For the first time in more than two decades, no graduates of Ramaz, an elite Orthodox Jewish school in Manhattan's Upper East Side, have enrolled at Columbia University's main liberal arts college, the New York Post reported.
“For the first time in over 20 years, we will not have a Ramaz graduate enrolling in Columbia College,” the school told the paper.
Fourt Ramaz graduates have enrolled at schools affilated with Columbia, including three who enrolled at Barnard College for women, but Ramaz syudents have avoided the main school which saw large-scale and high-profile anti-Israel protests during the Spring.
Rory Lancman, a Jewish civil rights activist whose daughters graduated from Ramaz, said that Jewish parents and students should avoid Columbia due to the antisemitism displayed at the university.
“Jewish families are voting with their feet and choosing colleges and universities that take antisemitism seriously,” Lancman said. “I would not recommend my daughters to apply to Columbia or other colleges that aren’t committed to protect them as Jews."
Columbia University President Dr. Minouche Shafik announced her resignation on Wednesday, following months of criticism for her handling of campus antisemitism.
An illegal tent encampment was set up on campus by anti-Israel protesters on April 17, setting off a trend that engulfed campuses across the nation.
On April 30, at the request of university leaders, hundreds of officers with the New York Police Department stormed onto campus, gaining access to the building through a second-story window and making dozens of arrests of the pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrators who had taken over Hamilton Hall.
Before that, the Chabad rabbi of Columbia University and a group of Jewish students were forced to leave the university campus for their own safety during a pro-Hamas demonstration.
Earlier this month, three Columbia University deans resigned from the school, after it was discovered that they had exchanged “very troubling” texts that “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.”
