Pro-Israel Columbia professor banned from campus

An assistant professor at Columbia University was banned from campus as of Tuesday evening, with the school accusing him of harassment and intimidation toward other employees.

Shai Davidai, who teaches at Columbia Business School, has been an outspoken pro-Israel professor on campus and has shot campus videos of student activists and university officials, accusing individuals of pro-Hamas sentiment and the actions allowed on campus in doubted.

“Columbia has consistently and continuously respected Assistant Professor Davidai’s right to freedom of speech and expression of opinion. His freedom of expression has not been restricted and will not be restricted now. However, Columbia will not tolerate threats of harassment, intimidation or other threatening behavior from its employees,” a university spokesperson said.

“Because Assistant Professor Davidai repeatedly harassed and intimidated University employees, in violation of University policy, we have temporarily restricted his access to campus while he undergoes appropriate training on our policies regarding the conduct of our employees,” the added spokesperson added.

A university official said the decision to ban Davidai from campus this week was due to his actions on October 7 this year, accusing him of harassing university employees.

On that day, the anniversary of Hamas’s deadly attacks on Israel, Davidai posted a video asking Cas Holloway, the university’s Chief Operating Officer, why pro-Palestinian protests were allowed on campus as he followed the official.

The professor was banned from campus for a day in April when he said he would sit in the middle of the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

In a video posted to Davidai’s Instagram account on Tuesday, he said: “The university has decided that I am not allowed to be on campus anymore. My job. Why? Because of October 7th. Because I wasn’t afraid to stand up to the hateful crowd. And because I wasn’t afraid to expose Mr. Cas Holloway.’

Columbia is a private university with an Ethical Conduct Policy that requires individuals to act with respect and courtesy.

Although he is barred from the New York City campus, he will not lose pay or his position. A university official said he will be admitted to campus after completing a course and that the university will provide him with an off-campus space to work in the meantime.

“I told my lawyers that I would like to complete the training if Cas Holloway completes it with me,” Davidai told the school newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator. “Innocent people are not punished, not in a democracy, and I refuse to accept punishment for something for which I am innocent.”

Columbia continues to grapple with campus tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian individuals, with the university’s former president resigning over the controversy.

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