Task Force on Antisemitism Releases Its Second Report

As the start of the 2024-2025 academic year approaches, Columbia’s Task Force on Antisemitism has released its second set of recommendations. Grounded in extensive meetings with students, the report documents student experiences on campus and offers concrete proposals to improve the campus climate.

"I am grateful to the Task Force on Antisemitism, its co-chairs, and its members for their work on this report, particularly their focus on listening to and elevating the voices and experiences of our students,” Interim President Katrina Armstrong said in a statement responding to the report. “Let me be very clear. The painful and distressing incidents of antisemitism recounted in this report are completely unacceptable. They are antithetical to our values and go against the principles of open inquiry, tolerance, and inclusivity that define us."

Listening Sessions Provided Clarity

To inform this report, the task force conducted listening sessions with nearly 500 students from across Columbia. They heard from students about painful experiences of hostility in settings across campus life, including in residence halls, on social media, in clubs, and in classrooms. The students expressed frustration at how their complaints were received by officials representing the University and confusion about the mechanisms for reporting incidents.

“As we reflect on the antisemitism revealed by their experiences, we realize that these interactions have affected the entire University community,” reads the report from the Task Force, led by Co-Chairs Ester Fuchs, Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science; Nicholas Lemann, Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism; and David M. Schizer, Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics. “Our research and the many testimonies of students point to a crucial need to alter the current campus climate. That is the purpose of this second report of the Task Force on Antisemitism.”

Recommendations for Improving Campus Climate

To improve the culture on Columbia’s campuses, the task force report offers a clear and concise set of recommendations, saying the University should:

Strengthen and expand the anti-bias and inclusion training and workshops offered to all members of the University community, with a particular focus on students, faculty, and student-facing staff. The Task Force draws on the student listening sessions to produce a working definition of antisemitism for use solely as a guide for training and education, not for discipline or restrictions on free speech. The Task Force also offers advice on implementing more robust training customized for a broad range of professionals, and how its effectiveness should be measured.

Have the president and provost establish a cross-school committee, which includes Barnard College and Teachers College, to standardize basic aspects of training, workshops, and website information for all schools and evaluate the effectiveness of these trainings. It also counsels the establishment of a repository for best practices in offering anti-bias and inclusion trainings.

Review and revamp the procedures for reporting incidents of exclusion, harassment, bias, and discrimination. It also advises better coordination between diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and deans of students.

Revise policies to ensure that student groups contribute to the University’s pluralist mission and comply with anti-discrimination law. Student groups must be inclusive, with membership limited only for reasons connected to their mission. Groups also should have a robust consultation process before issuing statements or joining coalitions.

Finding a Way Forward

“The experiences of these students demonstrated that there is an urgent need to reshape everyday social norms across the campuses of Columbia University,” reads the report. “We need to promote a richer ethic of pluralism, which would encourage greater tolerance of and respect for differences in religion, culture, and national origin. If we were really to succeed in promoting tolerance, students would come to understand and value these differences.”

As the new academic year approaches, the University is very focused on student safety and wellbeing. Work is already underway on initiatives that align with a number of the recommendations outlined in this report, including the expansion of education and training offerings, the establishment of a new Office of Institutional Equity, the launch of the Campus Climate Collaborative, updated Guidelines to the Rules of University Conduct, and a revitalization of the Inclusive Public Safety Advisory Committee. This work is only the beginning, with the president, the provost, and many senior leaders focused on doing whatever they can to make Columbia a welcoming place for all its members, where everyone can teach, learn, work, and thrive.

Columbia’s Task Force on Antisemitism was founded in late 2023 to address the harmful impact of rising antisemitism on Jewish members of the Columbia community and to ensure that an ethic of protection, respect, and belonging extends to everyone at the University. It released its first report in the spring of 2024, focused on the rules for demonstrations. A separate report on academic issues related to exclusion in the classroom and bias in curriculum will be issued by the Task Force in the coming months.