LEAKED COLUMBIA SENATE PROPOSAL WOULD BAN MASKING IN CLASSROOMS AND EVENTS
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) has obtained this copy of a recent proposal to the Columbia Senate. This proposal introduces a mask ban in all classrooms at Columbia citing numerous actions taken for Palestine on our campus during the past year including the most recent “History of Modern Israel” class disruption and the occupation of Hind’s Hall—demonstrating that the ban is explicitly targeting pro-Palestine activism. Though the ban makes a technical exception for masks worn for medical reasons, the ban itself will discourage overall mask use by creating a culture of fear and surveillance, as the proposal also empowers University officials to require you to remove your mask for "identification purposes." With a mask ban, Columbia further cements its genocidal support for the zionist entity over even the health and wellness of our community. Columbia would rather discourage its students, workers, and faculty from protecting themselves from a pandemic, which they have already taken away all accommodations for than divest from genocide. As a leading public health research university, Columbia has betrayed its own principles and advocacy for the sake of repressing pro-Palestine action on our campus. The proposal also makes no accommodations for religious coverings, further alienating Muslim students and workers that Columbia has long lacked protections for -- opening our community to further Islamophobic discrimination (with precedent in CARES' oppressive requirement for students to remove their hijabs at the Barnard gates).
The proposal makes clear that the university values its ability to surveil our community, to suppress protest and dissent, and to defend its investment in genocide over our community's privacy and safety. President Armstrong's email earlier this week illustrates the administration's strong push for the mask ban which they believe will pressure the Senate and the students into submission. We call on the Senate to fulfill their responsibility to our community and reject this proposal. We call on students and other university affiliates to protest the proposed mask ban and stand in solidarity with Palestine by wearing masks or other face coverings starting Monday, January 27.
Mask ban or not, we will not stop our action for Palestine. We promise Columbia that we will not rest until our demands are met and until Columbia divests from the genocide and occupation in Palestine.
