Everyone remembers the events of the spring at Columbia University in New York. Jewish students were harassed, mistreated, jeered at, terrorized, and often forced to return home in the face of threats. Le Figaro among others reported last April the press release of a Jewish student association : " We are horrified and concerned for the physical safety of Jewish students on campus. ", adding that the association had hired armed bodyguards to escort students home after meetings. Pro-Palestinian students have reigned terror, occupied premises, set up camps, and prevented Jewish students from coming and going to the university.
It is also recalled that the presidents of Harvard University, Pennsylvania University and MIT, questioned as part of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, affirmed that calls for the genocide of Jews did not really violate the "code of conduct" of their university as long as there was no passage to the act, in the name of the sacrosanct freedom of expression. Faced with the outcry caused by such responses, two of them ended up resigning.
At Columbia, the president, Nemat Shafik, known as Minouche, had to call the police on campus to dislodge pro-Palestinian students from their camps and from university buildings where they had no business, Hamilton Hall in particular. About a hundred of them had been arrested: this somewhat disconcerted them, having been raised in the absence of contradiction and unable to accept being accused of harassing those they believe to be responsible for or approving of the war in the Middle East and who have only the "fault" of being Jewish.
It was now necessary to calm things down and try to reconcile student activists with their university, so that they would understand that, in order to share their convictions, discussion and argumentation are essential tools. Trying to convince through violence, exclusion and terror is unacceptable, especially in a university setting; it is normal that order should reign on a campus taken over by activists. Shafik did not achieve her goals and ended up resigning too in August, when the campus was in the grip of new violence. She is not just anyone! An internationally renowned economist, director of the London School of Economics from 2017 to 2023, member of the House of Lords since 2020, she was not the type to let herself be told stories. She had not reached these responsibilities thanks to theaffirmative action like Claudine Gay… An interim president, Katrina Armstrong, was appointed and it was hoped that she would have the necessary charisma to succeed in imposing peace.
So she spoke recently in an interview with the students responsible for the university newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, and it is a major journal devoted to higher education and American academic life, Inside Higher Education, who tells it. In front of these students, Armstrong therefore presented his apologies (apologies). Guess who? To the Jewish students who were harassed, bullied, jeered at, and terrorized for weeks without the university defending and protecting them? Certainly not! It was to those who were “wounded” by the New York police’s expulsion of pro-Palestinian protesters from the campus that she “apologized”… However, it does not seem that the police committed violence or physically injured the occupants of the wild encampments. Rather, it seems that these kind occupants were hurt in their self-esteem and their convictions – which was well worth an apology from the university authorities!
That said, it’s hard to know exactly what Armstrong thinks about these events. The student newspaper asked her if she agreed with former president Nemat Shafik in her decision to call the police to dismantle a recently formed protest encampment—leading to the arrest of more than 100 students—and later to call the police again to evict the occupants of Hamilton Hall. Her response is a template for any university official looking to cover up the issue:
"I know this is hard for me to say, but I understand that I'm in this position, right? And if you could just say to everyone who was hurt, I'm truly sorry.", Armstrong replied. “I know it wasn’t me, but I’m truly sorry… I saw it, and I’m truly sorry […] I see the harm that’s happened and I’m deeply committed to working with all of you, I’m working with the entire community to both address that harm and understand.”1.
Incredibly sorry, really sorry : three times sorry in two lines!
Asked by Inside Higher Education, a Columbia spokesperson said:
"Dr. Armstrong gave a wide-ranging interview to the student newspaper, which focused in part on the impact of the past year, and just as she has done in her speeches to many groups on our campus, she acknowledged their pain and reiterated how sorry she was for all students who are suffering.".
Everything is included in these honeyed excuses, which are addressed "to all the students who are suffering".
Sorry, sorry, yes, but ultimately sorry for whom, for what? By remaining vague, Armstrong does not escape the ambiguity! No doubt she has read Cardinal de Retz? A Columbia professor, Shai Davidai, did not let himself be taken in and counterattacked very well:
"Did she apologize to the Jewish and Israeli students who were terrorized for months on campus? No. She apologized to the students who broke the rules and suffered the consequences.". And the representative of the Council of Trustees and Alumni Columbia University's Steven McGuire said: “This weakness is truly incredible. The protesters broke the law. They occupied a building. Anti-Semitism ran wild. The graduation ceremony had to be canceled. The campus is still partially closed. There have been other acts of vandalism this semester. And she apologizes? She should promise to do it again if necessary.”.
But since we tell you that she apologized in every way, what are you looking for? Obviously these apologies were not enough, since, while we only saw them in April, They complained in October that they had been deprived of their freedom of expression… A fine example of victim reversal! Weren’t they rather deprived of their capacity for reflection?