Anti-Israel group at Columbia attacks appointment of Jewish president

Jennifer L. Mnookin had condemned Hamas and enforced campus protest rules at UW-Madison.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A vehemently anti-Israel student group at Columbia University on Monday attacked the unanimous appointment of Jennifer L. Mnookin as the school’s first female Jewish president.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a primary organizer of pro-Hamas protests, illegal tent encampments and building occupations that marred campus life during Israel’s war with Hamas, accused Mnookin of suppressing activism during her tenure as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“As chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she called riot police to beat up and arrest students for their Gaza Solidarity Encampment. She’ll fit in perfectly with the rest of the school’s fascist admin,” the group wrote on X.

In May 2024, Mnookin authorized law enforcement to dismantle an unlawful encampment on UW–Madison’s Library Mall after protesters ignored repeated orders over two days to remove tents that violated campus rules banning overnight camping.

Students were warned multiple times and given the opportunity to leave peacefully.

While most complied, about 30 refused. Twelve were arrested, including four charged with assaulting officers or resisting arrest; four deputies were injured in the clashes.

In a letter to the campus community afterward, Mnookin reaffirmed her support for free expression and civil disobedience on “deeply felt” issues, but stressed that civil disobedience requires respect for shared laws and acceptance of legal consequences.

“That is what distinguishes civil disobedience from mere lawlessness,” she wrote.

The 58-year-old legal scholar was among the first university heads to publicly denounce Hamas for “the massive scale and brutality” of its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel.

On Oct. 11, she told students, faculty and staff: “I stand with our community in condemning the vicious terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians last weekend.”

No matter what political views people espouse, she added, “The massacre of ordinary citizens, in their homes, at music concerts, in their cars and on the streets of their villages, is a horror that we must all, in our common humanity, condemn.”

Mnookin urged members of the campus community to focus on shared values and express political views “peacefully and respectfully.”

Announcing her appointment, Columbia University Board of Trustees co-chairs David J. Greenwald and Jeh C. Johnson praised Mnookin as “a distinguished scholar” who currently “leads a complex institution with clarity and vision.”

“She is also a keen listener who builds consensus and does not shy away from making difficult decisions when necessary,” they said, adding that she would lead Columbia with “a firm commitment to the university’s cherished values.”

Columbia has been widely criticized as one of the most hostile campuses for Jewish students since the start of the Gaza war, with anti-Israel protests frequently devolving into antisemitic harassment and physical intimidation.

Following a federal investigation into its handling of antisemitism, Columbia agreed to pay more than $200 million to settle discrimination claims and adopted new policies for addressing antisemitic incidents.

CUAD was formed in November 2023, a month into the war, after Columbia suspended Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) over their support for Hamas and antisemitic activities.

Although it comprises dozens of student groups, CUAD is not a registered student organization.

Mnookin is scheduled to officially assume office on July 1.