Under a gray, drizzly sky, dozens of professors dressed in black gathered at noon on Monday outside Columbia University’s gates, holding signs that spoke to the wide range of emotionally volatile events that have plagued the campus in recent weeks: “Hands Off Our Research”; “Defend Trans Students”; “Defend the Humanities”; “Defend Mahmoud Khalil”; “Defend Democracy.”
Some were disappointed, and others enraged, by the university’s leaders for acquiescing, days earlier, to a long list of demands from the Trump administration in a bid to reclaim $400 million in federal funding.
A handful of police impassively watched the protest, which was coordinated by the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, as reporters crowded around a group of speakers. At the gate, security officers checked the identification of anyone who wanted to enter the campus.
Several faculty members compared the Trump administration’s tactics to those of authoritarian leaders. “I’ve seen this playbook before,” said Timothy M. Frye, a political-science professor. “For 30 years I have studied autocracy around the globe and seen how leaders in Hungary, Turkey, and China have targeted higher education. I ran a research center in Moscow for 10 years that was eventually closed on political grounds. Many Russian colleagues had to flee the country or face jail.”
“Why do autocrats fear higher education?” he continued. “Why are they so hostile to the free expression of ideas? Universities are threatening to autocrats because we teach independent and critical thinking. Because we train our students to scrutinize evidence and demand rigor. And because we teach students to be skeptical of authority, especially our own authority. The battle to save higher education is inseparable from the battle to save democracy.”
This was dubbed a vigil because I think this a moment of mourning for Columbia but really for democracy.
Nara Milanich, a professor of Latin American history at Barnard College, the sister college of Columbia, said the case of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate and pro-Palestinian activist who was arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a university-owned apartment building, reminded her of 1970s Chile and Argentina when people were abducted by authoritarian governments for their political views.
“I am standing here with my colleagues and wanting to show our deep dismay and anger and frustration and sadness, frankly,” said Milanich, who’s also chair of the history department at Barnard. “This was dubbed a vigil because I think this a moment of mourning for Columbia but really for democracy.”
Michael Thaddeus, a professor of mathematics and vice president for the university’s AAUP chapter, called administrators’ decision extremely disappointing, alarming, and shocking.
“We feel that, at this moment of need, the administration has deserted us and that’s very disappointing,” he said. “We would like to stand in solidarity with our administration, but they need to stand in solidarity with us, and right now we’re not seeing that.”
Within an hour, most of the professors had drifted away, heading off to attend department meetings, grade papers, or teach.
