Three Columbia University deans who exchanged disparaging text messages that the university president said “touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” during a forum about Jewish issues in May are resigning, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
The deans, who had responsibility for undergraduate student affairs, sent the biting and sarcastic messages as they reacted in real time to Jewish speakers expressing concern about antisemitism on campus during the two-hour event.
In June, Nemat Shafik, the university president, placed the three deans on indefinite leave as an investigation proceeded.
In the texts, one dean suggested that a Jewish speaker was playing up concerns for fund-raising purposes. Another sent vomit emojis in reaction to the mention of a college newspaper opinion piece written by one of the school’s rabbis.
The deans did not respond to calls requesting comment. Samantha Slater, a Columbia spokeswoman, confirmed the resignations by email but did not provide further comment.
The episode, which became public in June when an attendee shared her pictures of one of the dean’s cellphones with The Washington Free Beacon, has been deeply embarrassing to the administration. University leaders have been trying to convince Congress, alumni and its own Jewish students that it takes antisemitism on campus seriously.
The turmoil over a scandal some alumni are calling “textgate” comes as Dr. Shafik and other administrators prepare for how they will respond to what they expect will be another powerful wave of pro-Palestinian activism in the fall. So far, Dr. Shafik has announced that there will be a new mediation process for some issues involving protesters, community dialogues and a review of protest rules.
More moves are also being discussed, including possibly giving some campus police new powers to make arrests, which is common for officers at other universities. The idea was first reported in The Wall Street Journal, but no formal proposal has been presented to the University Senate, which would normally be consulted before such a change.
“Columbia has public safety, but basically they can’t physically confront anybody,” said James Applegate, an astronomy professor and member of the executive committee of the University Senate, who said the idea was discussed informally this spring. “So Columbia’s options are, for all intents and purposes, ask politely or go nuclear,” by calling in the New York Police Department, he said.
The three deans who resigned — Susan Chang-Kim, the college’s vice dean and chief administrative officer; Cristen Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life; and Matthew Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support — were not faculty members and did not have tenure protections.
In a July note to the Columbia community, Dr. Shafik described the sentiments in the text messages as “unacceptable and deeply upsetting, conveying a lack of seriousness about the concerns and the experiences of members of our Jewish community.” She said the messages “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” and were “antithetical to our university’s values.”
The episode occurred on May 31, in the aftermath of student protests that led to mass arrests twice on Columbia’s campus this spring. Columbia hosted a panel discussion called “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.” The panel’s speakers included Brian Cohen, the executive director of Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the Jewish students organization, and David Schizer, the former dean of the law school and a chair of the university’s antisemitism task force.
The three administrators, along with the dean of Columbia College, Josef Sorett, were in the audience. A person sitting behind Ms. Chang-Kim photographed the text messages she was exchanging with her colleagues. A transcript of the exchanges was later released by the House Committee and Education and the Workforce, which has been investigating antisemitism on college campuses.
Dr. Sorett also participated in the text exchanges, though to a lesser extent. After the incident, he sent an apology note to the community. He is a tenured scholar on religion and race and will continue in his position.
“I am deeply sorry that this happened in a community that I lead and, that I was part of any of the exchanges,” Dr. Sorett wrote.
He could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.
A petition signed by more than 2,000 students, alumni, and parents has called on the college also to remove Dr. Sorett for his role in the incident. Dr. Sorett responded with the term “LMAO” — or laughing my ass off — at one point during the text exchanges, when Ms. Chang-Kim said of Columbia’s Hillel director, Brian Cohen, “He is our hero.”
The incident confirmed the worst fears of some Jewish students who were disturbed by how anti-Israel protests on campus were being handled.
“I had already understood that they didn’t take our concerns seriously, but the overt disdain was really upsetting,” said Elisha Baker, a rising junior and leader of Aryeh, a pro-Israel campus group. “It totally delegitimized the strategy of listening sessions. Not only did they not hear us, they saw our speaking as some sort of privilege.”
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