Three Columbia University deans were placed on leave this week after sending belittling text messages during a panel discussion about antisemitism at a recent alumni event.
Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick, Josef Sorett, and Cristen Kromm exchanged text messages during a two-hour panel on the rising impact of antisemitism on college campuses.
The screenshots of the messages, which included a vomiting emoji, were later shared online.
“This is difficult to listen to but I'm trying to keep an open mind to learn about this point of view," the dean of Columbia University Chang-Kim texted Sorett in a text message.
“Yup," Sorett wrote back.
Chang-Kim was on her phone texting her colleagues about the proceedings—and they were replying to her in turn. As the panelists offered frank appraisals of the climate Jewish students have faced, Columbia's top officials responded with mockery and vitriol, dismissing claims of anti-Semitism and suggesting, in Patashnick's words, that Jewish figures on campus were exploiting the moment for "fundraising potential.” The text messages, which were captured by an audience member sitting behind Chang-Kim who photographed the vice dean tapping away on her phone, also used vomit emojis to describe an op-ed about anti-Semitism by Columbia's campus rabbi. Via the Free Beacon.
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Sorett apologized for the “harm” the text messages had caused, claiming they don’t “indicate the views of any individual or the team.”
He has “reiterated his commitment to learning from this situation and other incidents over the last year to build a community of respect and healthy dialogue.” However, Sorett was not placed on leave.
Earlier this year, Columbia University made headlines after pro-Hamas protestors occupied the campus, terrorizing Jewish students and calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Roughly 300 pro-Hamas protestors arrested by NYPD at Columbia University were not students— but rather part of radical terrorist organizations.
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