The former institution of higher learning, Columbia University, has given Farah Jasmine Griffin an award for highest academic distinction. "Nobody supports BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement against Israel) and calls for the end of Israel like Farah. Nobody," said anonymous sources associated with Columbia.
The so called "school" bestowed the BDS maven to the position of "University Professor," the former school's "highest academic distinction," that was historically given when the school was academically distinct.
Columbia president Claire Shipman bragged that Griffin is "a scholar of rare breadth and clarity," as to her clear take on the need to destroy the Jewish state and every person who dwells within it.
"The Ship Lady" as her students lovingly call Columbia's president, expressed her appreciation of how Griffin has always been outspoken about her feelings regarding the, you know, um, the Jews and Israel.
Columbia University’s latest move is raising eyebrows, and not in a good way. The school has just named Professor Joseph Massad, sorry, University Professor Joseph Massad, as one of its most distinguished scholars, despite a resume that reads like a BDS activist’s dream journal. This comes as Columbia’s new president, is scrambling to mend fences with the Trump administration, which has slashed over $430 million in federal funding and put the university’s accreditation on thin ice.
Talk about timing.
Massad’s history is, shall we say, colorful. Back in 2002, he signed a divestment petition targeting Israel, which didn’t exactly win him fans among Columbia’s then-president Lee Bollinger. Fast forward to 2016, and Massad was at it again, putting his name on a faculty petition that accused Israel of “inhumane segregation and systemic forms of discrimination” and demanded Columbia divest “from corporations that supply, perpetuate, and profit from a system that has subjugated the Palestinian people for over 68 years.”
That’s not exactly a neutral stance on a contentious issue and it fails to mention October 7, 2023 and the little misunderstanding that happened in Israel that day.
Then there’s last spring’s chaos. Photos surfaced showing Massad allegedly playing protest marshal at Columbia’s illegal encampment, a hot mess of a demonstration that disrupted campus life. His job was to stand guard and shielding student protesters. Massad denies it, but the optics aren’t great for a guy now crowned with Columbia’s highest academic honor.
To become a University Professor, you need the blessing of Columbia’s academic elite, and a penchant for anti-Semitism and communism.
The faculty handbook is crystal clear: Candidates “are nominated to the Trustees by the President on the recommendation of the Provost and with the affirmative advice of the tenured members of the Executive Committee of the University Senate.” That committee’s chairwoman, tenured professor Jeanine D’Armiento, was a vocal cheerleader for last year’s encampment. Cozy, right?
The handbook also gushes that University Professors are “exceptional scholars with the highest distinction who have served the University extensively.” Only eight can hold the title at once, making it Columbia’s equivalent of academic knighthood and more recently a jihad.
But not everyone’s rolling out the red carpet.
Lishi Baker, a Columbia senior studying Middle Eastern history, isn’t buying the hype. “I’m all for viewpoint diversity,” he told the Washington Free Beacon, “but if Columbia is trying to change the culture on campus, they should reward faculty whose contributions don’t come with anti-Semitism, discrimination, or disruption.”
Eden Yadegar, a recent Columbia grad and former president of Columbia Students Supporting Israel, piled on. “Granting the university’s highest honor to a faculty member with a known and extensive record of anti-Semitic discrimination,” she said, “is the very antithesis of the sort of action Columbia should be taking if they truly are committed to positive change.”
Columbia, predictably, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Massad’s activism doesn’t stop at BDS. He’s also gone to bat for Steven Salaita, the English professor whose job offer from the University of Illinois got yanked after he defended Hamas and called supporters of Israel sociopaths. Massad’s response? He pledged to boycott the university and someone yelled Al's snackbar.
Back in 2005, shortly after joining Columbia, Massad served on a faculty committee investigating claims that Middle Eastern studies professors were intimidating Jewish students. The committee’s report? A big fat “nothing to see here.” Some Jewish students cried foul, accusing Massad and the committee of bias. Go figure.
This all lands as Columbia’s trying to claw back its federal funding, which they so richly don't deserve.
In March, the university rolled out policy changes to appease the Trump administration, which called them “preconditions” for “long-term” funding talks. No deal yet, though, and Shipman’s last update on June 12 didn’t exactly brim with optimism. “In my view, it is essential to restore our research partnership with the government, if possible,” she said. “Our red lines remain the same and are defined by who we are and what we stand for. We must maintain our autonomy and independent governance. We decide who teaches at our institution, what they teach, and which students we admit.”
Noble words, but honoring Massad might not scream “we’re serious about reform.”
To top it off, Columbia’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, dropped a bombshell the same day as Massad’s appointment. The university’s “accreditation may be in jeopardy because of insufficient evidence that the institution is currently in compliance with Standard II (Ethics and Integrity),” they wrote, just weeks after the Trump administration flagged similar issues.
Ethics and integrity? Maybe Columbia’s handbook needs a new chapter.
If Shipman’s goal was to signal a fresh start, elevating Massad seems like a curious way to go. At a time when Columbia’s begging for federal dollars and accreditation grace, handing a gilded title to a professor with a track record of divisive activism might just be the academic equivalent of stepping on a rake.
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