(Fox News) Safety concerns stemming from anti-Israel campus protests at Columbia University have caused fear among prospective students who no longer want to attend the school, a college consultant tells Fox News Digital.
Anti-Israeli demonstrations have escalated at elite U.S. universities in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza, with many colleges, including Columbia University, seeing protests paired with antisemitic incidents that have left many Jewish students feeling unsafe.
The campus hostility and antisemitic accusations have even led some aspiring students to look elsewhere, according to a New York-based college consultant, who said only one of around a dozen accepted Columbia students he’s working with is still considering attending.
“This student is actually international, so he doesn’t fully understand the scope of what’s going on, but every other student that I’m working with has said, ‘no, thank you’ to Columbia, and they’re looking for other options,” said Christopher Rim, the founder and CEO of Command Education, a top-tier college consulting group.
Anti-Israel protests at Columbia reached a boiling point this month after a pro-Palestinian encampment formed on campus, causing fear and escalating growing tensions among some students. The protests reportedly led to over 100 arrests, and led the college to switch to hybrid or virtual learning to close out the semester due to safety concerns.
Anti-Israel protests at Columbia University escalated in April as a pro-Palestinian encampment formed on campus leading some Jewish students to feel unsafe. (Getty Images)
“The reason why so many students are scared for their safety is because the administration has not come out to really protect them and defend them,” Rim told Fox News Digital. “The antisemitism, the campus leaders not really having an opinion about anything, that just shows very weak leadership.”
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik addressed campus safety concerns and denounced antisemitic language as “unacceptable” while encouraging students to report any threats in an April 22 statement. But Columbia was previously given a “D” grade for its response to campus antisemitism from the Anti-Defamation League in January.
Shafik was also called in front of Congress to testify alongside leaders from Harvard, Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Pennsylvania on the rise in campus antisemitism.
“I just can’t believe that the administration and schools even allowed it to get to this place,” Rim said. “Do they not have any grasp or control over their own student body? It’s alarming.”
