School? Aren’t you supposed to have above average intelligence?
And you put self incriminating comments in writing? Via texts which is are permanent ink?
How dumb can one be? People this stupid should not be in leadership positions anywhere, especially at a university.
Universities have so much administrative bloat – much of it is government mandated, but they still go way overboard. That is why tuition is so high. Perhaps this is just a right-sizing. Occasionally students should figure things out for themselves rather than having 15 administrators to run to. Particularly administrators like these who clearly aren’t very bright.
I don’t understand why Sorett was excused.
It’s ONE of the reasons tuition is so high. Another is using contingent labor (that way they keep expenses low while allowing for more profit).
They should not be employees of a reputable institution. Ever.
Further, there should be significant clawback of salaries and benefits.
This kind of bigotry is emblematic of the rot in so-called top-tier universities.
Let the dead wood removal begin.
As a graduate of the school, i feel ashamed of going to Columbia at the moment. While firing these administrators is a start, they need to clean house from the top down and determine why this is happening to begin with.
It’s a sad state of affairs when this is what we’re seeing out of a University that is supposed to be one of the best in the world. It’s also a shame that this is happening in New York City of all places. Apparently stupidity and bigotry have no boundaries.
The scary thing is that these texts undoubtedly reflect many more conversations normalizing this kind of attitude. You can hear people testing the water to see how far they can go in their expressions of hate and bigotry, egging each other on.
I am very glad that Columbia took action.
very good coverage by Columbia Spectator, the student paper:
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/07/08/three-administrators-permanently-removed-as-shafik-denounces-leaked-texts-as-playing-into-ancient-antisemitic-tropes/
“Permanently removed” – the new gaslighting euphemism for “not fired”, “not terminated”, “not really demoted, “accommodated with another Dean position with no financial consequence,” “reassigned to other senior position”, “on leave…for the summer,” etc. etc.
Exactly right.
Essentially, they are getting extra paid vacation.
Those texts weren’t anti-Semitic in the least. They showed administrators’ frustration with a particular political group using that hearing as a platform to 1) fundraise 2) lie 3) amplify their message.
The texts do not show “frustration with a particular political group.” They show anger and resentment toward members of a particular religious group- Jewish people. Classic antisemitism.
Jews are a political group? If you think the students were lying then there isn’t much else to say to you because you are one of those deniers.
To others: the sad thing is their comment about wishing that other groups had this level of resources. Yes! I do wish ALL minorities had this level of resources. It should be something to aspire and work toward, not something to scoff at. Just like when a person of color scoffs at a successful person of same color and puts them down. I have heard many BIPOC communities who are trying to learn from how Jews galvanize, stay strong, and fight for what they believe, so they can do the same for their group. That is a good thing, a helpful and healthy perspective–if more people could stop being hateful and resentful and actually take away what is good, we would be better off.
These administrators sound like children. Texting in the middle of a panel? Making vomit emojis? Criticizing the very group they publicly claim to be protecting and validating? It’s disgusting and embarrassing for them and students/professors. I’m glad they got caught!
I’m not sure what I find more offensive – the overt antisemitism of these texts or the fact that these Ivy League administrators were stupid enough to express their views in writing.
Hopefully these clowns will be blackballed from finding another position at a university.
Good on Columbia! Take out the trash!
They are only “on leave,” not fired. When the dust settles they’ll be right back in power. Their sin was not antisemitism, which is fine at Columbia, but being so dumb they got caught.
This has to be taken a step further. Every college whose property was defaced, and/or trashed needs to caculate the total cost of the clean-up that followed. That includes the over-time of the crews, the costs of repairing and replacing statuary, physical property belonging to the institution, and the salaries, both regular time and overtime, that was necessary to restore the campus to its former condition. Then the institution should compel the families of every student who was arrested for trespassing to share those costs, plus pay a serious monetary fine for having participated in damaging said property. The worst violaters should be expelled. As far as I’ve seen, almost alll those students who were arrested at Columbia or elsewhere have been subsequently released with no consequential penalty of any kind. That has to stop.
Josef Sorett deeply regrets that his anti Semitic comments were made public. If they weren’t, he would likely continue to continue to make more of them in .private. He is a disgrace to the university and to human beings in general. How is it possible that he has managed to retain his position??? Who does he know that has made this possible??? Is he someone who is above the so-called standards and values of the university because he issued a ridiculous apology??? It reminds me of the valueless apology you get from Spectrum when your cable goes out for the 1,000th time and the next day it happens again. It has no meaning. If he’s truly sorry, he should do the right thing now. Resign.
Many of us work in healthcare and hospitals. Can you imagine the HIPPA violations if caught snarkily gossiping or sending vomit emojis about patients? What would happen to our licenses? What about lawsuits for malpractice? I hope that someone goes after these university employees the way someone would if they heard comments like these from their doctors or nurses.
Ha ha – I think anyone who has worked in a hospital (at lower levels, certainly) knows there is often – depending who is there – no shortage of snark and comment, both about patients, and about doctors and colleagues. Not necessarily HIPPA violating, but pointed and personal about behavior and choices. Perhaps true of many workplaces that require so much in-person, hierarchical, coordination.
They are on leave still collecting a paycheck. I bet they end up on a different perch at Columbia.
Or they will be hired at Harvard.
Gee, I wonder why ….. https://nypost.com/2024/07/10/us-news/nearly-half-of-jewish-voters-believe-ny-is-unsafe-for-them-shocking-poll-finds/
So, the three were put on “leave”.
They, including the one who apologized, should have been fired. Pronto!
There should be no place for bigots on any faculty, in any school. Period!
And Columbia, a place of high learning, in the city that has the largest Jewish
population of any city in the world, should hide it’s head in shame.
No longer is it a leading light. It has become a place of darkness.
Earlier today I offered what I thought was a mild dissent to the near-unanimous comments suporting Columbia — questioning whether the texts did in fact reflect “ancient antisemitic tropes. ” The power of money has never been confined to one group, I suggested. The comment was listed as “under review” and then disappeared. Is this point of view so off the wall as to be unprintable?
You know what is the creepiest part of the story? “An audience member sitting behind her photographed the messages on her phone.”
No matter how offensive we may all think the message is, it’s very disturbing that a random stranger could snap and disseminate a private message.
Yeah, let’s blame the messenger. That’s the disturbing part to you?! Not the content of the exchange – or the stupidity of the involved to exchange that content in both written form and within the line of sight of strangers?! And the involved are supposed be of above-average IQ, serving as role models (or at least educators) to the next generation!
It is because of these people that all Muslims are suffering in this city right now. Even if they wish to avoid extremists and troublemakers. Where are the elected officials to stand with them
Big lack of context here, were they talking about Jewish people or zionists? Not all Jews are zionists and not all Zionist are Jews. A picture was taken of their text message conversation!? Where’s the picture why can’t we see it? This is McCarty style which hunt
Assuming the report is true in stating that these administrators were exchanging antisemitic texts, another ground for their dismissal might be stupidity. Huey Long was said to have advised, Never write what you can say. Never say what you can whisper. Never whisper what you can nod. And never nod what you can wink.