Press

Anti-Defamation League Director: University Fails To Protect Jewish Students
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Jan 6, 2005)
Columbia University is failing to protect its Jewish students from harassment by anti-Israel professors, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, told The New York Sun.

Rabbi Says Professors 'Attacked' Him
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Jan 4, 2005)
Columbia University students aren't the only ones who say they've been mistreated by anti-Israel professors at the school.

Columbia's Anti-Semites
Editorial, New York Post (Jan 3, 2005)
The ever-clueless New York Civil Liberties Union has leaped head-first into the ongoing controversy surrounding alleged anti-Israel bias and intimidation of students at Columbia University by siding — surprise, surprise — with the accused professors.

Politics of Middle East play out in class fracas
by Stevenson Swanson in the Chicago Tribune (Jan 1, 2005)
The Upper West Side of Manhattan may be half a world away from the Middle East, but a bitter war of words has turned the narrow campus of Columbia University into a miniature Gaza Strip, riven by divisions between supporters of the Israeli and Palestinian sides.

Telling it like it is
on Liberty Beat in the Village Voice by Nat Hentoff. (Dec 28, 2004)
Columbia University president Lee Bollinger, facing the first major challenge of his two years in that position, is not likely—for the rest of his tenure and beyond—to forget the David Project. That organization's 25-minute film Columbia Unbecoming has been primarily responsible for the subsequent local, national, and international coverage of charges that some professors in the university's Middle East studies department abuse their academic freedom by intimidating students who don't agree with them.

Civil Liberties Official Defends Columbia Professors
by Jacob Gershman in in the New York Sun (Dec 28, 2004)
The head of the New York Civil Liberties Union said she fears that Columbia's investigation into complaints by students against anti-Israel scholars will "turn into an inquisition into the political views of professors."

The academic challenge
Editorial, Jerusalem Post (Dec 23,2004)
American universities have been known for centuries as hotbeds of social activism and political agitation.

Non-academic debate
by Uriel Heilman in the Jerusalem Post (Dec 23, 2004)
Deena Shanker was a freshman at Columbia College when she first encountered what has now famously been portrayed as the Ivy League university's problem of rampant bias, hostility and vilification of pro-Israel students and viewpoints in courses on the Middle East.

Whose Academic Freedom?
on Liberty Beat in the Village Voice by Nat Hentoff. (Dec 17, 2004)
For months, there has been an intensifying controversy centering on Columbia's Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department. A number of current and former students charge that some professors in that department are so passionately convinced Israel is a ruthless oppressor of Palestinians that they acknowledge no other side to this conflict. In a film, Columbia Unbecoming, that has been shown to the press, Columbia trustees, and other interested parties, students appear with specific accounts of those professors.

Students Say Columbia U. Panel Biased
by Jacob Gershman in in the New York Sun (Dec 16, 2004)
A group of Columbia University students claiming anti-Israel faculty members intimidated them in the classroom said members of the committee investigating the complaints are too "close" to the accused scholars.

Committee Addresses, Causes Conflict
by Liz Fink in the Columbia Daily Spectator (Dec 10, 2004)
The ad hoc committee created to investigate the controversy over academic freedom at Columbia is itself creating controversy—and the committee hasn’t even started its work.
Two individuals connected to the committee have close ties to Joseph Massad, a Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures professor accused by students in the film. School of International and Public Affairs Dean Lisa Anderson acted as Massad’s Ph.D. advisor, and Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks’ wife—MEALAC professor Janaki Bakhle—is currently co-teaching Topics in Asian Civilization: the Middle East and India with Massad. Dirks will work closely with the committee.

Panel Decries Threats to Academic Freedom
by Liz Fink in the Columbia Daily Spectator (Dec 10, 2004)
A School of Law panel last night warned that academic discourse is increasingly decided by partisan lobbies, the media, the government, corporations, and other forces outside the university itself.

Committee To Address MEALAC Controversy
by Liz Fink in the Columbia Daily Spectator (Dec 9, 2004)
President Lee Bollinger announced the formation of an ad hoc faculty committee yesterday to address allegations of anti-Israel harassment on campus and larger questions about academic freedom

Columbia taps lawyer to probe anti-Semitism
by Douglas Feiden in the New York Daily News (Dec 9, 2004)
Famed First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams will help Columbia University probe mounting charges that top professors have intimidated or bullied Jewish students in their classrooms.

