Category Archives: The Situation at Columbia

Now back on the Columbia campus after nearly two weeks away traveling. It is extremely quiet here, just some summer classes going on. Security remains intense: you have to go through one of a small number of checkpoints to get … Continue reading →

This week I’m very happy to not be at Columbia, and not in the US, enjoying spending the week at the Perimeter Institute at a conference in honor of Lee Smolin. Since there’s a little bit of Columbia news and … Continue reading →

Nothing much new happening today, a short summary of what is going on follows. I will be traveling the next ten days or so, likely much less posting. On the visa front, a court stopped Trump from his plan to … Continue reading →

Bogus accusations of “antisemitism” continue to be a central feature of the march of Fascism locally and globally. Starting from the local: There’s an open letter from some of my colleagues which, while I don’t agree with all of it, … Continue reading →

It looks like the efforts of the Columbia trustees to negotiate “in good faith” with the Fascist dictator have failed so far. I guess this is good news, because the alternative would be reading an announcement further solidifying our reputation … Continue reading →

Yesterday was the main and final graduation ceremony here at Columbia. Despite the NY Post labeling their coverage “arrests-diploma-burning-mayhem-and-chaos”, graduation went on here very peacefully, much the same as usual. Lots and lots and lots of happy students and proud … Continue reading →

There’s an excellent New York magazine article out this morning that gets the story of what the Columbia trustees have been doing to the university right, with the brutal title How Trump Defeated Columbia: The inside story of an unconditional … Continue reading →

First the good news: a Vermont judge has ordered ICE to release Rumeysa Ozturk. This is yet more evidence that one does not need to bow to the dictatorship. The judicial system is still functional, so one can go to … Continue reading →

Note: I’ve moved content from the previous post to this separate post, about the events today at Butler library. For early comments, see the last post, for newer ones on this topic please comment here. Around 3:15pm, some students started … Continue reading →

This morning we received a long message from the acting president, entitled Preserving Columbia’s Critical Research Capabilities. Here’s a summary: It’s a complete mystery to me, but the trustees still refuse to go to court to challenge the defunding of … Continue reading →