NEW: When I told Bo Dietl I was a
@POLITICO
reporter and asked about his work for Mayor Eric Adams' legal defense trust, he told me: “You like to suck dick? Go suck dick somewhere,” then hung up. Two hours later, the trust fired Dietl. w/
@joeanuta
In her statement demanding Shafik’s resignation, Stefanik calls
@Columbia
“previously a beacon of academic excellence founded by Alexander Hamilton.”
Columbia was in fact founded by King George II in 1754, three years before Hamilton was born.
My full statement on Columbia University’s Failed Leadership:
“While Columbia’s failed leadership spent hundreds of hours preparing for this week’s Congressional hearing, it clearly was an attempt to cover up for their abject failure to enforce their own campus rules and protect…
NEW: Facing the encampment, Speaker Mike Johnson said he will demand Biden send the National Guard to Columbia. Protesters shouted “who are you people?” and “Mike, you suck!” drowning him out. w/
@madinatoure
What’s next? I’m excited and honored to announce that I’ll be starting at
@politicony
in January as I complete my final semester at
@columbia
before moving to DC full-time in June for a year as a
@politico
fellow!
“It was 1968 that was a big turning point for Columbia. Columbia, like all universities, had protests. But the way they unfolded at Columbia had a devastating impact on the institution. The fact that police were called in to drag out protesters … and the controversies that arose…
UPDATE: They’re putting the tents back. “We are not giving up our encampment,” an organizer says. “This is our lawn. The tents are ours. And we’re protecting our encampment.”
Really happy to welcome
@iriesentner
to
@POLITICO
's transportation team, starting next week. Send him news and scoops (and wish him Godspeed as he learns the ropes on Capitol Hill).
BIG: Columbia updated two events policy webpages with major changes and additions days after the Oct. 12 protests. 12 days later, it suspended SJP and JVP. The changes have sparked concern among some student and faculty leaders over free speech. We annotated them in
@ColumbiaSpec
Columbia updated its event policy webpages. Then, it suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, according to emails obtained by Spectator, webpage versions reviewed by Spectator, and student leaders familiar with the matter.
I am so honored to lead
@ColumbiaSpec
this year as 147th editor in chief & president. Alongside our wonderful new managing board and incredible staff, I'm excited to push Spec to new heights, ensuring our journalism and products reflect and serve Columbia, MoHi, and West Harlem.
Spectator is proud to announce its 147th managing board, to be led by Editor in Chief Irie Sentner, CC ’24, Managing Editor Andrew Park, CC ’24, and Publisher Tyler Shern, CC ’25.
Last week, I wrapped up my tenure as EIC and President of
@ColumbiaSpec
. It was a yearlong whirlwind of late nights and constant small fires, and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world <3
Trust is foundational to Spectator’s work. As we say often around the office, “Trust is built over time and lost in an instant.” Without it, we can’t do what we do.
In the interest of transparency, we want to explain exactly how and why we published our story.
In response to a bombshell Spectator report on Columbia Public Safety, two of Columbia’s most senior administrators submitted a letter to the editor calling into question Spectator’s “ethical journalistic practice.” We stand by our reporting. Here’s why.
The first front page of
@ColumbiaSpec
147th volume! Big thanks to everyone who made this (impromptu) special presidential print edition possible. Find it on campus today!
INBOX: Columbia is now requiring all professors on the Morningside campus to provide a hybrid option for the rest of the semester, classroom technology permitting.
INBOX: All classes will be virtual Monday, April 22, Shafik just announced in a universitywide email.
"The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days," she wrote. "These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with…
NEW: NYPD officers swarmed Columbia's campus and arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters as thousands of others shouted for them to stop, a scene of a campus in unmitigated chaos that drew in Cornel West and the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar.
INBOX: Shafik breaks her silence in a new universitywide email. Negotiations between admin and student organizers face a midnight deadline to reach an agreement, she wrote.
"I very much hope these discussions are successful. If they are not, we will have to consider alternative…
NEW: 41 people have donated to both Mayor Eric Adams' legal defense fund and reelection campaign, a POLITICO analysis of public records found. They're a mix of loyalists, real estate leaders and others. I attempted to reach all of them.
BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action at Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill on Thursday, overturning the landmark case University President Lee Bollinger defended in 2003. Article to follow.
Hours after Sinema's proposal to cut the 1,500 hr flight training requirement forced the Commerce Committee to postpone its FAA markup, Duckworth told the Senate floor it "will mean blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs."
