A Columbia University protester who became infamous earlier this year for demanding “humanitarian aid” and “a glass of water” from violent anti-Israeli occupation forces is now teaching a required class for undergraduates at the Ivy League institution.
Johanna King Slutsky, a doctoral student at Columbia University, will be teaching a class called “Modern Western Civilization” on the Upper Manhattan campus this semester, according to the university's course listings. National Review.
The course she plans to teach will apparently take place in Hamilton Hall, the same historic building that was breached by protesters during chaotic demonstrations in April, which led to the entire campus being locked down and dozens of arrests.
King Slutsky first came to attention when he stood on the steps of a university building and boldly condemned the university's treatment of students who had taken part in the tent city protests.
“It really comes down to what kind of community and obligation Columbia feels to its students,” said King Slutsky, a spokesman for the students.
“Even if students are against it, do you want them to die of dehydration or starve or get seriously ill? If the answer is 'no,' then they should be allowed basic assistance…I mean, this is a weird thing to say because this is an Ivy League campus, but what we're asking for is basic humanitarian assistance.”
She added: “Like, can you all just have a glass of water?”
The course, which King-Slutsky will teach in Hamilton Hall, an eight-story academic building named for Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, is one of five “general education requirements” that undergraduates must take.
Her dissertation, meanwhile, focuses on “the fantasy of infinite energy in the transatlantic Romantic imagination between 1760 and 1860,” her bio page states. Colombian website.
“My goal is to write a prehistory of the metabolic rift, Marx's term for the disruption of energy circuits caused by industrialization under capitalism,” the bio page reads.
“I am particularly interested in theories of imagination and poetry interpreted through a Marxist lens in order to update and propose alternatives to the historicist ideological critique of the Romantic imagination.”
The Washington Post reached out to Columbia University about King Slutsky but did not immediately receive a response.
