Columbia canceling graduation ceremony shows 'inmates are running the asylum': students

Several Columbia University students spoke retired to Fox News Digital connected Monday aft administrators announced they would beryllium canceling the school's main commencement ceremony. Security concerns successful the aftermath of raucous anti-Israel protests were apical of caput successful making the decision, a assemblage authoritative told Fox News.

One graduating senior, who besides testified earlier the House Education & Workforce Committee astir the antisemitic agitators, said she did truthful successful bid to springiness dependable to those successful the assemblage who each person the aforesaid concerns arsenic good arsenic a mode to impulse Columbia administrators to act.

"I deliberation that [Columbia] has the imaginable to beryllium the astonishing instauration that I cognize that it is," Yola Ashkenazie told Fox News Digital.

Ashkenazie said she was disappointed that the main commencement ceremonial was canceled, saying graduation festivities are arsenic overmuch for the students arsenic they are for the parents and families who enactment hard to guarantee their children tin be a venerated instauration similar Columbia.

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Anti-Israel protesters rally extracurricular Columbia University successful New York City connected April 30, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

"So, it's truly bittersweet that we don't get to decently people this infinitesimal with them and with each of our friends crossed each the antithetic schools," she said.

Ashkenazie said administrators had astatine archetypal acted similar the anti-Israel protests were peaceful demonstrations, but she added that if that were true, she inactive would beryllium attending graduation.

"[W]hy would they cancel commencement if they thought that they were wholly peaceful? It doesn't truly marque sense. And the medication can't support their communicative straight."

Ashkenazie besides told Fox News she had been affected by antisemitic sentiment connected field agelong earlier the protests began successful April.

"So, I person been vocal [in] speaking retired against antisemitism connected field since Oct. 7th, and the students benignant of pegged maine arsenic that," she said.

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The Israeli emblem waves astatine a protestation encampment successful enactment of Palestinians astatine the Columbia University field successful New York City connected April 29, 2024. (Reuters/David Dee Delgado)

"So a mates of months ago, a cyberbullying Instagram relationship posted a photograph of maine holding Israeli flags, and that caused students to station horrible things astir maine connected anonymous field forums. I had radical there, adjacent an lawsuit successful which idiosyncratic came up to maine successful the mediate of field and confronted maine astir my enactment for Israel. So yeah, it's been an incredibly, incredibly frightening mates of months connected campus."

Sophomore Elisha Baker isn't graduating this year, but helium told Fox News Digital the ceremony's cancelation inactive affected him.

"Here's the happening astir commencement. This question that has been connected field has been advocating to ‘shut it down’ and to cancel joy. And by canceling commencement, it seems that the assemblage has caved to some of those demands and fundamentally allowed the mob to win," helium said.

"And to me, that's truly sad. And my bosom goes retired to the seniors who mislaid precocious schoolhouse graduation owed to COVID, mislaid freshman twelvemonth of assemblage to COVID and present mislaid their elder springs and their graduations to a convulsive mob," helium said.

Baker said helium watched protesters unfurl a 20-foot pro-intifada banner from a large world gathering successful the wee hours of 1 caller morning.

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Demonstrators stitchery extracurricular an entranceway to Columbia University connected April 29, 2024. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado)

"To me, that was conscionable truly bittersweet – truly shocking; convulsive and wholly emblematic of precisely what this question has been calling for this full time, which is unit against Jews, which is simply a prolonged authorities of warfare alternatively than peace," said Baker, who is Jewish.

He told Fox News Digital that Jewish students person been subjected to hatred code and unit since the protests began.

One of Baker's friends had an Israeli emblem ripped retired of his hands by protesters, who purportedly tried to acceptable it ablaze and aboriginal pelted him with projectiles.

"Columbia has wholly abdicated enactment to a mob that is simply a tiny but rageful and vocal minority."

"That's full-blown battle wrong the field gates," Baker said.

When asked astir the imaginable of not returning to field because of the protests, Baker said the determination is hard due to the fact that to enactment distant mightiness look arsenic "let[ting] the bully win."

"So, to me, to permission field close present arsenic a Jewish pupil is astir to springiness successful to the mob. And yes, we person to beryllium acrophobic for our safety. But also, there's thing astir staying and astir making precise wide that these radical tin say, 'We don't privation nary Zionists here.' But conjecture what? We're inactive here. And you cannot bully Jewish students disconnected of this campus."

"It's up to the assemblage to determine if wearing a kippah and a hostage canine tag … if that's going to marque maine a people oregon if I'm harmless here. Right. Because I merit to beryllium harmless here."

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Meanwhile, Columbia inferior Eden Yadegar told Fox News Digital the cancellation of commencement proves "the inmates are moving the asylum."

"Columbia has wholly abdicated enactment to a mob that is simply a tiny but rageful and vocal minority. And it's truly unfortunate that now, arsenic a result, each students … are present having to look the consequences that this mob benignant of forced everyone other to woody with and besides that the Columbia medication enactment everyone successful a concern to woody with," she said.

Yadegar said the schoolhouse drew aggregate proverbial "red lines" but past did not enforce the promised repercussions.

"And truthful it's nary wonderment that students deliberation determination are nary consequences for their actions and deliberation that they tin get distant with wreaking havoc connected field and doing fundamentally immoderate they want."

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Another Columbia student, Batya Tropper, told Fox News Digital that though she appreciates overmuch of what Columbia has offered her during her world career, she present finds it harder to promote chap Jewish students to be assemblage there.

"I cannot warrant that this volition beryllium a harmless oregon comfy situation for them," she said. "And I ne'er thought that I would beryllium successful a presumption to accidental that."

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"And the crushed that is truthful upsetting is due to the fact that I emotion this university, and I emotion the normalcy that I've had present and the experiences that I've had. But I deliberation it's precise unfortunate that a batch of Jewish students looking to travel to colleges mightiness not take Ivy League universities due to the fact that they are acrophobic for their safety, oregon they mightiness not privation to travel to assemblage and person to advocator for their individuality each day."

"They mightiness conscionable privation to travel and get an education, which they should beryllium entitled to, conscionable similar everyone else."

Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.