The conflict in the Middle East had a profound impact on our students. Faculty and staff notice that students are seeking to process their emotions and questions about current events while the administration scrambles to suppress political expression in a misguided attempt to “protect” students.
Oct 22 - After placing a statement in solidarity with Palestine on the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department website, the department was informed that their statement had been removed in violation of College’s social media and acceptable use policies. Department members were quick to point out that these policies had been applied inconsistently. For example, a 2020 solidarity statement with Black Lives Matter had been placed in the exact same place on the website which raised no concerns on the part of the College. Furthermore, the removal took place before informing the department that there was any problem – setting a precedent for the administrative oversight of the WGSS website.
Oct 26 - In an email [“A Time for Action” Community Message] to the Barnard community, President Rosenbury announced her plans to take action on campus, which included increasing the number of security officers, revising event and group funding policies, and restructuring the Office of Nondiscrimination and Title IX. This email received widespread criticism for its accusatory and divisive tone, and the conflation of antisemitism and anti-zionism.
Oct 30 - A faculty-organized event that featured a renowned poet and journalist, Mohammed El-Kurd, as the invited guest was canceled by the administration days before the event was set to occur. The administration cited a new and previously undisclosed policy that requires events that are co-sponsored with Columbia to fill out a form at least 5 weeks in advance.
BCRW Letter re: Cancellation of Mohammed El-Kurd event
Oct 30 - In response to rising censorship of Pro-Palestine speech on campus, and particularly the doxxing and surveillance of student members whose groups had signed a statement in solidarity with Palestine, over 200 faculty and staff members signed a Letter in defense of open and robust debate.
Resentment among faculty, students, and staff grows as the administration fails to allow dialogue and takes steps to suppress outspoken student groups.
Nov 2 - Barnard administration releases a new Campus Events and Approval Policy that expands the definition of a campus event and that imposes burdensome bureaucracy that appears to be meant to discourage student- or faculty-led events from taking place.
Revised policy expands the definition of an event as “any gathering, other than academic classes scheduled as part of the curriculum, that is held in a College building or outdoor space on the College campus… including, but not limited to, lectures, panels, demonstrations, performances, protests, festivals, vigils, open houses, and tabling.”
Required student groups or organizations to request event approval a minimum of 28 calendar days prior to the proposed event date, and faculty a minimum of 14 calendar days, making rapid response to current events nearly impossible.
Gave the administration the right to decline approval of requests for space at its discretion.
Nov 10 - Columbia University leadership, without University Senate input, made the decision to suspend two active campus student groups: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). CU leadership stated that the group had previously “repeatedly violated University policies related to holding campus events” and that an unauthorized event on Thursday had included “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” When pressed to define the threatening and intimidating rhetoric at a University Senate Meeting, Gerald Rosberg, Senior Executive Vice President of Columbia University, said that the reference to “intimidating and threatening rhetoric” was intended to describe the event and the current environment, and not to serve as a basis for the suspension.
Nov 13 - Barnard administration announces a revised policy on political activity that prohibits anyone at the college (except for the President and Board of Trustees) from posting any signs or statements on Barnard websites or Barnard social media containing political statements defined as “all written communications that comment on specific actions, statements, or positions taken by public officials or governmental bodies at local, state, federal, and international levels; attempt to influence legislation; or otherwise advocate for an outcome related to actions by legislative, executive, judicial, or administrative bodies at local, state, federal, and international levels.“
Nov - In response to the censorship of Pro-Palestine speech, culminating in the suspension of SJP and JVP, Jewish students wrote an open letter denouncing what they called an “attempt to capitalize on fear and campus polarization.” They called on the Columbia Administration to immediately end the suspension of these student groups, and to ensure that any working definitions of antisemitism make space for and protect legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism. The letter was signed by about 400 students, over 100 of whom identified themselves as Jewish and said they would “like to be informed of future efforts to protect [their] peers and build solidarity across Jewish and Muslim/Arab communities on campus.”
The rising urgency of the humanitarian crisis in the middle east and the repressive tact of Barnard and Columbia leadership is met with some of the first protest actions on campus.
Dec 11 - On December 11th, Students, Faculty, and Staff held the first protest at Barnard College. This protest became the basis for the disciplinary hearings that would target students in the coming months.