'Inadequate' Grievance Policies Cited
by Jacob Gershman in in the New York Sun (Dec 9, 2004)
Columbia University's highest officials acknowledged yesterday that students with complaints against anti-Israel professors had no effective recourse because of the school's "inadequate" grievance policies.
The comments came as the university's president, saying he would not tolerate acts of intimidation against students, announced the membership of a new faculty committee that he has put in charge of resolving the crisis over faculty members' alleged misconduct. The president, Lee Bollinger, has also asked a noted First Amendment lawyer, Floyd Abrams, to advise the committee.

Columbia to review anti-Semitism charges
by Uriel Heilman in the Jerusalem Post (Dec 8, 2004)
Faced with a growing controversy over charges of bias and intimidation of Israeli and Jewish students by professors at Columbia University, the university's president announced Wednesday that Columbia immediately would set up a committee to review student allegations and overhaul the university's grievance process.

Students Speak Up to Defend MEALAC
by Liz Fink in the Columbia Daily Spectator (Dec 8, 2004)
One month after the controversial release of Columbia Unbecoming, pro-Israel students aren’t the only ones claiming they are being harassed and intimidated.

Abrams Is Tapped For Investigation At Columbia U.
by Jacob Gershman in in the New York Sun (Dec 8, 2004)
Columbia University has tapped a veteran First Amendment lawyer, Floyd Abrams, to advise a special faculty committee that will look into charges against professors accused of intimidating Jewish and Israeli students.

Don’t let them silence dissent at Columbia!
by Monique Dols in The Socialist Worker (Dec 3, 2004)
“THE UGLIEST of Arab propaganda.” “Anti-Semitic bias.” “Vile words of hate.” These are the claims being leveled against a number of Columbia University professors following the release of Columbia Unbecoming, a documentary film produced by the David Project, a Boston-based pro-Israel think tank.

Columbia University's Hysterical Professor
by Daniel Pipes in FrontPageMagazine.com (Dec 1, 2004)
Others may have sympathized on learning that Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Middle East studies at Columbia University, felt threatened by a graduate student at his own university, but not me.

Ivory Tower Angst
by Miriam Felton-Dansky in New Voices (December 2004)
Students mill around on a red-cobbled promenade, silhouetted against the rays of a setting sun. Behind them, neoclassical columns rise up to a list of the academic greats: Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle. The camera pans up the length of a flagpole to the flickering cloth at the top: a white crown on a pale blue flag, the symbol of Columbia University in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights.

Stone to Discuss U.S. Civil Liberties
by Deborah Beim n the Columbia Daily Spectator (Nov 30, 2004)
As far as he understands the situation at Columbia, Stone feels that “it’s part of the role of teachers to express their views. They express them all the time. Professors have views about economics, about anthropology, and people might not find those views offensive because they aren’t as controversial. But they do express their views.”
Stone noted, however, that students should have the same academic freedom as professors and should be able to express their opinions in the classroom.
“It’s completely legitimate for professors to express their views ... but silencing students ... is inappropriate,” he said.

Five Questions for Joseph Massad
posted by Robert "KC" Johnson to the Cliopatra group blog on the History News Network (Nov 30,2004)
The HNN homepage has a copy of the statement from embattled Columbia professor Joseph Massad, who has been accused of using his classroom to intimidate pro-Israel students and champion his anti-Israel foreign policy beliefs. As far as I know, Massad has refused to talk to the press--an interesting tactic if he's confident in his position--but I assume he's still talking to Columbia administrators. If I were a CU administrator, I might ask him the following questions, based on statements that he himself makes on his website:

I Am a Victim of Propaganda
by Joseph Massad on the History News Network (Nov 29,2004)
The recent controversy elicited by the propaganda film Columbia Unbecoming, a film funded and produced by a Boston-based pro-Israel organization, is the latest salvo in a campaign of intimidation of Jewish and non-Jewish professors who criticize Israel. This witch-hunt aims to stifle pluralism, academic freedom, and the freedom of expression on university campuses in order to ensure that only one opinion is permitted, that of uncritical support for the State of Israel. Columbia University, the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and I personally, have been the target of this intensified campaign for over three years. Pro-Israel groups are pressuring the university to abandon proper academic procedure in evaluating scholarship, and want to force the university to silence all critical opinions. Such silencing, the university has refused to do so far, despite mounting intimidation tactics by these anti-democratic and anti-academic forces.

Columbia Vows Swift Action on Anti-Israel Professors
by Shlomo Shamir in Haaretz (Nov 26, 2004)
Columbia University president Lee Bollinger plans "specific steps" soon in response to allegations that professors and lecturers at the Ivy League university made vitriolic and malicious comments against Israel in classes.

