Columbia University Postpones Fundraiser After Staff, Students Take Pro-Hamas Stance

Columbia University students participate in a rally in support of Palestine at the university in New York on Oct. 12, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Columbia University has canceled a major fundraising event after some of its staff and students engaged in anti-Israel, pro-Hamas activities on campus.

Columbia Giving Day is a 24-hour online fundraising event held annually that was scheduled to take place on Oct. 25 this year.

“After careful consideration and consultation with University and alumni leadership, we decided that this is not the appropriate time to move forward with Columbia Giving Day,” Columbia spokesperson Samantha Slater said in a statement, according to CNN. “It is postponed for the time being, and a decision on rescheduling will be made in the near future.”

According to a notice by Barnard College at Columbia University, a rescheduled date “during this calendar year is not anticipated.” Last year’s Columbia Giving Day raised close to $30 million.

Columbia’s decision to cancel the fundraising comes after it and other universities such as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) faced severe backlash from powerful donors for allowing anti-Israel, pro-Hamas statements and demonstrations by students and some faculty.

On Oct. 8, the first day after Hamas attacked Israel, Joseph Massad, a tenured professor of Middle Eastern studies at Columbia University, published an article at the pro-Palestine blog The Electronic Intifida, hailing the “stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance” against the “cruel colonizers.” He called the storming of Israeli checkpoints by “resistance fighters”' from Palestine “astounding”

On Oct. 13, a petition at Change.org called for Mr. Massad’s “immediate removal” from Columbia’s faculty.

“Massad’s decision to praise the abhorrent attack encourages violence and misinformation in and outside of campus, particularly putting many Jewish and Israeli students on campus at risk,” it said.

“Moreover, many students have expressed that they feel unsafe in the presence of a professor who supports the horrific murders of civilians,” it said. The petition has so far gathered over 59,000 signatures.

Earlier this month, university officials shut down the campus to the public after an Israeli student was attacked while hanging up posters of Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas.

University President Under Criticism

In an Oct. 18 statement, Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, urged staff and students to “avoid language that vilifies, threatens, or stereotypes entire groups of people,” warning that such speech “will not be tolerated.”

In a recent speech, Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at the Columbia Business School, sharply criticized Ms. Shafik for not controlling pro-terror groups on the campus.

“President Minouche Shafik of Columbia University, you are a coward,” he said. “We are waiting for you to eradicate all pro-terror student organizations from campus.”

“Last week we had thousands of students chanting pro-terror songs that are sung right now in Iraq, in Libya, in Yemen, in Afghanistan. … They were celebrating the rape of teenage girls in a music festival in the name of resistance. They were celebrating this. And the president of the university is allowing the pro-terror student organizations to march on our campuses.”

“If my amazing 2-year-old daughter was now 18 years old, I would never, never send her to Colombia. Not because it’s not a great institution—it’s an amazing institution—but because I know that she will not be protected there because the president of the university allows pro-terrorists to march on campus.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the university for comment.

Harvard and UPenn

Universities like Harvard and UPenn have seen several donors cut off ties for allowing pro-Palestinian student groups to spread anti-Israel messages.

At Harvard, multiple student organizations co-signed a letter insisting that the Israeli government is “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” including Hamas massacring over 1,400 Israelis. This led to backlash from alumni members and donors.

The Wexner Foundation, a nonprofit founded by billionaire Les Wexner and his wife, Abigail, broke ties with the university. A building at the Harvard Kennedy School is named after Mr. Wexner, who donated funds to construct it.

In September, UPenn allowed a literary event to be held on campus that its leaders admitted would feature “several speakers who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people.”

UPenn defended its hosting of the event, stating that “as a university, we also fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission. This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values.”

After the Hamas attack earlier this month, the event came under spotlight and many donors were furious that the university allowed the program to take place.

In an Oct. 15 open letter to UPenn President Liz Magill and Chairman Scott Bok, venture capitalist David Magerman announced that he refuses “to donate another dollar to Penn” and that he is “deeply ashamed” about his association with the university.

Other UPenn donors such as private equity billionaire Marc Rowan, hedge fund billionaire Cliff Asness, and former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman have also vowed to stop donating to the university.