Four Columbia University administrators dismissed concerns about campus antisemitism in an explosive series of texts during a recent alumni event, according to transcripts released Tuesday by the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee.
Three of the officials have been placed on leave pending an investigation since a reunion panel on Jewish life on campus on May 31.
Photos of the exchange, first published in the conservative news outlet the Washington Free Beacon last month, showed Cristen Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life, fired off two sick and vomit emojis referencing a campus rabbi’s op-ed about antisemitism.
Another administrator, Matthew Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support, said Hillel Executive Director Brian Cohen “knows exactly what he’s doing and how to take full advantage of this moment. Huge fundraising potential.”
The texts’ veracity and the individuals who sent them were confirmed by the House Education Committee on Tuesday, after Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) requested the full exchange as part of a probe into allegations of antisemitism at Columbia.
The chats included previously unreported messages, including from Susan Chang-Kim, the vice dean and chief administrative officer of Columbia College, who said panelists came from “such a place of privilege.”
“Hard to hear the woe is me, we need to huddle at the Kraft center,” said Chang-Kim, referring to the Jewish life campus building. “Huh??”
“Amazing what $$$$ can do,” Kromm, the student life dean, said later in the session.
Columbia said it was committed to combating antisemitism and taking action to ensure Jewish students feel safe on campus. Columbia College Dean Josef Sorett, who was in one of the group chats and chimed in with a “Lmao,” slang for laughing, is cooperating with an investigation while he continues to serve in the role.
Foxx suggested in a statement that the texts “again confirm the need for serious accountability” at Columbia.
“Jewish students deserve better than to have harassment and threats against them dismissed as ‘privilege,’ and Jewish faculty members deserve better than to be mocked by their colleagues,” the lawmaker said.
Last spring, Columbia was roiled by campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, including a pro-Palestinian encampment at the center of campus to demand divestment. After President Minouche Shafik summoned the NYPD to clear the demonstration, students set up new tents as a smaller group of protesters occupied a campus building.
Shafik again called the police, who arrested more than 100 demonstrators. Last month, the cases of 31 of the 46 people who were charged with trespassing in Hamilton Hall were dismissed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Others were offered a deal that would see their charges dismissed if they were not arrested again, but declined the arrangement. They’re due back in court later this month.
The latest administrative shakeup comes as a top Columbia administrator who suspended two pro-Palestinian student groups last fall is retiring from the university.
Gerald Rosberg, the senior executive vice president of Columbia, announced in November that Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace repeatedly violated campus event policy and would lose funding.
Rosberg is currently one of three named defendants — the others being Columbia trustees and Shafik— in a New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging the suspensions. A motion to dismiss the suit is pending.
A university official said the vice president planned to retire with former Columbia President Lee Bollinger but agreed to stay through the leadership transition.
“While so much of his work at Columbia took place behind the scenes,” Shafik said in a memo Monday to students and faculty, “Gerry has been an invaluable advisor to me over the past year, to my predecessor, Lee Bollinger, over many years, and to everyone fortunate enough to have worked with him.”
Shafik credited Rosberg with the development of its satellite campus in Manhattanville, its pandemic response and the founding of the Columbia Climate School.
Rosberg could not immediately be reached for comment, and spokesmen would not share his last day. As of Tuesday, Rosberg’s administrative profile had been taken offline.
