Professor wants to end Columbia University affiliation over Gaza protests, ’I can no longer...’

A professor at the John Hopkins University, Dipali Mukhopadhyay, on Thursday wrote to the President of Columbia University requesting to revoke her affiliation with the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies over the treatment of students protesting against ongoing violence in Gaza. 

Arrests have continued on campuses around the US as police dismantle camps of students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza. At UCLA, officers removed barricades and moved in on hundreds of protesters who defied orders to leave, scuffling with protesters and detaining some.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mukhopadhyay shared a screenshot of her email to the President of Columbia University in which she wrote: “As a former member of the faculty, I write to request that my current affiliation with the university be removed.”

She served as Assistant and Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia from 2012 to 2020. 

Also read: After Columbia, now University of Texas warns students amid pro-Palestine protests

In the email, Mukhopadhyay said that she “remained a proud affiliate of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies until this day".

She said she watched “with horror” as the college administration responded with “incompetence and inhumanity” to peaceful student protest against genocidal violence ongoing in Gaza. 

Also read: Pro-Palestine student protests: NYPD enters Columbia University, arrests dozens as they refuse to leave

“I have watched my former colleagues and dear friends on the faculty beseech you to change course. Instead, you invited the NYPD into my former home, transforming a sanctuary of learning into a site of terror and brutality,” her email read.

As a teacher and a scholar, Mukhopadhyay said, she can no longer justify her association with the institution “so long as you are at the helm”.

Also read: US campus protests: After Columbia, police arrests over 280 demonstrators from UCLA, netizens ask 'Where is security'

She expressed her solidarity with those students, staff, and faculty at Columbia - and around the world - who continue to strive on behalf of academic freedom and non-violent free expression.

Other arrests were made at Dartmouth College, and the New York State universities at Buffalo and Stony Brook. According to the Associated Press, there have been at least 38 arrests since April 18 at campus protests across the US. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.