Columbia’s ‘antisemitism’ squad comes down hard on – Latest News
Columbia University has advised the Trump administration that it’s cracking down on antisemitic violence and intimidation and winding down DEI.
But behind closed doorways, the college’s Office of Institutional Equity, a new forms supposedly set up to handle campus antisemitism, is focusing on me for expressing my Catholic religion.
I lately acquired an e mail from the OIE accusing me of “conduct that could constitute discriminatory harassment.”
The message included no particulars, and once I requested for clarification, OIE didn’t present any.
But I’m acquainted with how liberal establishments typically operate, and I suspected that the matter involved my public statements on social media.
I used to be proper.
In a assembly this month with three OIE officers — who recognized themselves as “investigators” — I used to be knowledgeable that I had been the subject of “multiple complaints.”
They insisted that their objective wasn’t to self-discipline me however to “make sure this doesn’t escalate into a disciplinary outcome.”
This course of, they assured me, was “for my own benefit.”
How form of them.
They then confirmed me screenshots of my social media posts, treating my public Catholic beliefs as in the event that they have been prohibited.
I smiled once I noticed them.
I had nothing to remorse.
One post learn: “God does not teach us that we can change our gender.”
Another referenced a dialog with a Catholic friar during which I questioned his use of pronouns and challenged whether or not he believes in transgenderism.
In a number of posts, I celebrated how Republicans like Mike Pence and Nikki Haley supported bans on gender-transition surgical procedure for minors.
The investigators additionally introduced up my January look on the Timcast podcast, the place I stated that immigrants with facial tattoos who appear to be criminals must be screened more rigorously.
The instance I gave was that of a little one intercourse trafficker.
Columbia thinks this method is discriminatory. I feel most Americans would call it common sense.
At the tip of their presentation, I stated, “I am totally open to at some point having said something I didn’t believe in . . . but in all the cases that you showed me, I absolutely stand by what I said.”
Apart from the statements on immigration, which have been defensible on their own phrases, the remaining have been primary expressions of my Catholic religion, not hate or harassment.
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But to Columbia, voicing my Catholic religion was enough to make me the subject of an investigation.
The investigators warned me: Even although I’ve First Amendment rights, my posts may very well be “creating a hostile environment.”
My expressions of Catholic religion — “hypothetically, if you have a trans classmate that sees this” — may make somebody really feel unsafe even to “walk on campus,” they suggested.
I responded, “If someone is offended, that’s not going to stop me from sharing what I believe. The overwhelming majority of people in this country agree with what I said . . . I just don’t believe men can become women and women can become men. It is crazy to me that in 2025 there are people reporting me for an opinion that 90% of humans share.”
They insisted that they weren’t policing speech — however that’s precisely what they have been doing.
One of the investigators advised me that posting in regards to the decline of Christianity may make people of different religions really feel excluded.
They requested, “Can someone else share their opinion with you the way you do?”
I answered, “Yes — and I’m offended by many opinions, but that doesn’t make them harassment.”
Columbia’s coverage defines creating a “hostile environment” as any motion that merely makes one other particular person really feel uncomfortable.
It’s unattainable to use such a obscure and subjective commonplace pretty, as Columbia has demonstrated by imposing it selectively in opposition to me.
At the tip of the assembly, the investigators advised me to “think about this conversation” earlier than I post again.
I replied, “Can you understand that this sounds threatening?”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which defends free speech rights on school campuses, has stepped in to assist me.
They have warned Columbia to not retaliate in opposition to me for expressing protected views.
The complete episode confirmed my worst fears: Columbia is prepared to make use of bureaucratic stress to silence college students who specific Christian beliefs.
That just isn’t defending college students; it’s excluding us.
To all college students who’ve been advised that their religion or conservative views quantity to hate speech, right here’s my advice: Don’t back down.
Your beliefs aren’t harmful; they’re sacred.
And they continue to be important to the American experiment in free expression and self-government.
No Ivy League forms can change that.
Daniel DiMartino is a Manhattan Institute fellow and a PhD candidate in economics at Columbia University. Adapted from City Journal.