Dec 19 - New York Civil Liberties Union sends a letter to President Rosenbury disapproving of the new website policy and suggests alternative strategies that maintain academic freedom. As of today, the administration has not changed its policy enacted in Nov 2023.
The administration pivots towards staging events to promote dialogue on campus. Meanwhile, they continue to engage in problematic disciplining of students and chilling of political speech.
Jan 17 - There were 17 students who were notified that they would undergo a disciplinary hearing for their participation in the December 11 Protest. Most are students of color, and at least one student wasn’t even at the protest. These hearings happened outside of the normal disciplinary process and they prompted a strong response from faculty.
Jan 19 - Barnard holds its Toward a Beloved Community: A Day of Dialogue and Reflection Event on campus. Classes are canceled to encourage students to attend. The event was a well-intentioned attempt to create space for dialogue, and Jennnifer Rosales (now departed DEI VP) produced an excellent and thoughtful program. Unfortunately, by that point the administration had lost the trust and good will of so much of its Barnard community that many students boycotted and participated in protests at Columbia instead. Indeed, it is difficult (if not impossible) to engage in dialogue when members of the community are being censored.
Jan 19 - a chemical attack is perpetrated against a group of pro-Palestine protestors on Columbia’s campus. Several Barnard students were among those who were sprayed with a noxious chemical called “skunk” by two individuals affiliated with Columbia. The incident was mishandled by campus safety who detained the protestors who were attacked instead of the perpetrators. Victims received delayed medical treatment as a result.
Jan 19 - A group of 150 faculty members undersign a letter to Rosenbury expressing concern for the unprecedented nature of the disciplinary hearings and the lack of transparency and consultation with faculty. Rosenbury responds but does not provide any transparency and does not offer to make any changes to the process.
Jan 22 - Administration attempts to discipline students for displaying flags in windows but the students school the administration on the legal basis of doing so.
Jan 22 - a group of faculty write a Spectator Op-Ed reflecting the sentiments and concerns of a large proportion (if not majority) of faculty.
As President Rosenbury is inaugurated, Barnard administration continues to place restrictions on free expression prompting the organizing efforts of students, faculty, and staff to accelerate.
Feb 2 - Inauguration of President Rosenbury
Feb 12 - Congress requests documents from Barnard and Columbia after reports of antisemitic incidents on campus.
Feb 20 - Administration issues New Policy for Safe Campus Demonstrations placing severe restrictions on time and place. Faculty are notified of the new policy hours before it is implemented but no faculty, student body, or staff outside of the administration were consulted in its creation.
Feb 23 - Barnard prohibits students from displaying anything on their dorm room doors.
Feb 29 - Barnard AAUP chapter is officially formed. The chapter has 25 members within days of being formed and membership continues to increase.
Columbia Task force on Antisemitism (which includes Barnard representation on the committee) releases its report. Barnard rolls out resources for students who were impacted by the chemical spray attack on January 19.
March 7 - Barnard CARES supervisor suggests hijab removal at campus security checkpoints to workers. Transport Workers Union International sends a letter to President Rosenbury requesting a response to their concerns.
The first and second protest encampments spring up at Columbia and are dismantled by NYPD at the request of Columbia President Shafik. Faculty conduct a vote of no confidence. See a full timeline of the encampment protests at Columbia here. Events pertinent to Barnard are below.
April 17 - Columbia President Minouche Shafik addresses congress about Columbia’s response to antisemitism.
April 18 - Barnard places students on interim suspension for participating in the burgeoning encampments on Columbia’s campus. President Shafik calls in the NYPD to disperse the encampment where over 100 students were arrested while peacefully protesting. The encampment reemerges the next day with many more students than the first time.
April 22 - Barnard and Columbia faculty protest on the steps of Low and march in support of students and academic freedom.
April 22 - The Barnard chapter of the AAUP conducts a vote of no confidence. The vote is unanimous – 102-0.
April 23 - Barnard suspends and evicts more than 50 students for their involvement in the encampment protests. More than 56 parents of suspended students at Barnard and Columbia signed a letter to the editor at the New York Times demanding fair treatment of student activists and the repeal of suspensions of peaceful protesters.
April 29 - The Faculty Governance and Procedures committee (FGP), the official Barnard faculty committee for all governance matters and thus the appropriate faculty committee to conduct a vote of no confidence, drafts a memo setting forth the basis for such a vote, following conversations with a wide variety of faculty from across the College.