When Nemat "Minouche" Shafik was announced as Columbia's 20th president, the
@columbiaspec
staff jumped to action. Our coverage of the historic event includes 12 news stories, six op-eds, and a photo essay. I'm floored by this team's extraordinary work. 1/
NEW: The culture wars have hit every House spending bill. It's a shift for the House Appropriations Committee, which has historically dodged the partisan battles raging elsewhere on Capitol Hill. But Democrats on the committee say that’s changed this year.
Please join us in welcoming our new class of
#POLITICO
and E&E News summer newsroom interns!
Many of them will be in the office during POLITICO Days and throughout the summer, so come by and say hello!
Check out their bios and team assignments 🔗
Shafik was asked to testify before Congress but declined because she was at COP28 in Dubai, allowing her to dodge the controversial hearing and subsequent national media firestorm.
NEW: Following an impasse in negotiations, Columbia began informing protesters that they will not face suspension if they disperse by 2 p.m. After, students will be banned from accessing all campus buildings, including their dorms. w/
@madinatoure
INBOX: Protesters have committed to “removing a significant number of tents,” ensuring non-affiliates leave the encampment, complying with FDNY rules and prohibiting “discriminatory or harassing language,” the Office of the President wrote in a 4:09 am email. Negotiations will…
NEW: A yearslong U.S. Coast Guard investigation into decades of sexual assault and violence at the Coast Guard Academy went undisclosed to the Senate Commerce Committee until last week, per a letter Sens. Cantwell and Baldwin sent today.
After a major upswing in unruly passengers since 2020, language in the Senate's aviation policy bill would require airlines to train flight attendants to fight back. It's a provision some flight attendants have pushed for since 9/11. My last for
@politico
BIG: 3 projects at
@columbiaclimate
have been funded by fossil fuel companies. In FY21,
@ColumbiaSIPA
took $1M+ from Occidental Petroleum and up to $500K each from BP, Cheniere, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil & Shell.
🔎
@_jesselevine
& Itzel Franco
NEW: Columbia on Monday handed over documents to the House education committee two weeks after the panel announced an investigation into “grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Columbia’s response to antisemitism on its campus.” More in NY Playbook:
UPDATE: Rosberg confirmed that the decision to suspend SJP and JVP came from “senior leadership of the University,” including University President Minouche Shafik.
BREAKING: Top administrator Gerald Rosberg confirmed on Friday that senior administrators, without input from the University Senate, unilaterally revised the University events policies that were cited in the SJP and JVP suspension announcement.
To close off the year, we’ve rounded up Spectator’s most-read articles from 2022. Read on to see which stories made it into the top 10!
Thank you to all of our readers and have a happy New Year!
Pilip said yesterday she voted for Trump in 2020. Today, Suozzi said he “honestly” doesn't believe her.
“I think she voted for Joe Biden,” he quipped. “She voted for Hillary Clinton, too. I’m serious.”
w/
@JasonBeeferman
INBOX: Columbia College and General Studies students “will be able to elect the pass/d/fail option for one class this semester without restriction,” including major requirements.
NEW: The tension playing out on campuses across the country has provided an opportunity for Democrats to finally leverage a free speech debate Republicans have dominated for years.
An engineer who inspected the 150-car train in Decatur, Ill. about 30 hours before it derailed “expressed concern about the size of the train” to the yardmaster, who replied “well, this is what they want,” according to a NTSB factual report released today.
Joel Lavine, a tenured professor and pediatric gastroenterologist, has been convicted of two counts of sexual abuse in the third degree. Columbia is evaluating Lavine’s tenure status but has declined to comment on his current financial compensation.
On Monday,
@ColumbiaSpec
published a story in which a student in isolation housing reportedly didn’t receive food one night because the building had run out of snacks. This morning, the SIC House basement is overflowing with food.
Administrators, including Shafik, were not invited to give remarks. Three a cappella groups pulled out. Those that remained caroled in front of CUAD protestors who chanted between songs and held signs reading “Joy is canceled.”
And then the lights turned on 10 minutes early.
Inside Tree Lighting: The chaos behind the Columbia tradition has ignited a larger conversation about the role student councils play as liaisons between students and the administration.
INBOX: “We called on NYPD to clear an encampment once, but we all share the view, based on discussions within our community and with outside experts, that to bring back the NYPD at this time would be counterproductive, further inflaming what is happening on campus, and drawing…
NYC agencies in 2022 have failed to file public reports on crime stats, infectious disease updates, and notifications about multi-million-dollar project cost jumps at a rate more than double the same period in 2021, a spike the Department of Records attributed to a “system flaw.”
