The University That Padlocked Its Gate

A Norwegian version of this article is available here.

Fakta

Academia vs. Trump

Will America’s democratic institutions survive Trump?

As unrest spreads, researchers and lecturers at universities are doing what they can to keep activities running as normally as possible. In laboratories and lecture halls, it’s business as usual. But the disruptions are mounting. What are faculty thinking about their situation—now, in the near future, and in the longer term? How are the students doing?

In a series of articles funded by the Fritt Ord Foundation, The University Newspaper and Uniforum will visit a number of universities in the United States this fall. We report on the situation as it is experienced on the ground.

This campus once bustled with every kind of activity. These days, the well-kept lawns, seen through the iron fence, have an air of solemn quiet. Outsiders are barred from entering, except on guided tours, where visitors are herded politely by university staff.

Columbia University has a long — and for many, proud — tradition of protest against government policy, from anti-Vietnam to anti-Israel-in-Gaza. After Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, student-led protests erupted across campus. As the demonstrations gathered momentum, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment was established. University president Minouche Shafik called in the police to dismantle the camp.

The students came back, occupying Hamilton Hall. The NYPD was called in again — and again. More than a hundred students were arrested before the protests were finally squelched.

Meanwhile, Shafik was summoned before Congress, where she faced harsh questioning from Republican committee members. Eventually, she resigned. Her successor, Claire Shipman, later struck a deal with the Trump administration — a move widely seen as Columbia’s capitulation.

- It felt like extortion

- Except Columbia didn’t really cave, says Janet Metcalfe, professor of psychology at Columbia. She meets us at a café just outside the locked gate — outsiders are no longer allowed onto campus.

Her analysis of the cave / not cave question is tinged with ambivalence.

- The one thing Columbia did was pay a sort of fine — two hundred million dollars — for reasons no one really understands. It seemed like sheer extortion. We had to pay $200 million to get $400 million worth of grants that had been frozen. This would have been devastating for long-term research programs, had Columbia not made a deal. It was outrageous, she says.

Shipman and the board of trustees made a deal with the government to pay the money.

- Though I’ve never seen any justification for it. It was like protection money paid to gangsters — or like getting mugged on the subway. Columbia got mugged, handed Trump $200 million, and then he left us alone.

Still, Metcalfe rejects the idea that her university bent the knee to MAGA.

- Actually we change much, aside from paying a lot of money for no apparent reason. We still teach what we want, hire who we want, accept the students we want, and do the academic reviews we want.

 But the press evaluation of it was that Columbia caved, she admits.

- The appearance of caving hurt us, and also hurt the defense of academic freedom and free speech.

Not being seen as having caved would have been better all around.

- There’s a lot of subterfuge in how the whole thing was handled. It was never stated that we had done anything wrong. The government needed to look like it got a win, and Columbia helped them save face, Metcalfe says.

- We’re muted

Something has changed, she admits.

- We’re muted. There’s a chilling effect. On the one hand, academics are outspoken — we speak our minds and stand up for what we believe. But on the other hand, when you’re told that using one word will get you in trouble while another won’t, you start choosing carefully. That’s the chilling effect.

She mentions the Massad incident, where the tenured professor Joseph Massad faced severe backlash after writing an essay in Electronic Intifada describing the October 7 attacks as «awesome,» «astounding,» and «incredible,» calling them «a stunning victory.»

- It was seen as support for Hamas, but what he actually meant was, how could such a small group possibly overcome Israel’s massive security? It was ambiguous, but it was interpreted as him cheering for Hamas.

Columbia came under strong Republican pressure to dismiss him.

- So Shafik told Congress they were investigating Massad, that he was being censured — which violates free speech. The faculty was furious. He’s a distinguished, tenured professor — you can’t just throw a tenured academic under the bus.

Whether he was actually punished, or only made to look like he was, remains unclear. Even so, Professor Metcalfe expresses hope for the new administration’s backbone.

A chilling message

-  I actually think that ’the deal’ and ‘bending the knee’, not cancel culture, is what is sending a chilling message to everyone, she says when asked about ‘cancel culture’ on campus.

- Though the Trump administration might want to exempt conservatives from feeling chilled, she adds.

- Black, Hispanic, Chinese — any of the people we want to attract in our diverse, international community — might feel intimidated. It makes people careful. I think that a lot of people, perhaps justifiably, are feeling guarded.

Professor Metcalfe thinks one of the greatest attractions of New York City, and Columbia with it, has long been that everybody has their own unique origins, culture, history, idiosyncrasies, preferences, beliefs, talents and background to contribute to the fascinating complexity of the city.

- There’s so much difference that everybody can be whomever they happen to be. It’s rough to see any expression of this diversity stifled.

She insists Columbia genuinely wants to remain open and inclusive.

- We want to be welcoming to international scholars — we have so many of them. We’re in New York, the most international city in the world, and Columbia thrives on that. To have this chill settle over us — it feels terrible.

The interview ends. Professor Metcalfe walks us back to the gate and tries, unsuccessfully, to talk the guards into letting us in. Only faculty and students with proper ID are allowed through.S

As we part, professor Janet Metcalfe concedes:

- We really need some victories. Harvard stood firm — they didn’t cave, and they’re not known as having caved. Columbia, on the other hand, thought, we can’t risk a billion dollars in ongoing research. So we paid lip service. The faculty wasn’t happy about that — we wanted to be brave. But on the other hand, you don’t want to lose the research. It’s complicated.