April 29 - Barnard College Passes Student Referendum for Divestment in Vote of 90.99%. Considering that approximately one third of the student body identifies as jewish, the vote contradicts the administration’s and the media’s narrative that our students are divided and that the pro-Palestine activism on campus is driven by antisemitism.
April 30 - Student protestors occupy Hamilton Hall overnight. The next evening, hundreds of NYPD officers descend on the campus and arrest over 100 people, including the dozens of occupiers.
Barnard administration moves classes online, requires all final exams to be taken remotely, and does a soft close of campus by encouraging students to go home early. Commencement happens but alumnae reunion is canceled on short notice.
May 7, 2024 - Barnard cancels reunion on very short notice without consulting most alumnae organizers. Reunion was set to take place May 30 - June 1. Administration cites the climate “on and around campus” as the reason reunion was canceled; however, reunion would’ve taken place after commencement and after students would have left campus for the summer.
May 15, 2024 - Barnard commencement takes place at Radio City Hall. Many students stood and turned their backs during the brief addresses given by Barnard administration. Most students did not shake President Rosenbury’s hand as they crossed the stage. Several students displayed signs or flags indicating their political positions on the crisis in the middle east. Loud boos were heard from the parents and guests section of the auditorium which were directed towards students who displayed Palestinian flags as they crossed the stage.
May 16, 2024 - An alternative commencement celebration at Cathedral of St. John the Divine is organized by faculty and staff. Several speakers reflect on the current moment and express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Barnard campus is quiet but active with student researchers. Columbia holds its reunion while a new encampment forms.
Board of trustees meet with faculty representatives and Columbia’s president resigns on short notice.
August 2 - The Academic Affairs committee of Barnard’s board of trustees meets with members of the AAUP executive committee, FGP committee members, and faculty representatives to the board. President Rosenbury and Provost Walkowitz are also present.
August 14 - Columbia president Minouche Shafik resigns.
The Fall 2024 semester begins with uncertainty for many students.
September 9 - During a Barnard faculty meeting, the Dean of the College, Leslie Grinage, reveals that over 75 Barnard students have been engaged in the disciplinary process for their involvement in protest activity since last Fall. Faculty organize a vote to restore campus access and course registration capabilities to students whose cases have not yet been resolved. The administration has yet to take any action following the resounding vote with 85% in favor. Faculty also passed a resolution opposing the enforcement of the new policies that were put forth by the administration outside of the normal processes for doing so.
September 11 - The Barnard Board of Trustees announce a revised Policy on Policies in direct violation of the previous policy that states that changes to these policies must involve faculty.
President Rosenbury sends out an email to the Barnard community outlining specific examples of Code of Conduct violations. Many of the examples provided violate academic freedom and were condemned by Barnard’s AAUP chapter.
September 23 - Barnard faculty stage a teach-in on campus to bring attention to how the new “Expectations for Community Conduct” undermine the college’s values of free speech and academic freedom. An hour before the teach-in, President Rosenbury sent out an email to the Barnard community to solicit feedback on the policies through a google form.
The administration thinks things are going great because campus is quiet. Meanwhile students are feeling despondent and faculty and staff are still dissatisfied with college leadership.
Budget crisis and austerity measures
November 11 - Rosenbury gives a presentation to faculty and staff to share that the college is running a significant budget deficit. She also announces changes to the healthcare plans. The administration cut faculty and staff health benefits in a chaotic and disrespectful manner. On that same day, faculty are informed that they have 11 days to make healthcare elections (faculty have typically been given at least 16 days in the past). The plan options available to faculty have reduced benefits and represent an austerity measure. After pushback, the administration agrees to extend the window for plan elections, but the delayed rollout of the new plans with no prior warning denies many faculty the opportunity to opt into the benefit plan of a spouse or partner.
Also on the agenda is the Foundations curriculum which the administration says is meant to address the “points imbalance”. The Foundations proposal would mandate that Barnard students take all first year courses at Barnard and none at Columbia, among other changes.
November 17 - A front-page New York Times story about the failed presidency of University of Florida president Ben Sasse features a damning description of President Rosenbury’s tenure as dean of the UF Law School. In order to boost the school’s ratings, Rosenbury engaged in such questionable practices as counting guest speakers as faculty (to increase the faculty to student ratio) and purchasing new and unneeded chairs (to increase spending per student).
