Activists support US professor ‘forced’ from Columbia for advocating for Palestine | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Academics, lawyers and activists have expressed support for the law professor, who says she was pressured to leave Columbia University for her advocacy for pro-Palestinian students.
“As of today, I have reached an agreement with Columbia University that releases me from my obligation to teach or participate in faculty governance after 25 years at Columbia Law School,” Katherine Franke, a tenured professor of law at the Ivy League university in the United States, said in statement on Thursday.
“Although the university may call this change in my status “retirement”, it should more accurately be understood as a termination of employment in more acceptable terms.
“I have come to the view that the Columbia University administration has created such a toxic and hostile environment for legitimate discussion of the war in Israel and Palestine that I can no longer teach or conduct research,” Franke said.
Protests against Israel’s war on Gaza erupted on the Columbia campus in New York City last April and prompted similar encampments at other institutions across the US and beyond. The students demanded that the university disassociate itself from Israel, which has been accused of war crimes and genocide in Gaza. They also called for a ceasefire to end a war that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and reduced Gaza to rubble.
The prestigious Ivy League school, however, tried to resist the student protests – a crackdown that drew criticism from human rights groups.
Some critics have argued that cracking down on pro-Palestinian students and groups has threatened free speech on the university campus, while others argue that the university administration has allowed a hostile atmosphere to develop.
Commenting on Franke’s resignation on Saturday, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said Franke had become “another victim of pro-Israelism that turns universities and other spaces of public life into places of obscurantism, discrimination and oppression.”
On Sunday, Noura Erakat, a Rutgers University professor and human rights lawyer, called the university’s abuse of Professor Franke “outrageous.”
“She resigned after 25 years of an illustrious academic career and dedication to her students because she decided she had nothing to go back to – it’s too hostile,” Erakat posted on social media platform X.
Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), described Columbia’s actions as “truly disgraceful” and said Saturday that the AAUP stands with “Professor Franke and against this repression of pro-Palestinian speech.”
The Center for Constitutional Rights, an advocacy organization, said Thursday that Franke’s resignation represented an “unguarded attack on both academic freedom and advocacy for Palestinian rights.”
Columbia is ‘collaborating’ with the ‘enemies’ of its academic mission
According to the New York Times articleColumbia University spokeswoman Samantha Slater said an appeal has been filed [against Franke] “alleged discriminatory harassment in violation of our rules. An investigation was carried out and a finding was made.”
In her resignation letter, Franke noted that last February, two of her colleagues filed a complaint against her with the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, alleging that one of her comments to the US news outlet Democracy Now! led to harassment of Israeli members of the Columbia community in violation of university policy.
In January 2024 interviewFranke talked about the university’s graduate program’s relationship with countries including Israel and said, “It’s something that a lot of us have been concerned about, because so many of these Israeli students, who then come to the Columbia campus, are coming right out of their military service. And they are known to harass Palestinian and other students on our campus.”
As the investigation into complaints about the comment progressed, Franke said that in April 2024, during a US Congressional hearing, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked Columbia’s then-president Minouche Shafik what disciplinary action had been taken against Franke, who had made comments about Israeli students on campus.
Štefanik mistakenly attributed the remark to “all Israeli students who served in the [Israeli army] are dangerous and should not be on campus” to Franke.
“President Shafik replied ‘I agree with you that these comments are completely unacceptable and discriminatory.’ “At the time, President Shafik was aware that Congresswoman Stefanik’s summary of my comments was grossly inaccurate and misleading, but she made no effort to correct the congresswoman’s deliberate mischaracterization of my comments,” Franke said in her statement.
Professor Franke says she faced harassment, including death threats, after the congressional hearing.
Shafik, who has been criticized for his handling of student protests, stepped down as university president in August.
Meanwhile, an outside law firm was later hired to investigate Franke’s comments last November and concluded that her remarks violated the university’s equal opportunity and affirmative action policies. Franke said she filed an appeal.
“On reflection, it became clear to me that Columbia had become such a hostile environment that I could no longer serve as an active faculty member,” Franke said in her statement.
“Instead of defending the university’s role in a democracy, in fostering critical debate, research and scholarship on issues of vital public interest … the leadership of Columbia University has shown a willingness to cooperate with the enemies of our academic mission.”
