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Columbia University under fire over antisemitism task force, doxxing resource group to counter hate crimes

The school set up the task force after several cases of physical and verbal antisemitic attacks were reported on its Manhattan campus in last 3 weeks

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Columbia University has come under after launching a 'Task Force on Antisemitism' to tackle the 'terribly resilient form of hatred' that has spread across the campus in the wake of the deadly Israel-Hamas war.

In a letter to students and faculty members, the communities of Teachers College, Barnard, and Columbia announced the establishment of the task force on on Wednesday, November 1.

The school said that it was forced to set up the task force as over the last three weeks, there had been several documented cases of physical and verbal antisemitic attacks on its Manhattan campus.

The documented hate crimes included physical assaults (such as the attack on an Israeli student outside the Morningside Campus library) as well as ideological rants that led Jewish students to criticize the institution for making them feel “unsafe.”

According to Columbia's release, the task team will "enhance our ability to address this ancient, but terribly resilient, form of hatred."

“We are taking this step as part of a commitment to ensuring that our campuses are safe, welcoming, and inclusive for Jewish students, faculty, and staff, and all of us,” the letter signed by President Minouche Shafik Shafik read.

“One would hope that by the twenty-first century, antisemitism would have been relegated to the dustbin of history. But it has been rising here in New York City, across the country, and around the world in recent years,” the letter continued, according to Daily Mail.

The task force, consisting of five members and led by professors from the institution, will provide recommendations for improvements aimed at promoting inclusivity not only at Columbia but also at its affiliated schools, Barnard and Teachers College.

The recommendations could also come in the form of academic changes, as well as inclusionary training offered to its students, faculty, and staff, according to the NY Post.

Columbia University launches 'Doxing Resource Group'

In October, a statement signed by over 100 professors defended students who saw the “military action” that Hamas took in Israel as a turning point after decades of oppression.

The faculty demanded that the administration shield such students from "disturbing reverberations" on campus, namely the trucks that started "doxxing," which involved putting pictures of pro-Palestinian students outside the university.

As a result, Columbia established a "Doxing Resource Group" to provide students a way to report harassment and access to professionals in digital threat investigation and privacy cleaning.

“The deliberate harassment and targeting of members of our community by doxxing, a dangerous form of intimidation, is unacceptable,” officials wrote in the second announcement.

“This includes disturbing incidents in which trucks have circled the Columbia campus displaying and publicizing the names and photos of Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian students,” the announcement continued.

Internet reacts to Columbia University’s anti-semitism task force

Columbia University’s announcement has garnered immense social media attention, with users slamming it for establishing a doxing group and task force.

“The mission of the task force is to promote anti-Semitism,” one user said. “Columbia is a Jew-hating cesspool,” the second user wrote.

“With their enormous DEI infrastructure they need some special task force to police antisemitic hate crimes?” the third user fumed while the fourth one stated “What pathetic poisonous institutions. Down the line.”

“Where are the parents of these Children ?? And I mean immature, poorly raised, mis guided Children !” the fifth user slammed.

“Condemning this sick war does not mean antisemitism. Enough use of this Antisemitism game it is expired,” one more wrote.