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April 8, 2005/Adar II 28 5765, Volume 57, No. 32
Report: Little proof of intimidation at Columbia
CHANAN TIGAY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - A faculty committee investigating charges that Columbia University professors bullied pro-Israel students has issued its findings - but the controversy appears far from over.
The report found just one incident where a faculty member "exceeded commonly accepted bounds" in responding to a pro-Israel student's question about whether Israel warns Palestinians before it takes certain military actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The report also found no evidence of statements by faculty that "could reasonably be construed as anti-Semitic."
But pro-Israel students, including some who were interviewed by the committee and said their stories were ignored in its findings, blasted the report.
"We're ashamed that Columbia would undertake such a blatant whitewash," said Ariel Beery, one of the co-founders of Columbians for Academic Freedom, a student group that has spearheaded the effort to publicize complaints about teachers in the Middle East & Asian Languages & Cultures department.
"They were more concerned with solving the problem that's posed to the university's image than addressing the injustices that were done to students," Beery said.
In late October, the David Project, a pro-Israel advocacy group, screened "Columbia, Unbecoming," a documentary it made about student allegations of intimidation.
In December, university President Lee Bollinger announced the formation of the committee to investigate the film's allegations - such as the charge that Assistant Professor Joseph Massad asked an Israeli student who served in the army, "How many Palestinians have you killed?"
The report reprimanded Massad for crossing the line of "accepted bounds" for giving a disparaging response to a questioner he considered too pro-Israel.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation league, called March 31 a "sad day at Columbia University."
The report "protects the faculty, gives little credibility to the students, and comes up with no solutions at all to deal with the concerns about intimidation," Foxman said in a statement.
The American Jewish Committee, for its part, praised the report as "an important step forward."
"We encourage all interested parties ... to see the report as a point of departure ... and to concentrate on the next positive steps to strengthen this leading academic institution," the group's executive director, David Harris, said in a statement.
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