Columbia University Accused of Prolonging Investigation of Pro-Israel Professor

Columbia University is being accused of prolonging a disciplinary investigation of Jewish professor Shai Davidai, who has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and critic of the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus, to destroy his reputation and academic career, The Algemeiner has learned.

The charge is coming from Davidai himself, an Israeli-born academic who has become one of the most famous pro-Israel advocates in the country. His renown has carried unintended consequences, however — among them, according to Davidai and others, the negative scrutiny of the Columbia University administration.

“On February 8, I was notified by Ms. Sarah Kinney, the Associate Director of the Office of EOAA [Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action], that I am being investigated due to a Title IX complaint. Ms Kinney refused to share the nature of the complaint and the identity of the complainants with me and my lawyers, thus denying me the right to face my accusers and impeding my ability to defend myself and prove my innocence,” Davidai wrote in a letter to high-level school officials — including interim president Katrina Armstrong and others — which was shared with The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

He continued, “I would like to remind you that the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action is required to send updates every 30 days to the targets of their investigations. Throughout the entire investigation, the office of EOAA has failed to follow it’s own procedures, thus denying me the due process that I believe is required of a federally-funded university … Unfortunately Columbia’s failure to conclude this investigation has created irreparable harm to my reputation in traditional and social media. I am thus emailing you with a demand to immediately bring this investigation to an end and publicly clear my name.”

Columbia launched an investigation of Davidai in February, several months after he described then-university president Minouche Shafik as a “coward” for coddling pro-Hamas activists who, after the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, waged a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and violence to demoralize Jewish students and pressure the university into boycotting Israel. The immediate cause cited for the inquiry, as told to The Algemeiner by the professor, was a series of spurious accusations that his denunciations of mass casualty events inspired by jihadist extremism equated to racism against Muslims and minorities of color.

Undeterred by what appeared to Davidai and his lawyers as a cynical attempt to use the disciplinary system to silence a political dissident and shroud him in suspicion, the professor continued advocating for Israel’s existence and Jewish civil rights all the way up to the first anniversary of Oct. 7, a day which saw dueling demonstrations held by pro-Hamas and pro-Israel students across the campus. It also saw a fateful exchange of words between Davidai and a Columbia administrator, Cas Holloway, whom the professor reproached for permitting pro-Hamas students to use the Oct. 7 anniversary for celebrating the terrorist organization’s atrocities, which included wantonly murdering Israelis, sexually assaulting Jewish women, and kidnapping over 200 hostages.

Columbia and Davidai’s legal team interpreted what transpired between the professor and Holloway differently. Davidai defended his approach as a genuine expression of grief and concern for the welfare of Jewish students, while Columbia felt that an unmoored professor had engaged in “threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior.” Following the incident, Columbia “temporarily” banished him from campus, a severe disciplinary sanction which prevents him from attending university functions and accessing his office.

Now, months after the initial investigation and over a month since his being banned from campus, Davidai alleges that due process has been intentionally slowed to a lumbering pace and, in some instances, denied.

“Never in my life had I imagined that Columbia University would stoop so low as to engage in Kafkaesque procedures in order to retaliate against my speaking out for the Jewish people and against support for anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, and anti-American terrorism on campus,” he continued in Tuesday’s letter. “As an employee of the university, I would appreciate a reply, if only to be acknowledged for my humanity.”

On Wednesday, Columbia University spokeswoman Samantha Slater told The Algemeiner that “we are not going to comment on ongoing investigations.”

In October, following the professor’s suspension, Slater said, “Columbia has consistently and continually respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s right to free speech and to express his views. His freedom of speech has not been limited and is not being limited now. Columbia, however, does not tolerate threats of intimidation, harassment, or other threatening behavior by its employees. Because Assistant Professor Davidai repeatedly harassed and intimidated university employees in violation of university policy, we have temporarily limited his access to campus while he undertakes appropriate training on our policies governing the behavior of our employees.”

This latest clash between Davidai and Columbia University comes during what has been widely described as an unprecedented “crisis” at the school which, since Oct. 7, 2023, has undermined its credibility with the public and set off a slew of congressional investigations and lawsuits.

In April, an anti-Zionist group occupied Hamilton Hall, forcing then-president hafik to call on the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for help, a decision she hesitated to make and which led to over 108 arrests. However, according to documents shared in August by the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, 18 of the 22 students slapped with disciplinary charges for their role in the incident remain in “good standing” despite the university’s earlier pledge to expel them. Another 31 of 35 who were suspended for illegally occupying the campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” remain in good standing too.

In August, Shafik resigned as president of the university, and just two months prior, in June, its legal counsel reached an out of court settlement with a student who accused administrators of neglecting their obligation to foster a safe learning environment during the final weeks of last spring semester. While stopping short of admitting guilt, the settlement virtually conceded to the plaintiff her argument that the campus was unsafe for Jewish students, agreeing to provide her and others “Safe Passage Liaisons” tasked with protecting them from racist abuse and violence.

Amid this welter of scandals and ethnic conflagrations, Davidai has allegedly received a lion’s share of the university’s attention, revealing, he has alleged, “the depths of [Columbia’s] hostility towards its Jewish community.” He has since retained counsel to guard his rights and prevent being bulldozed by one of the wealthiest and powerful universities in the world. Despite his troubles, however, he has said that Columbia is redeemable.

“I do this because I love teaching and I love research. And because I truly believe that Columbia can become better,” he said. “For me, Cas Holloway is ruining Columbia’s reputation. He is the anathema of everything that’s right about Columbia, its educational practice, research, and openness to everyone. And I don’t know if he’s a good person or a bad person, but his inaction, his indifference shows that he’s OK with ruining everything that higher education should be standing for.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Columbia University Accused of Prolonging Investigation of Pro-Israel Professor first appeared on Algemeiner.com.