Columbia students: Cancel final exams, we’re ‘traumatized’ by arrests

Students say they are too “unwell” after protesters arrested to study for final exams; No mention of ongoing trauma to harassed Jewish students on campus.

By World Israel News Staff

Columbia Law School students are demanding that the college cancel final exams and switch to a pass/fail system for all classes, claiming that the “trauma” of witnessing violent anti-Israel protesters being removed from campus by the authorities has rendered them unable to perform academically.

In an open letter published in student publication the Columbia Law Review, the editors called for a suspension of all standard academic requirements for students.

The students claimed that it was unfair to expect them to study or take final exams due to the upset allegedly caused by seeing “police clad in riot gear” removing students and external agitators from a building they were illegally occupying.

“The violence we witnessed last night has irrevocably shaken many of us on the Review,” the letter read, adding that they were left “unable to focus and highly emotional during this tumultuous time.”

The editors urged Columbia Law to “prioritize students’ health and safety over grades.”

The letter claimed that many students are “unwell” due to the crackdown and “cannot study or concentrate while their peers are being hauled to jail.”

“We believe that canceling exams would be a proportionate response to the level of distress our peers have been feeling,” the editors said.

“In the alternative, making courses mandatory pass/fail would be the next most equitable solution.”

Notably, the letter made no mention of the trauma caused to Jewish students by repeated bullying, harassment, and threats.

A doxxing incident, in which the personal details of Jewish and Israeli students and staff were circulated among anti-Israel demonstrators, presumably to streamline harassment of those individuals, was similarly was not included in the letter.