Columbia University, in unusually swift fashion, has suspended one of the anti-Israel student activists who barged into a “History of Modern Israel” class and handed out antisemitic flyers.

“The investigation of the disruption, including the identification of additional participants, remains active,” the school stated on Thursday. “Disruptions to our classrooms and our academic mission and efforts to intimidate or harass our students are not acceptable, are an affront to every member of our University community, and will not be tolerated.” Columbia did not clarify the terms of the suspension but noted that a full investigation and disciplinary process is pending. 

The Israeli professor whose class was interrupted, Avi Shilon, suspects that the incident could mark a “turning point” not just for Columbia, but for “the academic sphere in America,” he tells the Sun. The new administration and ceasefire agreement, he says, are contributing factors. 

“I came here from Israel to educate, to learn, to study together. It’s ridiculous for students to invade a class that is meant to offer a deep dive of the Israeli story, the Palestinian story, the story of the conflict,” he tells the Sun. Mr. Shilon, whose family came to Israel from Baghdad, invited the protesters to join in the class and even tried to speak with them in Arabic. “Of course they didn’t understand Arabic,” he quips.  

The incident, which occurred this past Tuesday, the first day of Columbia’s spring semester, involved a group of Keffiyeh-clad students who targeted an Israeli history class. Videos of the incident shared online depict several masked individuals barging into the classroom with one proclaiming, “We’re giving you an inside scoop on Columbia University’s normalization of genocide.” 

The protesters handed out fliers with pro-violence slogans like “The enemy will not see tomorrow” and “Burn Zionism to the ground.” One flier included the image of a boot stomping on a Star of David below the line “Crush Zionism.” 

On the main quad, members of the anti-Israel student group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, gathered to show support for their fellow “student intifada” members who were subject to disciplinary hearings over winter break for their involvement in last years’ “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” The school is slated to issue disciplinary verdicts in the coming weeks. 

The menacing fliers and class invasion sparked outrage that spread even beyond Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus. “This is outrageous and unacceptable,” New York Representative, Mike Lawler, declared. “Where are the Columbia administrators on this? Where is Kathy Hochul? Jewish students being intimidated on campuses anywhere cannot be tolerated,” he added. Leo Terrell, Mr. Trump’s pick for senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, responded to the protest by warning Columbia’s Board of Trustees to “expect a letter from me in the immediate future” noting that universities “have a fiduciary duty to protect Jewish students.” 

Columbia’s president quickly issued a statement condemning the class disruption and the violent fliers. In an even more uncommon move, the university followed up with an update on actions “swiftly taken” to address the incident, including buffing up security measures for classes “at increased risk of disruption” and cooperating with the New York Police department to “to protect our campus, and its external gates and buildings.” Images circulated of a security guard posted outside of a “Zionist Thought” course. 

Now, with the news that the student has been suspended, some members of the Jewish community at Columbia are praising what seems to be a vibe shift from the administration. “This kind of swift action is exactly what has been needed all along,” a cohort of Jewish and Israeli students at Columbia stated. A consortium of pro-Israel Columbia and Barnard professors thanked the administration and noted that they “look forward to reports of continued accountability.” 

Other members of the community, though, are less sure that the suspension will do much to root out antisemitism from the university. “You can’t cure cancer with a bandaid,” Israeli-American professor at Columbia, Shai Davidai, tells the Sun. “As long as Columbia keeps treating the symptoms without addressing the root cause of the anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, and anti-American ideology on campus nothing will change.” 

Mr. Davidai, who has been outspoken in criticizing Columbia’s response to pervasive campus antisemitism, was recently banned from campus for allegedly having “harassed and intimidated” fellow faculty members during an anti-Israel protest on the one year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack. The professor maintains that he was targeted by the school because he wasn’t afraid “to stand up to the hateful mob.” Hundreds of Columbia faculty members and affiliates have signed a petition urging the school’s president to lift his suspension. 

A Columbia watchdog organization, Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at Columbia, offered a similar message, urging the university to hold accountable the “many more responsible” for the protest. “Those responsible need to be expelled or fired. Slaps on the wrists don’t work,” the organization noted, adding their suggestion that the university issue a campus wide mask ban which would make it easier to identify unruly protestors.  

Despite the shocking classroom incident, Mr. Shilon remains undeterred. “The demonstration shows exactly why it’s important for me to be here. People are acting out of ignorance,” he tells the Sun. “If these students took my class, their protest would be much more meaningful because they would see that the story of Israel and the Palestinians is not a story of David and Goliath. It’s not black and white.”