New Delhi: The Nepali alumni of Columbia University have condemned the brutal violence by the University administration against students protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza. They criticised censorship, intimidation, and suppression of dissent on campus, supporting protesting students, faculty, and staff.
The alumni have demanded the release and reinstatement of arrested and punished students, an end to racial profiling and anti-protest activities, and the withdrawal of NYPD from campus.
“We are appalled by the censorship, intimidation, and suppression of dissent that has been taking place on the Columbia campus and by what the Columbia College Student Council has pointed out is a clear flouting of due process and executive overreach by the University administration. We note in particular the administration’s decision to ban two anti-war groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace,” they said in a statement, released on May 4, from Kathmandu.
“We are distressed that the University administration has shown no commitment to students’ rights to free speech and legitimate political expression,” the statement said.
Reproduced below is the full text of the statement.
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Columbia University Alumni from Nepal in Support of Anti-Genocide Student Protesters
Saturday, 4 May 2024, Kathmandu
We, the undersigned Nepali alumni of Columbia University, are shocked and disgusted at the brutal violence unleashed by the University administration on students protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. We condemn the University’s calling of fully armed New York Police Department officers onto campus on the night of April 30, 2024.
We are appalled by the censorship, intimidation, and suppression of dissent that has been taking place on the Columbia campus and by what the Columbia College Student Council has pointed out is a clear flouting of due process and executive overreach by the University administration. We note in particular the administration’s decision to ban two anti-war groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
We are distressed that the University administration has shown no commitment to students’ rights to free speech and legitimate political expression. We stand in solidarity with the protesting students, faculty, and university staff. We support the protesting students’ condemnation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and repression in the West Bank, and their call for the University to withdraw all investments linked to Israel’s war effort and settlement in the Occupied Territories.
The anti-genocide demonstrations and the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Butler Lawn are courageous and legitimate acts of dissent by Columbia students and faculty. They continue the powerful on-campus tradition of activism for human rights and social justice. Student protests of the recent past have included encampments and the occupation of buildings. In the case of the strikes for an Ethnic Studies department in 2007 and the fossil fuel divestment protests in 2016, for instance, the University administration chose not to call NYPD onto campus, instead it engaged protester concerns and reached meaningful points of agreement.
We do not accept the administration’s claim that protestors put members of the university community in danger. We denounce the idea that protesting against a genocide should be considered dangerous or discriminatory. We reject the University administration’s position that demanding divestment from companies violating international law is discriminatory or inappropriate. Rather, it is dangerous and discriminatory to stand silent and complicit while a mass killing takes place. This is the position in which Columbia University finds itself, supporting fascism and downplaying genocide abroad while suppressing intellectual freedom on campus.
Here in Nepal, we remember the dark days in which the state security forces entered universities and colleges to suppress activism by students agitating for democracy. As alumni of Columbia University, we are distressed that our alma mater is showing a similar intolerance for dissent. The University administration should understand that human rights cannot be applied selectively, and that they necessarily extend to Palestinians and those who support them.
We demand the release of all arrested Columbia students, the reinstatement of students who have been suspended or expelled, the expunging of this punishment from their records, an end to racial profiling of students, and the cessation of all anti-protest activities. We further demand that the Columbia administration immediately evacuate NYPD from campus, resume negotiations, and allow peaceful protests of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In solidarity with the protesting students,
- Adheep Pokhrel, School of Social Work 2012
- Arun Rana, School of International and Public Affairs 2002
- Bahar Kumar, Mailman School of Public Health 2014
- Barsha Dharel, School of International and Public Affairs 2023
- Himali Dixit, Columbia College 2006
- Jenisha Shrestha, School of International and Public Affairs 2020
- Kanak Mani Dixit, School of International Affairs 1981, School of Journalism 1982
- Pravakar Adhikari, Law School 1990
- Reshu Aryal Dhungana, Teachers College 2014
- Samikshya Siwakoti, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 2021
- Shanta Dixit, Mailman School of Public Health 1989
- Shivani Basnet, School of International and Public Affairs 2023
- Taniya Agarwal, School of International and Public Affairs 2023
- Tenzing Namtse Lama, Mailman School of Public Health 2017
- Yangchen Dolker Gurung, School of International and Public Affairs 2016
