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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Columbia University temporarily bans pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai
after October 7 protest
By Sabrina Souza, CNN
Updated:
6:15 PM EDT, Wed October 16, 2024
(CNN) – has temporarily banned pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai from
campus for “repeatedly harassing and intimidating” school
employees, according to a university spokesperson.
“Because Assistant Professor Davidai repeatedly harassed and
intimidated University employees in violation of , we have
temporarily limited his access to campus while he undertakes
appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our
employees,” a university spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.
The university said the ban of Davidai, at the university’s business
school since 2019, is related to conduct last week at the time of an
October 7 commemoration.
The spokesperson also said the school respects Davidai’s right to
free speech. “His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not
being limited now. Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of
intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its
employees,” the spokesperson added.
The Ivy League school in New York was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian
protests at US college campuses this spring. In August, university
President stepped down after she came under criticism for authorizing
arrests on campus and for her testimony to the House Education
Committee about the university’s handling of antisemitism.
Davidai’s temporary ban was issued about a week after he participated
in a memorial service on campus for October 7th in which he posted
videos online confronting a university official.
Davidai told CNN he encourages people to watch the videos and assess
for themselves whether they think they are harassment.
He took issue with the school’s action. “The only professor that
was suspended is the Jewish Israeli professor who called out the
support for terrorism on campus,” Davidai said.
Although Davidai is not teaching a class this semester, he cannot go
into his office, attend faculty meetings or research seminars and is,
“for all intents and purposes removed from university life,” he
said.
On October 7, Jewish students gathered at Columbia University in an
organized memorial service to mark the one-year anniversary of the
massacre in Israel.
The October 7, 2023, attacks left more than 1,200 Israelis dead –
the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust – and Hamas continues
to hold many people hostage.
Israel’s war against Hamas has left 40,000 people dead in Gaza,
according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The brutal war in Gaza and
its massive civilian death toll has ignited widespread fury, even among
Israel’s allies.
Professor recorded videos as he confronted campus officials
Davidai told CNN on Wednesday that students and faculty who support
Hamas protested the memorial service last week.
Davidai described what he saw the day of the memorial, saying
students protested the event with signs with phrases that support Hamas
and the armed resistance.
“It’s horrific and unbelievable,” Davidai said. “Imagine
protesting the memorial for the Tulsa massacre. That’s what it feels
like for Jews when October 7th was protested.”
Davidai however acknowledged the protesting was, “free speech no
matter how painful it is.”
At the gathering for the one-year anniversary, Davidai began to ,
pressing them on why pro-Palestinian protests were allowed on campus on
October 7.
He posted the video to his X account, which has a following of more
than 100,000 users, confronting Cas Holloway, the university’s chief
operating officer.
“How did you allow this to happen on Oct. 7?” Davidai asked
Holloway in the video. “You have to do your job. And I will not let
you rest if they won’t let us rest,” he told the university
official in the video.
A university official told CNN the access restriction was a direct
result of Davidai’s conduct on October 7 in harassing University
employees in violation of University Policy. This is not about one
isolated incident or any one individual employee, the university
official said.
The university official also said Davidai has not been suspended from
his university position and nothing in this action affects his status
as a faculty member.
School has seen suspensions and president stepping down
The school continues to deal with changes after the protests earlier
this year.
Safik announced her departure a week after the resignations of who
were permanently removed from their posts after the university’s
president said they engaged in “very troubling” text messages that
“touched on antisemitic tropes.”
The school also has banned one student, Khymani James, a
Pro-Palestinian student activist who said on video, “Zionists don’t
deserve to live.”
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which helped ignite the protest
encampments at Columbia that sparked a pro-Palestine and anti-Israel
movement on campuses across America, apologized on his behalf in April.
James has sued the university to get his ban overturned.
Earlier this month the group rescinded its apology in which the group
said James said he misspoke in the heat of the moment. But James that
he didn’t write the apology and said, “I will not allow anyone to
shame me for my politics. Anything I said, I meant it.”
CNN’s David Goldman, Matt Egan and Elisabeth Buchwald contributed
to this report.
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