Information: The Cure For "Poison Ivy"
by Julia Kite in The Columbia Spectator (Nov 24, 2004)
I’m not entirely sure what to believe.
On one hand I have the fiery front-page article in the Daily News accusing my school of becoming a “Poison Ivy” where Jewish students like me are targets for anti-Semitism in the classroom. Then I see the usual slogans of free speech and academic freedom reminding me that, no matter how asinine, all opinions must be respected. What prevents me from making a clear statement on where I stand in the case of Zionism versus the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures is the fact that I—and thousands of my peers—have not even had the opportunity to view the film that sparked this controversy.

The Columbia University Scandal: Where Are Our `Friends`?
Editorial in the Jewish Press (Nov 24, 2004)
As is being widely reported, a student documentary claims that a pattern exists of virulent anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias by professors offering courses in Columbia University`s Mideast studies department and in other departments, both as part of the courses and in their extra-curricular writings and speeches. And students who object are allegedly subjected to harassment and intimidation. Indeed, a recent follow-up investigation and report by the New York Daily News was an eye-opener.

Students to Protest Inquiry of Faculty
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Nov 23, 2004)
Dozens of furious Columbia University students agreed last night to wage a campaign of protest against the school's decision to investigate complaints against faculty members accused of intimidating students.

Students rip Columbia 'Zionists'
by Douglas Feiden in the New York Daily News (Nov 23, 2004)
MYTH: Students with pro-Israel sympathies are marginalized and intimidated at Columbia University. "FACT: The Zionist perspective dominates campus life and is represented in dozens of classes at Columbia." That was the opening salvo fired by a group of students yesterday in a bid to mobilize support for the embattled Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department.

Professor Fearful of Attack
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Nov 22, 2004)
After receiving an e-mail from a Columbia University graduate student accusing him of anti-Semitism, the chairman of Columbia's Department of Middle East and Asian languages and cultures told university officials he felt physically threatened by the student and urged them to alert school security. Columbia's provost, Alan Brinkley, told the professor, Hamid Dabashi, he was overreacting, and declined to notify security about the letter from the student, according to an e-mail obtained by The New York Sun.

High Bias
by John Fund in the OpinionJournal (Nov 22,2004)
Much of this election year was taken up by a debate over media bias, with charges and countercharges flying over how CBS, the New York Times, Fox News Channel and National Public Radio covered the campaign. Now a series of studies may shift the debate to another form of bias: the lack of intellectual diversity on university campuses, whose faculties are overwhelmingly liberal.

Mideast views hard to discern
by Shuan McElhenny in the Washington Square News (Nov 22, 2004)
A recent WSN article reporting an anti-Israel bias investigation at Columbia University ("NYU reflects on Columbia bias probe," Nov. 11) promptly dismissed any suspicion that similar sentiment could be present at NYU.

Registration Unmoved By Unbecoming Film
by Emily Baneman in the Columbia Spectator (Nov 22, 2004)
Despite the controversy surrounding the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department following the contentious film Columbia Unbecoming, the number of students registering for MEALAC classes next semester appears to be largely unaffected.

Hate 101
by Douglas Feiden in the New York Daily News (Nov 21, 2004)
In the world of Hamid Dabashi, supporters of Israel are "warmongers" and "Gestapo apparatchiks." The Jewish homeland is "nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States." It's a capital of "thuggery" - a "ghastly state of racism and apartheid" - and it "must be dismantled."

Academic Freedom must be Preserved
by Arthur Hertzberg in the New York Jewish Week (Nov 19, 2004)
Academic freedom and freedom of speech guarantee people the right to profess views that we find offensive. Arabs and Palestinians who are opposed to Israeli policies in the West Bank and Middle East have a right to their views, at least as much right as those pro-Israel hard-liners who feel free to preach the doctrine of Israel’s right to occupy the West Bank and Gaza and refuse to cede an inch.

The Bollinger Whitewash
Editorial, in the New York Sun (Nov 19, 2004)
The president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, has been quietly making the rounds in town, reassuring key figures in the Jewish community - and in other communities - that he deems unacceptable the kind of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel behavior recently uncovered by documentary filmmakers on the Columbia campus. He assigned the university's provost, Alan Brinkley, to look into the matter. But Mr. Brinkley's early statements are already sending a ripple of concern through the key parties watching this dispute that what is going to be done will be a whitewash of a serious situation.

