As was stated in our blog post dated May 29, 2018, an open letter had been sent to Columbia University administration requesting that it condemns professor Dabashi's anti-Semitic statements and takes other appropriate action.
“Every dirty treacherous ugly and pernicious act happening in the world just wait for a few days and the ugly name of “Israel” will pop up as a key actor in the atrocities.”
--Professor Hamid Dabashi of Columbia University
In the response sent on June 8, to Avi Gordon, the Executive Director of Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) and to Victor Muslin, the leader of the ACF's Columbia University and Barnard College chapter, Columbia University's Provost John Coatsworth and Executive Vice President of University Life Suzanne Goldberg failed to acknowledge the anti-Semitism of Dabashi's statements and declined to take any actions to protect Jewish, Israeli and pro-Israel students from his obvious hostility of everything and everyone related to Israel.
In an email dated June 17, 2018, Victor Muslin, the leader of the ACF's Columbia University and Barnard College chapter and Avi Gordon, the Executive Director of Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) advised signatories of the open letter that the response received from Columbia University administration was inadequate. Victor Muslin and Avi Gordon stated, "Alums for Campus Fairness will continue to press the Columbia University administration to address our community’s concerns and to engage in a constructive dialogue with us. We urge everyone to continue working with ACF to educate the administration regarding our community’s concerns by co-signing a joint public statement or by writing separate public letters to the administration regarding the inadequacy of the administration’s response. We must ensure that the Columbia University administration takes our concerns seriously and understands these issue will not go away without their leadership taking a stand against anti-Semitism. A perfunctory PR style brush off is not a satisfactory response to bigotry and unfair treatment facing of Jewish, Israeli and pro-Israel voices on campus."
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