Columbia University could hardly have been more draconian in the last year and a half since students began speaking out against Israel’s assault on Gaza.

In early November 2023, four months before the Columbia Gaza solidarity encampment even began, the university banned its chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. A few hundred students from the groups had had the audacity to walkout from classes and hold a “die-in” protest on campus – some of the most widely celebrated nonviolent-protest tactics available.

The crackdown was just getting started.

Since then, the university has ordered police raids on campus three times, leading to the arrest of over 100 students. Last week, the school expelled four students, three from Barnard College, one from Columbia. Many dozens of students have faced discipline and suspensions for participating in pro-Palestine protests and speech. Professors have been slandered before Congress, censured, removed from positions, and reportedly pushed into retirement over their support for Palestine and criticism of Israel. The campus has been essentially locked down for almost a year.

Again and again, Columbia has shown a willingness to throw students, faculty, free speech, and academic freedom under the bus in acquiescence to a right-wing, pro-Israel narrative that treats support for Palestinians as an affront to Jewish safety.

For all Columbia’s appeasement, President Donald........

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