NEW: Former Adams Chief of Staff Frank Carone, his wife, Diana, and his brother and business partner Anthony each made maximum contributions of $5,000 to Adams’ Legal Defense Trust. Weeks later, the Carones registered as lobbyists.
First
@nypost
byline! The widow of disgraced late state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who made millions in a decades-long bribery scheme, is petitioning to administer his estate estimated to be worth $2.675 million. w/
@Rich_Calder
for
@nypmetro
Columbia refuses to provide the GWC-UAW with neutral, third-party arbitration. When it comes to cases of sexual assault, “...the deck is brutally stacked against the complainant, the University is just covering their ass,” an anonymous faculty member said.
Columbia has struggled for decades
to schedule courses at reasonable times in comfortable classrooms. The problem has become particularly acute this semester, according to classroom data and interviews with faculty, administrators, and students. w
@ZachSchermele
and
@__ayaanali
Undergraduate registration this year was characterized by long waitlists and overenrolled classes. As of Friday, 21 of the 30 required introductory courses for the 10 largest majors in FAS had waitlists. 13 classes had waitlists of 20 students or more.
Special thanks to
@androo_park
and Tyler Shern, who took on every challenge with me in lock step and were always there for a CB KIKI™️ when I needed it most. And the biggest congratulations to 148th EIC
@isabellasrmrz
— this ship has *the most* capable new captain 🫡
Another THREAD of the
@columbiaspec
University News team's wonderful work from last week! I am SO proud of each and every one of these articles and the staff that reported them!
University President Lee Bollinger gave Spectator his first public insights on Columbia’s failure to substantiate undergraduate data, current standing in U.S. News, and the legitimacy of college rankings. “I feel terrible about this mistake,” he said.
"Overall, the fundamental lack of good-faith engagement with all campus constituencies and groups has exacerbated the situation and has served to divide our community," the University Senate Executive Committee Report concludes.
INBOX: “There is a rumor that the NYPD has been invited to campus this evening. This rumor is false,” the Office of the President wrote in a universitywide email. The negotiations “have shown progress and are continuing as planned.”
NEW: TWU sent a letter Thursday to Barnard President Laura Rosenbury slamming an administrator at the college for allegedly suggesting two union security officers should instruct students to remove their hijabs when going through security checks on campus.
The mission of Spectator’s opinion section is “to reflect and direct campus and community discourse.” It represents a core tenet of Spectator’s mission: its commitment to remaining made by and for members of the Columbia community and those adjacent to and inextricable from it.
Responding to our campus’ evolving climate amidst the devastation in Israel and Gaza, editorial page editor Milène Klein urges students to make their voices heard on Spectator’s editorial page, writing: “I care about what you have to say. I am listening.”
Columbia has lost its No. 2 slot on the 2022 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking for failing to “provide satisfactory responses to the information U.S. News requested."
A message from the director of the 130th Varsity Show, Columbia’s biggest annual play:
“MAYDAY represents Columbia in a time when it is very difficult to find any pride in our shared institution. … The actions of the university are reprehensible, but they are nothing new.”
SCOOP: Eli Zabar is being sued for allegedly doing “everything possible” to stall construction of the first “safe haven” homeless shelter on the UES, located near several buildings he owns. The 80-90 bed shelter is a year behind schedule, the suit says.
FWIW, the president must consult the exec committee of the University Senate, established after '68, before inviting NYPD onto campus. Shafik met with the committee, but it did not approve allowing NYPD on campus. A spokesperson said it didn't have to.
NEWS: House Appropriations Committee goes into a second recess over a fight that's broken out over a proposed amendment to remove LGBTQ community centers from the THUD bill. Rep. Wasserman Schultz compared the amendment to defunding Jewish community centers in the 1930s.
“There is red flag behavior. There is a grooming of the community that takes place. There are warning signs. There are almost always prior reports of harassing or abusive or sexually inappropriate behavior.”
@R_Denhollander
A team of brilliant photographers, led by Photo Editor
@judygoldfish
, was there every step of the way. Managing Editor and multimedia king
@androo_park
coded a gorgeous custom photo essay to highlight their work. 5/
It's THREAD TIME! Here's a mega thread of
@ColumbiaSpec
's University News content over the past two weeks! I'm enamored, as always, by this team's effort and grit as they pump out essential content through midterm season.
BREAKING: Jeffrey Lieberman has been suspended from his roles as chair of the Columbia psychiatry department and Psychiatrist-in-Chief of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital following backlash against racist tweet.
