Raise Your Cup!

Raise your cup, Columbia and Barnard students - to something the school did right. It is a just decision, in no way lessened by other wrong decisions made recently.

It was wrong to give a man bereft of morality a platform at Columbia and President Lee Bollinger simply looked like a fool by first endorsing the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Admadinejad and then acting the role of the bad host by bad-mouthing his guest. Ahmadinejad had a platform in New York - at the United Nations. He needed no other platform from which to spout his hatred of Israel and the Jews. That Columbia invited him is to the university's great shame. One bad decision.

It was wrong to give Nadia Abu El Haj tenure at Barnard, wrong to bury what appears to be a past association with Judith Shapiro, wrong to ignore so many experts in the field - the real field in which she supposedly conducted her research. She is not worthy of the position and her past connection with Judith Shapiro at Bryn Mawr lends further credibility to the sham. That Columbia endorsed Barnard's incorrect decision is a great shame. Two bad decisions.

But finally, a right one. By most accounts, Joseph Massad has been denied tenure. A purveyor of hate, Massad has worked relentlessly to deliver his anti-Israel message and numerous Jewish students have complained. So, overall, despite the defeat, we experience a moment of gratitude and a sense that something right, finally, has been done at Columbia - Joseph Massad will leave Columbia and with him, but he will leave behind a very important message for El Haj and others like her. Beware, a professor who cannot teach fairly and honestly, a professor that mixes his political agenda into the lessons in his class has no place at Columbia. Our only hope is that Nadia Abu El Haj will learn the same lesson before she alienates more students or lowers Barnard any further than she already has.

So - in the war for justice, Columbia lost two minor skirmishes and delivered one major battle - Raise your cup, lions of the west side - Joseph Massad will not remain at Columbia!