Three Columbia University deans who participated in an exchange of troubling text messages described by the school’s administration as containing “ancient anti-Semitic narratives” have resigned, a university spokesperson said late Thursday.
Former Dean of Graduate Student Life Kristen Crome, former Associate Dean of Student and Family Support Matthew Patashnik, and former Vice Dean and Chief Administrative Officer Suzanne Chang-Kim had already been placed on leave pending the investigation.
The university administration said in July that the message exchange took place during an on-campus event titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.” The event followed weeks of protests at Columbia and other campuses across the country over Israel’s war in Gaza.
“The incident revealed behavior and sentiments that were not only unprofessional but also rooted in ancient anti-Semitic ideology,” the university said in July.
The three deans who resigned could not be contacted. A university spokesperson confirmed their resignations but did not provide any details.
Protests have been going on in the United States for months over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, displaced almost the entire population of 2.3 million and created a hunger crisis, according to the local health ministry.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, when Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza, attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, Israeli figures show.
Israel’s attack on Gaza has also led to charges of genocide at the World Court. Israel denies these charges and in turn accuses Hamas of attempting to commit genocide against Israel.
Campus protesters are demanding an end to the war, a halt to US military aid to Israel, and for universities to stop investing in companies that support Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Some protests and counter-protests have been accused of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic rhetoric.
Columbia itself became a center of protests, with students setting up camps and police making violent arrests.