Columbia Ignoring "Unbecoming"
by Ariel Beery, Aharon Horwitz, Elana Jaffe, Daniella Kahane and Noah Liben

A ‘documentary’ plays dirty
by Jason Rowe in the Washington Square News (Nov 18, 2004)
Columbia University is the locus of a growing controversy over accusations that three professors in the university's Middle East and Asian language and culture department used their classes to brashly intimidate students that supported Israeli policy. These charges are presented in a short documentary by the pro-Israel group the David Project, titled "Columbia Unbecoming," and in a series of articles and editorials in the conservative New York Sun.

Columbia Prepared to Protect Students from Anti-Israel Bias
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Nov 17, 2004)
Columbia University's provost, Alan Brinkley, said the school is prepared to take "forceful steps" to ensure that Jewish students are not harassed by faculty members prejudiced against Israel.

In Defense of The David Project
by Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser in the Columbia Spectator (Nov 16, 2004)
“Columbia Unbecoming,” our film about intimidation of students with pro-Israel views, sparked interest and support. It also generated attacks on us and the students in it, which prompts us to respond.

In the Name of Academic Freedom
by Bari Weiss in the Columbia Spectator (Nov 16, 2004)
If the signers of the Joseph Massad Academic Freedom Petition really believe in what they are signing, then they will have no choice but to stand in support of the students’ message behind the documentary “Columbia Unbecoming.” Contrary to what some people would like to believe, “Columbia Unbecoming” is not a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is not about The Right versus The Left. It is most certainly not about Muslims versus Jews, although the fact that some are calling this a “racist witch-hunt of Arab and Muslim professors” might lead you to believe otherwise.

Harassment of Jewish Students on Campus on the Rise Since 9/11, U.S. Aide Asserts
by Eli Lake in the New York Sun (Nov 15, 2004)
Some evidence suggests harassment of Jewish students in high schools and colleges has been on the rise since September 11, 2001, according to the chief of enforcement for the Department of Education's office of civil rights.

Columbia Probe Eyed By Council
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Nov 12, 2004)
The City Council plans to call for an outside investigation into allegations that professors intimidate Jewish students at Columbia University if the school's internal investigation fails to produce evidence of misconduct.

NYU reflects on Columbia bias probe
by Barbara Leonard in the Washington Square News (Nov 11, 2004)
As Columbia University looks inward after several of its professors were charged with being anti-Semitic, NYU students say that academic discourse here about the Middle East has been, for the most part, balanced.

Bias in the classroom
Editorial, Washington Square News (Nov 11, 2004)
Recent allegations of anti-Semitism at Columbia University have prompted a formal investigation of professors in the school's department of Middle East and Asian languages and cultures. When a documentary citing cases of in-class intimidation at Columbia came to light, debate flared across campuses about the line between academic freedom and politicization of the classroom.

Bollinger must fulfill his promise to investigate
Editorial, Columbia Spectator (Nov 8, 2004)
Now that we’ve seen Columbia Unbecoming, the David Project’s film that levels accusations of bias against professors in the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department, we’re no closer to issuing a judgment about the situation than we were last week. All of the parties involved in the controversy have laid their cards on the table, and no clear victim has emerged. It’s up to President Bollinger to arbitrate the matter by conducting a fair and prompt investigation, and to the film’s supporters to encourage him to follow through.

Classroom freedom is for teachers and students
by Sheryl McCarthy in New York Newsday (Nov 8, 2004)
If you thought the Middle East was the only place where pro-Israel Jews and pro-Palestinian Arabs and Muslims were bumping heads, try Morningside Heights.

Unnecessary verbal force: Columbia professor's anti-Israeli remarks cross line
Editorial, Indiana Daily Student (Nov 5, 2004)
The university is often perceived as an environment of free thought, action and speech; in this sense, students are expected to reflect upon ideas and should not be assaulted by them.

"Columbia Unbecoming" in the clear light of day
by Monique Dols in Electronic Intifada (Nov 5, 2004)
Over the past several weeks, claims of intimidation in the department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) of Columbia University have hit newspapers around the world. Accusations of one-sidedness and anti-Americanism abound. It is all based on a previously unreleased film Columbia Unbecoming, which purports to document incidences of intimidation and anti-Semitism in the classroom. The “underground documentary” that has been touted by major New York City press has been released. We can finally begin an honest discussion.