November 18 - Barnard AAUP holds a meeting where they discuss a strategy to get the administration to address issues of concern regarding faculty governance being undermined and a lack of transparency with respect to the college’s finances. A subcommittee is charged with drafting a set of proposals.
Hope for shared faculty governance
December 4 - FGP holds a faculty caucus to discuss the drafted set of proposals. The meeting is well attended and there is a consensus among faculty for improved shared governance at the college.
December 23 - Barnard faculty successfully negotiate shared governance reforms including the reconstitution of the President’s Council.
Barnard College expels its first student since 1968.
February 22 - Barnard announces the expulsion of 2 students for their involvement in a classroom disruption protest. The last expulsion at Barnard was in 1968 and it was also met with protest from students.
February 26 - Students protest the expulsions with a sit-in outside of Dean Grinage’s office in Milbank hall. Faculty members served as mediators while administrators were sequestered in their offices. In successfully de-escalating the protest, faculty mediators demonstrated that there was no need to call police onto campus. While all of this was taking place, Rosenbury was in Florida. Though the negotiations ended with a promise for dialog between administrators and students, and amnesty for participants of the sit-in, the following day administrators went back on their word.
Laura Rosenbury declares war on Barnard students and calls NYPD onto campus to arrest peaceful protesters.
March 3 - Laura Rosenbury pens an op-ed that contains disinformation and that strikes a chilling and punitive tone. This op-ed completely omits the hard work and successful outcomes of faculty mediators, who spent hours listening to the concerns of students, while NYPD waited outside the Barnard gates.
A third expulsion of a Barnard student is announced. She was expelled for her participation in the occupation of Hamilton Hall.
That afternoon, Barnard faculty had their college-wide meeting. They took a vote to immediately reinstate the Barnard Judicial Council which was still technically on the books but had been disregarded by Rosenbury’s administration. Faculty overwhelmingly voted yes on the motion: “All active and future non-academic disciplinary processes be immediately moved to the reconstituted Judicial Council” (Yes - 104, No - 14, Abstain - 10).
March 5 - A group of thirty or more students gathered in Milstein for a peaceful protest to call on the administration to engage in the dialog that they were promised during the sit-in at Milbank, the week prior. Laura Rosenbury summoned the NYPD, who lined up outside the Barnard gates as a show of force against the protesters. Hours later, the school received an email that there was a bomb in the library, placed there by someone hostile to the protesters. This became the purported reason why the police, who were waiting outside, were allowed onto campus.
The police did not act as though there was an active bomb threat. They approached with zip ties in hand. Most student protestors had evacuated Milstein and gathered on Futter field. After briefly checking the Milstein lobby, the police turned their attention to kettling the student protesters outside. Police demanded that they “move” while encircling them and beginning arrests. Arrested students were lined up in front of the glass facade of Milstein, the location of the purported threat, and later escorted through Milstein to police vehicles on Claremont Ave. Despite calls from faculty for an investigation into the bomb threat, and the NYPD and the college’s handling of that threat, no investigation has been made.
Laura Rosenbury continues to conflate student protesters with terror and danger. Student protesters in Milstein were not violent. The only violence brought onto our campus was by Laura Rosenbury, when she brought the NYPD into our community. She continues to use divisive rhetoric to marginalize protestors. Rosenbury has repeatedly failed to listen to her community and instead prioritizes the objectives of those outside our community. Her actions were performative obedience to the demands of the far right and their goals of dismantling higher education and prohibiting dissent.
Laura Rosenbury’s actions show that our academic mission and student, staff, and faculty safety are not of concern to her. Masked protestors, shielding themselves from an administration who will expel students without due process, and who have very real concerns about being doxxed by outside agitators, are not the danger. Students are not the enemy.
March 8 - Days after the Milstein protest, Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student, is detained by ICE. Mahmoud was engaged in pro-palestine activism on campus. He helped Barnard administrators during the Milstein protest where he voluntarily served as a mediator between students and administration.
Since then, multiple students across the country have been targeted by the federal government for their pro-palestine activism. ICE agents have been spotted just outside of the Barnard gates. Barnard students report being stopped, questioned, and searched by ICE.
