Anti-Israel protests broke out at Bernard University last week, with Columbia associate professor Shay Dabidai calling on students and faculty.
“The violent takeover of these protests we saw two days ago, Bernard's hall, is one of the same protests that began on October 12, 2023,” Davidai told Fox News Digital. “Hate is not disappearing on its own; extremism does not disappear on its own; if you don't deal with it, it will stay around.”
Recent protests responded to the expulsion of two students who allegedly broke into a classroom at Columbia University in January and threw flyers filled with hateful, anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Anti-Israel protesters demonstrated at Bernard University in February 2025. (Getty; x)
Bernard students evoke a “pathetic” school response calling for action after the pro-Hamas protests become violent
said Avi Shillong, a professor who teaches the course. The era of Israel He invited the protesters to join their class, but they refused and instead continued screaming.
Following the expulsion of Bernard's students, more than 50 anti-Israeli agitators took over the building on Bernard's campus and acquired Hamilton Hall at Columbia University last year.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Davidai noted that the protest was organised by Columbia's licensing and funding organizations while it was physically taking place in Bernard.
“This is the result of 20 years of indoctrination,” Davidai told Fox News Digital. “We indoctrinate students, and they don't matter. The problem was the professor who has always indoctrinated them.”
But Davidai says he's heard from Jewish and non-Jewish students that he's tired of the protest.
“They don't see accountability and they're just tired of it,” Dabidai said. “I mean, 'What are we paying $90,000 for? So, can Bernard clean up the confusion of students who have been able to walk around Scotland?” It's pointless. ”
Anti-Israel student protesters will hold a demonstration outside Bernard University in New York on February 27, 2025. (AFP by Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images)
Anti-Israeli protesters are allegedly assaulting employees during construction of a takeover at Bernard University in New York City
Davidai says that he tried to engage with other faculty members on the issue, but in one case, the student intervened and separated the other faculty from the conversation. He says there are “radical students” who say to their faculty “what to do and what to say.”
In addition to his faculty, Davidai sees issues with Colombian leadership. He says former Columbia University president Minush Shafik “didn't know what she was doing” and “he was a co-sick person.” He places heavy responsibility on interim President Katrina Armstrong, who says he is “incompetent.”
Davidai doesn't think that all hope will be lost for Colombia, and he believes there is a way for the university to turn things around.
“You're going to kick the Indians, you're going to kick the professor [who] It openly supports Hamas and other US and designated terrorist organizations. You will expel students who explicitly support the massacre of Jews and Israelis, and create room for professors who want to teach and students who want to learn. ”
Anti-Israel demonstrators raised the flag on April 30, 2024 on the rooftop of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in New York. (Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Neither Bernard College nor Columbia University responded immediately to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Bernard University and Columbia University have a renowned history. Initially, Columbia was an all-male university and Bernard, a school for all-female, became part of the Columbia system in 1900. The two still share academic resources, and both institutions have classes available to Columbia and Bernard students.
On February 26, Colombia tweeted a statement saying, “The disruption in academic activities is not an unacceptable act.”
Shortly after the rank turmoil in January, interim President Armstrong condemned the incident in a statement, saying that the agitators' actions were against university rules. Additionally, Columbia suspended the suspected participants in relation to the university and began an investigation.
President Bernard Laura Anne Rosenberry published a paper on the situation on the record of higher education on Monday.When students' protests go too far. ”
“This confusion was not designed to expand thinking or advance civic discourse. Instead, it was a calculated threatening act, refusing to participate in the discussion, even when the destroyer untook, speaking loudly, distributing anti-Semitic flyers, and politely invited the professor to sit in class. She went on to say that the actions of the protesters are “completely at odds with our mission.”