Anti-Zionism rages at Columbia
by Molly Schranz in the Chicago Maroon (Nov 5, 2004)
Most campus activism right now has been centered around the election, but at Columbia University another kind of controversy is taking place. Recent events have proved that an announcement in May of the previously anonymous sponsors of the Edward Said chair at Columbia University was just the beginning of the unraveling of Columbia’s relationship with pro-Israel students. In the past week tensions have been rising as a new film by a pro-Israel think-tank revealed that Columbia students have been verbally abused and humiliated by anti-Zionist professors in the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) department.

Columbia University Launches Probe Into Bias Claims
by Eric J. Greenberg in the Forward (Nov 5, 2004)
Allegations of anti-Israel threats and intimidation have rocked Columbia University, sparking the school's president to launch an investigation into the discrimination claims.

Statement in Response to the Intimidation of Columbia University
by Joseph Massad on his University website (Nov 4, 2004)
The recent controversy elicited by the propaganda film "Columbia Unbecoming," a film funded and produced by a Boston-based pro-Israel organization, is the latest salvo in a campaign of intimidation of Jewish and non-Jewish professors who criticize Israel. This witch-hunt aims to stifle pluralism, academic freedom, and the freedom of expression on university campuses in order to ensure that only one opinion is permitted, that of uncritical support for the State of Israel. Columbia University, the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and I personally, have been the target of this intensified campaign for over three years. Pro-Israel groups are pressuring the university to abandon proper academic procedure in evaluating scholarship, and want to force the university to silence all critical opinions. Such silencing, the university has refused to do so far, despite mounting intimidation tactics by these anti-democratic and anti-academic forces.

'Witch-Hunt' Laid to 'Pro-Israel Groups'
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Nov 4, 2004)
The Columbia University scholar at the center of student allegations of anti-Israel actions by faculty members is claiming that he is a victim of a "witch-hunt" led by "pro-Israel groups."

Columbia's Anti-Semitism Problem
Editorial, Harvard Crimson (Nov 4, 2004)
No student should ever be subjected to harassment of any kind because of his or her ethnic or religious identity. This law of common decency should bear no exception for the Jewish students of Columbia University, who unfortunately, it seems, may have been repeatedly victimized at the hands of particular members of the Columbia faculty. Although the cases in question are controversial and in dispute, we are deeply concerned that students’ rights and dignity may have been trampled on. Thankfully, Columbia has taken steps to investigate, identify and rectify any ill-treatment students have suffered—as it should—but these incidents serve as a reminder of the fine line between freedom of exchange and inappropriate insensitivity.

MEALAC Movie Premiers for 400
by Megan Greenwell in the Columbia Spectator (Nov 4, 2004)
Hundreds of students packed Lerner Cinema last night for the first public opportunity to see Columbia Unbecoming, a 25-minute documentary alleging intimidation and harassment in some Columbia classrooms.

MEALAC Profs: It's Time to Talk
by Sara Sebrow in the Columbia Spectator (Nov 3, 2004)
In the spring of 2003, a student approached Professor George Saliba to discuss a film shown in class that the student felt did not present a balanced view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The student wanted to debate a number of points raised by the film but was told that she had "no voice in the debate" because of the color of her eyes. The media has fixated on the conversation, recounted in the film "Columbia Unbecoming," mostly because of the eye color comment.

Rebutting a "Misguided Political Project"
by George Saliba in the Columbia Spectator (Nov 3, 2004)
As one of the faculty members of MEALAC who has been recently slandered in a film that was screened behind closed doors, I feel a statement rebutting those slanderous charges is in order.

Committee Investigating Bias May Have Known About Intolerance
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Nov 2, 2004)
When a university committee reported in May that it found no evidence of "systematic bias" in Columbia's classrooms, members of the panel were apparently aware of many of the complaints against anti-Israel professors that were made public last month.

Columbia to check anti-Israel bias charge
by Uriel Heilman in the Jerusalem Post (Oct 31, 2004)
In reaction to a new film on academic bias and harassment of Israel-sympathetic students at Columbia University, the school's president, Lee C. Bollinger, has decided to have the charges raised by the documentary investigated.

Columbia professor faces probe on anti-Israel remarks
by Amiram Barkat in Ha'aretz (Oct 31, 2004)
Columbia University's president, Lee Bollinger, said in an interview Friday that he asked that the university provost investigate accusations charging that a university professor allegedly expressed anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic views in class and displayed a hostility toward Israeli and Jewish students.

Controversial Film Roils Columbia
by Liel Leibovitz in the Jewish Week (Oct 29, 2004) *Disclosure: Leibovitz is a PhD student and teacher's assistant at Columbia. He had not seen the film.

