Some Columbia University professors canceled in-person classes on Monday in support of Mahmoud Khalil, the student activist and foreign national whom the Trump administration moved to deport over his pro-Hamas campus organizing. The cancellations—which came amid a pressure campaign from the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter—put the professors at odds with Columbia’s provost, who emailed “faculty colleagues” Monday morning to issue “a reminder that faculty must meet all scheduled classes.”
Less than two days after Khalil’s Saturday night arrest, at least three faculty members—English professor Joseph Albernaz, philosophy lecturer Ruairidh MacLeod, and an unnamed third—emailed students to cancel courses or remove attendance requirements, emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show. MacLeod ditched his “discussion requirement for today’s Marx class,” citing “sensitivity to the situation arising from the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil.” Albernaz went as far as to give every student an “A” on an upcoming midterm scheduled for Thursday, saying he was “sickened at the news of the ICE detainment of a student.” The third instructor canceled courses for the rest of the week, arguing it was “unsafe to continue teaching as usual.”
“I cannot see how I can hold a typical class right now under these current conditions, nor how you can be expected to prepare for an exam, so I am cancelling in person class tomorrow and cancelling the mid-term scheduled for Thursday (everyone will receive an ‘A’ on the midterm),” Albernaz wrote in his email.
The cancellations came as Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine distributed sample emails for students to send to their professors calling for no in-person courses for the rest of the week. They also came around the same time Columbia provost Angela Olinto emailed faculty members to stress that, amid “a stressful time for many on campus,” classes and exams “will continue as usual, in person.”
“We want to urge generosity and mutual patience as we navigate this together, especially as students study for their midterms,” Olinto wrote just before 10:30 a.m. Monday. “This is also a reminder that faculty must meet all scheduled classes, as stated in the handbook, and that the provost’s office will announce any unexpected changes to the modality of course offerings.”
Columbia did not answer questions on how—if at all—school administrators will compel faculty members to hold scheduled classes as required. Instead, spokeswoman Samantha Slater pointed the Free Beacon to a nearly two-week-old statement that addressed an unrelated “unauthorized class cancellation.” The statement vaguely referenced a Columbia instructor’s decision to cancel class so students could attend an anti-Israel protest.
Albernaz did not respond to a request for comment. MacLeod, who wrote in his email to students that he would excuse any absences to ensure “Registrar policy on scheduled class requirements” were met and instead hold a “class space in which to speak together without prejudice,” nonetheless told the Free Beacon he would “be holding my class as normal.”
“[T]here is no discussion of Mahmoud Khalil’s detainment planned for the class activity (unless students wish to discuss that with each other),” he said. “I have no further comment to make to you or anybody else not involved in the class.”
In addition to Albernaz, MacLeod, and the third faculty member, several professors made their classes hybrid, granting students the option to attend class over Zoom. Glenn Mitoma, the director of undergraduate studies at Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, offered Zoom and in-person options for his History of Human Rights class for the rest of the week. In his email to students, he characterized Khalil’s arrest as a “significant escalation of federal actions targeting the Columbia community” and a “gross violation of human rights.” Both Mitoma and Albernaz signed a letter in support of the pro-Hamas encampment that plagued campus last spring.
An Introduction to Urban Studies class held at Columbia’s sister school, Barnard College, was also made hybrid in consideration of Khalil’s arrest and “students’ expressed concern.” The professor, Andreina Torres Angarita, said it’s “important to not be overpowered by fear at this juncture and maintain our presence on campus.” The professor excused those who were absent and wrote that they had spent their morning asking “college authorities as well as public safety personnel” to understand the circumstances under which federal agents can access campus.
An organic chemistry professor, meanwhile, reminded students of the Zoom option to attend class, citing the “distressing news about ICE around campus.”
Albernaz, MacLeod, Mitoma, and Torres Angarita did not respond to requests for comment.
A Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies director, Jessica Rechtschaffer, told students and faculty that her department requested that Public Safety lock the doors to Knox Hall—where the department is housed—and make it “only open to card-holders 24/7,” according to an email obtained by the Free Beacon.
Before Khalil’s arrest, philosophy professor Jessica Collins warned students Saturday that Columbia was being “singled out” and that it was possible ICE would soon seek access to campus.
“If this were to happen to us, I will attempt to delay as best I can: (i) ask to see credentials, (ii) ask to see a warrant; (iii) state clearly that I have be en [sic] told by the University that I am not authorized to grant permission for them to enter our classroom, etc.,” the email to Collins’s class read. “In the meantime, it would be of great assistance to me if one or more of you were to contact Public Safety immediately on my behalf, and if others of you were to start documenting the evolving situation by videoing the entire episode on your phones.”
Khalil’s arrest “should serve as a warning to foreign students on temporary status in America—under this administration, if you support terror groups, we will deport you,” a State Department official told the Free Beacon. Rubio issued a similar statement, saying he will “be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
A judge paused Khalil’s deportation pending a ruling on a petition Khalil filed in federal court on Monday, in which he claimed there was “no basis” for his arrest and subsequent detention.
In April, Khalil led negotiations with Columbia during the student encampments, demanding divestment from Israel. He pledged further unrest in the buildup to the fall semester, telling The Hill he would continue to push Columbia to divest from Israel by “any available means necessary.”
“And we’ve been working all this summer on our plans, on what’s next to pressure Columbia to listen to the students and to decide to be on the right side of history,” Khalil said in August. “We’re considering a wide range of actions throughout the semester, encampments and protests and all of that. But for us, encampment is now our new base.”
On Wednesday, Khalil again served as a negotiator for CUAD after a mob of radical Columbia activists stormed a Barnard library. Once inside the building, the agitators distributed Hamas propaganda meant to justify Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Conor Cullen, a Columbia philosophy lecturer who defended last spring’s pro-Hamas encampments, similarly canceled his Feb. 27 classes so students could attend an anti-Israel protest. Columbia called Cullen’s decision a “serious breach of University policy” and said it would be “investigated and addressed swiftly.” His class cancellation came one day after radicals stormed a separate campus building at Barnard. The agitators hospitalized a security guard and caused $30,000 in damages.
Within hours of the Trump administration’s Friday announcement that it had revoked approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia over its failure to curb anti-Semitism, the Ivy League institution suspended its four students who had been arrested while clashing with police during the more recent incident.
