Thirteen Federal Judges Pledge Not to Hire from Columbia, Call It an ‘Incubator of Bigotry’ James Lynch
Thirteen federal judges say they will no longer hire Columbia University students as law clerks due to their behavior and the school’s handling of anti-Israel protests that drew nationwide attention, writing that “Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country.”
The judges wrote a letter on Monday to Columbia president Minouche Shafik informing her of their decision to boycott the university because of the anti-Israel encampment and what they see as the school’s lack of viewpoint diversity.
“Columbia University has become ground zero for the explosion of student disruptions, anti-semitism, and hatred for diverse viewpoints on campuses across the Nation,” the judges wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by National Review. “As judges who hire law clerks every year to serve in the federal judiciary, we have lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education. Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry.”
The judges called for Columbia leaders to administer “serious consequences” to students and faculty members who participated in the encampment, which featured antisemitic incidents and pro-Hamas chanting on campus.
“Universities should also identify students who engage in such conduct so that future employers can avoid hiring them. If not, employers are forced to assume the risk that anyone they hire from Columbia may be one of these disruptive and hateful students,” the letter says.
Columbia allowed the New York Police Department to clear out the encampment last week after a group of student protesters and outside agitators ransacked and occupied Hamilton Hall on the university’s main campus.
The judges are also urging Columbia leaders to adopt neutrality in the enforcement of campus rules and to promote viewpoint diversity across its faculty and administrative bodies. “If Columbia had been faced with a campus uprising of religious conservatives upset because they view abortion as a tragic genocide, we have no doubt that the university’s response would have been profoundly different,” the judges wrote.
National Review has reached out to Columbia for comment about the letter.
Appellate court judges Elizabeth Branch and James Ho are leading signatories alongside judge Matthew Solomson of the Court of Federal Claims. All of the signatories were appointed by former president Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
“Considering recent events, and absent extraordinary change, we will not hire anyone who joins the Columbia University community—whether as undergraduates or law students—beginning with the entering class of 2024,” the letter says.
One of the lead student organizers of Columbia’a anti-Israel encampment, Khymani James, was temporarily banned from campus last month after unearthed video footage showed him calling for Zionists to be killed.
Columbia Law School’s chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild supported the Hamilton Hall occupation and warned in an email last week that “No Jew is safe until everyone is safe, and no Jew is free until Palestine is free.” The email came after the student editor of the Columbia Law Review demanded that the university cancel final exams and give students passing grades because of “violence” by NYPD officers. None of the protesters cleared out by the NYPD appear to have sustained serious injuries.
Shafik addressed the campus turmoil on Friday and defended her decision to let the NYPD on campus to disband the anti-Israel encampment.
“A group of protesters crossed a new line with the occupation of Hamilton Hall. It was a violent act that put our students at risk, as well as putting the protesters at risk. I walked through the building and saw the damage which was distressing,” Shafik said in a video message.
On Monday, Columbia canceled its main commencement ceremony because of security concerns related to the anti-Israel protests.
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