Columbia University suspended three deans after they were revealed to have been mocking Jews who complained about the antisemitism on campus, in a report in The Washington Free Beacon. Columbia College dean Josef Sorett who was not suspended who was also on the exchange, was not sanctioned.
The three, Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick and Cristen Kromm, all associate deans and administrators at Columbia were with Sorett in attendance at a panel discussion on May 31, dealing with the anti-Israel protests that broke out on campus over the war in Gaza and the threats directed at Jewish and Israeli students.
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Senior Columbia University staff exchange mockery during panel on antisemitism
(Photo: Washington Free Beacon)
They exchanged derisive and anti-Semitic text messages. Including the use of vomit emojis referring to an editorial published by University Rabbi Elie Buechler about the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, soon after the war broke out.
Their communication was recorded by a woman who was present at the event and wrote about it in the paper. She chose to remain anonymous but said she was a graduate of the university and a long-time financial supporter of Colombia University. After Dean Sorett criticized her invasion of the senior staff members' privacy, she said she could not stand by in the face of such mockery expressed by the deans, over the accounts of students, but was afraid of being targeted in the atmosphere currently on campus.
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Anti Israel encampment at Columbia University
(Photo: Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)
The comments exchanged by the deans during the panel came to the attention of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "I was appalled, but sadly not surprised, to learn Columbia administrators exchanged disparaging text messages during a panel that discussed antisemitism at the University," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the committee after Columbia was told to make the exchange between the deans' available to the committee.