@esha_karam
and
@isabellasrmrz
, your growth this semester has been astounding. I have full faith in both of you and am so honored to pass on the University News section and staff to you two.
To the whole University News staff: Go off and slay harder than you ever have before.
A backdrop installed for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s new course Inside the Situation Room pushed one of the University’s largest undergraduate lectures to relocate, Professor Jae Woo Lee said.
Overlooking Columbia's Gaza Solidarity Encampment from Low Steps, Speaker Mike Johnson promised to demand Biden take action to clear it, including potentially calling in the National Guard. Leading
@PoliticoNY
Playbook, w/
@madinatoure
⬇️
Before Lavine was stripped of campus access, arrested, and allegedly assaulted his former patient, Lavine’s colleagues had reportedly endured years of predatory behavior, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Tenured profesor Joel Lavine, who was convicted in December of two counts of sexual abuse in the third degree, reportedly had a history of predatory and retaliatory behavior toward female coworkers. Lavine’s sentencing is set for Feb. 18.
Thank you to
@_diagill
-- you took a chance taking me as a trainee and taught me everything I know about reporting. I look up to you in so many ways. You are bursting with talent and kindness, and I am so excited to see where that beautiful combination takes you.
"In the meeting on Wednesday, I specifically asked our senators to not speak to the media," says USenate Executive Committee Chair Jeanine M. D’Armiento. "And literally, not only did they speak to the media, they gladly provided their name. This is not going to help us."
Today at LaGuardia, 39 – or 11% — of scheduled flights were canceled and 64 – or 18% — were delayed as travel spiked during the holiday weekend. w/
@Rich_Calder
for
@nypmetro
A year after Columbia returned to in-person classes and campus life, reports of sexual assault increased by 137 percent and reports of sexual harassment increased by 94 percent. By
@stellapagkas
with incredible gfx by Devon Campbell
Thank you to
@ZachSchermele
and
@stellapagkas
. You've been the grittiest deputy editors I could ever have asked for, and your journalistic prowess astounds me. More importantly, you have become my family--and you're stuck with me forever. I mean that. I am so, so grateful 💛W💛
NEW: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle flocked to Columbia as the encampment entered its sixth day, accusing the school of being soft on incidents of antisemitism. Some lawmakers, students and professors called on President Minouche Shafik to resign. w/
@madinatoure
…
@ZachSchermele
's bombshell report for
@ColumbiaSpec
on allegations of a "toxic workplace culture" in Columbia Public Safety is featured in today's
@politicony
playbook. Student journalism is journalism.
Yesterday’s events at Columbia are leading NY Playbook today:
“In all, more than 100 protesters were zip-tied, loaded onto numerous NYPD buses and charged with trespassing. Thousands more surrounded the field, screaming for the officers to stop.”
New from
@ZachSchermele
and me! The news comes at a time when the undergraduate experience has come under scrutiny and amid an impending crossroads for the University as it begins the search for Bollinger’s successor.
BREAKING: Josef Sorett will be the next dean of Columbia College, University President Lee Bollinger announced in an email on Tuesday. The announcement follows a year of administrative tension and scrutiny of the undergraduate experience.
The arrests, authorized by President Minouche Shafik, come a day after she testified before the House education subcommittee for a hearing called “Columbia in Crisis.” It was the school’s largest crackdown on student activism since protesters shut down the campus in 1968.
“I definitely feel that because we’re an openly gay couple, we were judged because of who we are and because we didn’t hide how we act and talk and dress and go about our business coming in out of our home.”My latest for
@nypmetro
This week, Bollinger told
@ColumbiaSpec
he's "worried about the outcome."
“Every university is thinking about this and anticipating an overruling of Grutter or a significant modification,” he said. “We are as well at Columbia.”
w
@isabellasrmrz
!
In the 2014-2020 probe, dubbed “Operation Fouled Anchor,” the Coast Guard identified 62 substantiated incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment at the academy or by its cadets between 1988 and 2006.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Union Square Park. Demonstrators wore green bandanas, the symbol for pro choice protests in Latin America.
“I feel it’s not my country anymore,” one 79 y/o protestor said.
w/
@Rich_Calder
for
@nypmetro
"The encampment raises serious safety concerns, disrupts campus life, and has created a tense and at times hostile environment for many members of our community," she wrote. "It is essential that we move forward with a plan to dismantle it."
To the 146th Managing Board: It is so clear that each and every one of you love Spec, your staff, and the work you do. Working with you over the past year has been incredibly inspiring. Enjoy retirement -- you've all more than earned it.