Jewish Students Accuse Columbia University of Bias
by Eric J. Greenberg in the Forward (Oct 29, 2004)
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger has launched an investigation of claims by Jewish students and pro-Israel faculty of being threatened and intimidated by some pro-Palestinian professors in the famed university's Middle East studies department.

Bias Festered 'For Years,' Professor Says
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Oct 29, 2004)
A leading scholar of Hebrew literature at Columbia University said yesterday that for years students have complained to him about anti-Israel bias in the classroom.

Columbia to Check Reports of Anti-Jewish Harassment
by Sam Dillon in the New York Times (Oct 29, 2004)
Columbia University's president, Lee C. Bollinger, asked on Wednesday that the university provost investigate assertions that some professors have intimidated Jewish students during discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said in an interview ... Ten current and former Columbia students voiced the complaints in a half-hour video documentary, ''Unbecoming Columbia.''

Columbia to investigate charges of anti-Jewish intimidation by Arab professors
in Israel Insider (Oct 29, 2004)
Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger has called for an internal investigation of assertions that professors have intimidated Jewish students during discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ten current and former Columbia students voiced the complaints in a half-hour video documentary, "Unbecoming Columbia," produced last winter by the David Project, a Boston-based advocacy group.

A Marketplace of Ideas?
Editorial, the Columbia Spectator (Oct 29, 2004)
Accusations of bias and even anti-Semitism have swirled around the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures Department for several years. Although we don't know exactly what has occurred and have no wish to comment on the alleged behavior of certain professors, we believe both MEALAC and the University can make an effort to address this situation.

Bollinger to Probe Bias on Campus
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Oct 28, 2004)
Engulfed in a public relations crisis, Columbia University has decided to investigate student claims that some professors are prejudiced against Israel and stifle opposing views in the classroom.

University to Investigate Claims of Bias
by Megan Greenwell in the Columbia Spectator (Oct 28, 2004)
University President Lee Bollinger said yesterday that Columbia officials will formally investigate accusations that some professors threatened and intimidated students.

Call Columbia a poisoned Ivy
by Douglas Feiden in the New York Daily News (Oct 28, 2004)
It's one of America's greatest universities - and it has been the pride of New York City since its founding in 1754. But Columbia University now is roiled by mounting charges of anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism.

Depths of bigotry at Columbia
Editorial, New York Daily News (Oct 28, 2004)
The evidence that Columbia University classrooms are infected by a culture of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bigotry grows ever stronger. On film and in person yesterday, students described an intimidating atmosphere in which professors treat Jews with scorn and insist on adherence to the view that Israel is evil.

Statement from Lee C. Bollinger on the David Project Film
by Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia University (Oct 27, 2004)
The student accounts in the David Project film "Columbia Unbecoming" are troubling, and we take them very seriously. Columbia University does not condone the intimidation of students or discrimination of any kind.

Film Accuses MEALAC Professors of Anti-Semitism
by Megan Greenwell in the Columbia Spectator (Oct 27, 2004)
A film produced by a Boston-based Zionist group alleges that Columbia professors discriminated against Israeli students or those who defended Israel's right to exist.

U.S. Lawmaker Urges Columbia U. to Fire Critic of Israel
by Jennifer Jacobson in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Oct 27, 2004)
A U.S. congressman has demanded that Columbia University fire a nontenured professor of Arab politics who has been an outspoken critic of Israel. The congressman, Anthony D. Weiner, a New York Democrat up for re-election on Tuesday, said that Joseph A. Massad had crossed a line "between vigorous debate and discussion, and hate."

Pro-Israeli groups pressure Columbia University
by Jim Quilty in the Beirut Daily Star (Oct 26, 2004)
Pro-Israeli groups in New York have stepped-up a campaign against Columbia University's Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, complaining of its alleged strong anti-Israeli bias. At the center of the controversy is Joseph Massad, a Jordanian-born Palestinian who teaches politics and intellectual history there.

Anti-Israel Professor Is Defended
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Oct 26, 2004)
A British professor who caused an international uproar after she fired two scholars because they were Israeli urged academics to sign a letter in support of a Columbia University professor, Joseph Massad, who she believes is under attack by the "pro-Israel lobby."

Bollinger's Blindness
Editorial, New York Sun (Oct 22, 2004)

Columbia Abuzz Over Underground Film
by Jacob Gershman in the New York Sun (Oct 20, 2004)
At a history class, a professor mockingly tells a female Jewish student she cannot possibly have ancestral ties to Israel because her eyes are green.