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Columbia University has placed three administrators on leave after they reportedly exchanged sarcastic and insensitive text messages during a campus panel on antisemitism, The New York Times reported.
A university spokesperson did not identify the administrators, telling the Times an investigation is underway.
But The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news site that first reported the incident, named them as deans Susan Chang-Kim, Cristen Kromm and Matthew Patashnick and shared screenshots of the offending messages. Chang-Kim is vice dean and chief administrative officer of Columbia College, the university’s main undergraduate college; Kromm is the college’s dean of undergraduate student life; and Patashnick is associate dean of student and family support.
The incident took place at a panel discussion about Jewish life on campus held during a Columbia College reunion on May 31. During the event, the administrators exchanged crass messages, including vomit emojis sent in response to the mention of an op-ed about rampant antisemitism on campus that Columbia rabbi Yonah Hain wrote last fall, as well as a text accusing one panelist of “taking full advantage of this moment” for “huge fundraising potential.”
The Free Beacon reported that Columbia College dean Josef Sorett also participated in the text exchanges, responding “LMAO” and “yup” to some of the disparaging messages from his colleagues.
But a university official told the Times that Sorett is cooperating with the investigation and will continue to serve as dean while it proceeds. In a statement to the Columbia College Board of Visitors, Sorett expressed remorse for his actions.
“I am committed to learning from this situation and to the work of confronting antisemitism, discrimination and hate at Columbia,” he said.
In other Columbia news, the Manhattan district attorney’s office last week dropped criminal charges against 31 of the 46 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested for trespassing after they occupied Columbia’s Hamilton Hall on April 30, The Hill reported.
