The First Street Journal previously reported on three anti-Semitic deans at Columbia University being permanently removed and placed on indefinite leave from their administrative jobs over offensive texts during an alumni weekend event about Jewish life on campus. An audience member, who was seated behind one of the deans took photos of the administrators’ texts and first shared them last month with the Washington Free Beacon.
Well, the indefinite suspension is now over. From The New York Times:
3 Columbia University Deans Who Sent Insulting Texts Have Resigned
The deans were put on leave earlier in the summer after sending messages that disparaged Jewish panelists. A fourth dean, who is tenured, will remain at the university.
by Sharon Otterman | Thursday, August 8, 2024
Three Columbia University deans who exchanged disparaging text messages that the university president said “touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” during a forum about Jewish issues in May are resigning, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
The deans, who had responsibility for undergraduate student affairs, sent the biting and sarcastic messages as they reacted in real time to Jewish speakers expressing concern about antisemitism on campus during the two-hour event.
In June, Nemat Shafik, the university president, placed the three deans on indefinite leave as an investigation proceeded.
In the texts, one dean suggested that a Jewish speaker was playing up concerns for fund-raising purposes. Another sent vomit emojis in reaction to the mention of a college newspaper opinion piece written by one of the school’s rabbis.
So, they’ve ‘resigned.’ The Times subtitle tells the reader everything that he needs to know: a fourth dean, who has academic tenure, did not resign, which means that the three who did leave resigned ahead of being fired. Firing a tenured person is much more difficult, so professor Josef Sorett, a scholar on religion and race, who did not participate to the same extent as Susan Chang-Kim, vice dean and chief administrative officer, Cristen Kromm, dean of undergraduate student life, and Matthew Patashnick, associate dean for student and family support, gets to keep his job. Dr Sorett, who publicly apologized, stays while the other three are wailing at the song “Hit the Road, Jack“.
If it took over a month to force the three to resign, one thing is obvious: there were lawyers involved. The only question not answered by the Times is: how much of a golden parachute were the three given?