March - Following the Milstein protest, Barnard hires two professional mediators to engage with students and to prevent a recurrence of the events on March 5. This is a new type of gig for the mediators whose experience is mainly in corporate mediation and negotiation – one of whom has extensive experience and expertise in mediating between parties in million-dollar settlements. The other mediator has experience in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and although he is a former school principal, it is unclear why Barnard administration felt that a corporate mediator is the right fit for healing our small liberal arts college community.
The students raised concerns about one of the mediator’s past history of mediating between Harvey Weinstein and his sexual assault victims and their allegations of ethics violations against one of the mediators.
March 13 - The Trump administration issues a series of demands to Columbia University in order to unfreeze $400 million in federal funding that had been frozen on March 7th, 2025 in response to unsubstantiated allegations of antisemitism on campus.
March 24 - Laura Rosenbury sends an email out to the Barnard community that makes it clear that NYPD will be brought onto campus to manage future “disruptions”, effectively banning all protests on campus. She also makes overtures to a potential future mask ban. While she acknowledges that students wear masks to protect from doxxing and surveillance, she states that “on balance” they harm the community. This makes it clear that Rosenbury still does not understand that keeping our students safe from disappearances by the federal government should outweigh any concerns of “disruptive behavior” or damage to school property. In this email, Rosenbury also acknowledges the disciplinary pause that was agreed upon after the faculty vote at the March 3rd faculty meeting.
March 26 - The US Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) sends President Rosenbury a letter demanding that she answer leading questions about whether Barnard students are involved in “Hamas-linked groups” on campus. The letter cites Rosenbury’s own language from her March 3rd op-ed. Rosenbury got us into this mess herself by consistently mischaracterizing our community and it is unclear how or whether she plans to clear things up.
March 27 - The US House Committee on Education and Workforce sends a letter to President Rosenbury and Barnard board of trustees chair Cheryl Milstein asking to provide a briefing on the Milbank and Milstein student protests. In the letter, Rep. Walberg commends Rosenbury for expelling two students for disrupting a classroom. In an April 7 faculty meeting, Rosenbury would claim that the federal government has been lenient with Barnard due to her decisions to mete out harsh discipline. Apparently, Rosenbury sees no problem with using students as political pawns.
Barnard community is under siege by Barnard administration and by the federal government.
April 7 - During the monthly faculty meeting, the extent of doxxing and harassment of Barnard faculty is revealed by multiple faculty members. Because so much of the harassment revolves around distortions of faculty course offerings, scholarly research, and pedagogy, faculty requested that Barnard provide legal counsel that can send cease and desist letters to doxxing websites on behalf of the faculty being doxxed. The administration says they are working on it but it is unclear why it has taken them so long to act and why they are so reluctant to correct the record about their own college community. During that same meeting, President Rosenbury is asked whether the additional campus security that was recently contracted is armed. Rosenbury claimed that she had no knowledge of whether any of our guards were armed, nor had the college made any stipulations to that effect. Retired NYPD officers who serve as contracted security have conceal carry rights that non-NYPD security do not, and Rosenbury left open the possibility that some campus security guards may be armed, either now or in the future.
Early April - Despite the March 3rd vote at the faculty meeting to have the administration pause disciplinary proceedings until the Judicial Council is reconstituted, Barnard administration continues with its invalid “single administrator” disciplinary process. This time, students are called in for “inquiry meetings” on short notice. The administration threatens to withhold graduation for the seniors who were called upon to provide information about their involvement, or what they might have witnessed, at the Milstein protest. They are also moving forward with the conduct process for students who participated in recent demonstrations led by jewish student groups protesting the abduction of students by ICE.
April 21 - Faculty, staff, and student workers of the college receive a text message from the Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOC) inviting them to participate in a survey. It turned out, the survey is part of their investigation into Barnard and Columbia that was initiated in the summer of 2024 amid public concerns about alleged antisemitism on college campuses. The only problem is that the Barnard administration forgot to disclose to its employees that an investigation had been launched by EEOC and that they complied with the federal government’s request to turn over the personal contact information of Barnard employees.
April 23 - At the 2025 Barnard Gala at Cipriani’s, a group of Barnard alumnae protested the trustees, the Barnard administration’s harsh treatment of student protesters, and the genocide in Gaza. A Barnard alumna tore up her diploma (video on X).