Thread by @aaronsibarium

NEW: In leaked text messages obtained by the Free Beacon, top Columbia administrators—including the dean of the college—mocked and dismissed concerns about anti-Semitism on campus and even used vomit emojis to refer to a Columbia rabbi’s op-ed.

Scoop w/@elianayjohnson.🧵

The messages were sent in real time during a panel on anti-semitism at Columbia’s alumni weekend, which included the head of Columbia Hillel, Brian Cohen, and was attended by some of the school’s most senior officials. freebeacon.com/campus/columbi…

The officials spent much of the panel texting among themselves about how horrible they thought it was. Matthew Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support, complained that Cohen, the Hillel rabbi, was exploiting the moment’s “fundraising potential.”

Other administrators in the audience included Josef Sorett, the dean of Columbia College; Susan Chang-Kim, the vice dean and chief administrative officer of Columbia College; and Cristen Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life.

Throughout the panel, which unfolded over nearly two hours, Chang-Kim was on her phone texting with her colleagues about the proceedings.

As the panelists offered frank appraisals of the climate facing Jewish students, Columbia's top officials responded with mockery and vitriol.

"This is difficult to listen to but I'm trying to keep an open mind to learn about this point of view," Chang-Kim texted Sorett, the dean of the college. "Yup," he replied.

The text messages, which were captured by an audience member sitting behind Chang-Kim who photographed the vice dean tapping away on her phone, also used vomit emojis to describe an op-ed about anti-Semitism by Columbia's campus rabbi.

Chang-Kim's messages and those of her colleagues are clearly visible in the photographs. The Free Beacon verified the authenticity of the photographs with the person who took them.

The text messages betray an attitude of ignorance and indifference toward the concerns of Jewish students on a campus where protesters have called to "burn Tel Aviv to the ground" and said that "Zionists don't deserve to live."

The exchanges also raise questions about Columbia's ability to combat anti-Semitism if its top administrators not only dismiss the problem but also sneer at those who speak out about it.

When a student on the panel was asked to dilate on "the experience of Jewish and Israeli students on campus," Chang-Kim fired off a text to Kromm and Patashnick: "Did we really have students being kicked out of clubs for being Jewish?"

At one point, Kromm used a pair of vomit emojis to refer to an op-ed penned by Columbia's campus rabbi, Yonah Hain, in October 2023. Titled "Sounding the alarm," the op-ed, published in the Spectator, expressed concern about the "normalization of Hamas" that Hain saw on campus.

"Debates about Zionism, one state or two states, occupation, and Israeli military and government policy are all welcome conversations on campus," the rabbi wrote. "What's not up for debate is that massacring Jews is unequivocally wrong."

Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support, also chimed in to say that one of the panelists—it is not clear to whom he was referring—is capitalizing on the crisis at hand to raise money.

"He knows exactly what he's doing and how to take full advantage of this moment," Patashnick wrote to Chang-Kim and Kromm. "Huge fundraising potential." Chang-Kim responded: "Double Urgh."

Among the comments Chang-Kim offered to Kromm and Patashnick: "This panel is really making the administration look like jokers." Patashnick replied, "Yep."

Read the whole thing in the @FreeBeacon: freebeacon.com/campus/columbi…