Columbia University: A Day at a Campus in Chaos

Every Friday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum holds a rally in New York City calling for the release of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. This Friday, April 26, at 9:30 AM, they held their rally at Columbia University as antisemitism and illegal occupations of campuses grips our nation.  

I went to the City by train to join the protest, but only got there at the tail end. First I had to find my way to the right subway and, of course, got lost. Still, I found New York alive after the dark years of the pandemic. People were hustling in the streets, sidewalks were overcrowded, and people from all walks of life were starting their morning. I did notice the National Guard searching people’s bags on the subway, Governor Hochul's gambit to tackle rising crime. 

Finally, after grabbing a cup of coffee and finding the right subway, I departed the bustling world of Times Square and entered the chaotic world of Columbia University.

The moment I stepped out of the subway car, I could hear the rally above. Hundreds of people were there, many of them Jews speaking Hebrew. They held up signs showing the faces of the hostages and waved Israeli and American flags. Chants rang out to bring the hostages home. Police, maybe a dozen of them, stood nearby; steel gates separated us protesters from the surrounding street. The rally was peaceful and energetic. Speakers spoke out against the horrific massacre on October 7 and the antisemitism that prevails on our campuses, condemning the university administration’s failure to act. The rally ended with the speaker saying the first names of the hostages. Out of 240 hostages taken on October 7, 133 are still in Gaza, and 36 of them are confirmed dead — a grim reminder of the human cost in a bloody war that has killed both ordinary Israelis and Palestinians.

The rally

Israelis chanting Am Yisrael Chai, “the people of Israel live,” after the rally

Once the rally was over, I walked around Columbia to see with my own eyes what is happening on the campus. I noticed very quickly students, and even some faculty, casually wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, the symbol of Palestinian identity that these students have since appropriated as a symbol of hatred for the Jews. Most, if not all, of those wearing the keffiyeh were neither Arab nor Palestinian but often white, sometimes black. Cultural appropriation, it seems, does not apply to Palestine. One wore the keffiyeh like a bandana. I also saw a student wearing a watermelon kippah. Does he know the Shema prayer? I doubt it. 

Members of the Neutrei Karta movement were also there, opposite of our rally. They wore Orthodox Jewish clothes and chanted "Judaism Yes, Zionism No!" One Jewish woman informed me that they are, in fact, a fringe cult movement. Still, they angered many of the Jews there. One man was so incensed he began to shout at them. They stood calmly by and recorded it. I guessed their goal is to make people angry and then post it online. Some of the passerbys thanked them for denouncing Israel. On the other hand, one Jewish girl walked down the street holding a sign saying, "If Zionist is a dirty word, then talk dirty to me." 

The police showed preference for neither side, asking both pro- and anti-Israel protesters to not cause trouble and to not obstruct the campus. Columbia University is still, after all, a university of tens of thousands. The sit-ins that have provoked so much controversy were behind the university gates. I could only see from the outside a large Palestinian flag draped over a gate and numerous canopies and tents. Every entrance to the university was closed; security was checking the ID of anyone entering. 

Chaos on campus

The campus occupation across the gate

The main sign of conflict was not the people, but the posters. All across the block, I could see what amounted to a shadow war of the public poles. Many of these poles have posters from both pro- and anti-Israel people. The pro-Israel ones show the faces of the hostages or condemn Hamas. The anti-Israel posters say "Free Palestine" or call to shut down the campus. A few were about joining the Communist Party. Almost all of these posters, on both sides, were ripped and torn on every pole. I saw some girls walking down the street and putting up new pro-Israel posters showing the hostages. Someone will likely come out to rip it off later and tape a Free Palestine message over it.

There was one poster that neither side had torn off. It was advertising a website, and gave a very long quote about love:

"One often wonders what it is that makes a convincing romance. Pure romance. Not rom-com. Rom-com is a cop out. Rom-com is when pure romance realizes it can't succeed in its mission but gotta keep a funny face so investment can be recouped. Rom-com is street-smart. Pure romance is punishment. And like iron that meets its shape and purpose only by going through fire, it burns, dies and stands up without a murmur when it's time to meet its raison d’être. To write rom-com, one needs only intelligence. To pen pure romance, one needs intelligence, war, economics, history, philosophy, politics, psychology, probability, naysayers and near-death to come together to guide oneself. Rom-com is ice-skating. Pure romance is digging your way out of Shawshank Prison. "Casablanca". "The English Patient". "Out of Africa". "In The Mood for Love". "A Little Romance". "Il Postino". "A Walk In The Clouds". "Untamed Heart". "Edward Scissorhands". "Chocolat". "The Bridges of Madison County". "Benny & Joon". "Shakespeare In Love". "Amadeus". "Million Dollar Baby". "Ford v Ferrari". Some that tried hard. Presenting yet another gem that did: "Cinema Paradiso". In the original 'New Version' Director's Cut. In all its 173 glorious Italian minutes. Not the butchered cut of 124 minutes. Come, taste love. Not gossip. Love is not what you have when it comes in but what you do when it does. Verb your nouns for deeper meanings. Love. For what we do in love echoes in eternity."¹

Love, it would seem, has evaporated from Columbia.

1. https://www.lovelustnewyork.com/