Academics, lawyers and activists expressed their support for the law professor, who said she had been pressured to leave Columbia University For her defense of pro-Palestinian students.

“As of today, I have reached an agreement with Columbia University that relieves me of my obligations to teach or participate in the administration of the college after having served at Columbia Law School for 25 years,” Katherine Franke, a tenured professor of law at the Ivy League university in the United States, said in a statement. statement Thursday.

“Although the university may call this change in my status a ‘retirement,’ it should be more accurately understood as a termination dressed in more palatable terms.

“I have come to the view that the Columbia administration has created such a toxic and hostile environment for legitimate debate about the war in Israel and Palestine that I can no longer teach or conduct research,” Franke said.

Protests against Israel’s war on Gaza broke out on the campus of Columbia University in New York City last April and inspired similar encampments at other institutions across the United States and abroad. The students demanded that the university withdraw its investments from Israel, which is accused of committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza. They also called for a ceasefire to end the war that claimed the lives of more than 46,000 Palestinians and turned Gaza into rubble.

However, the prestigious Ivy League university attempted to counter student protests, a campaign that brought criticism from human rights organizations.

Some critics have said the crackdown on students and pro-Palestinian groups puts an end to freedom of expression on college campuses, while others claim the university administration has allowed a hostile atmosphere to flourish.

Commenting on Franke’s resignation on Saturday, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said that Franke had become “another victim of pro-Israelism that turns universities and other places of public life into places of obscurantism.” Discrimination and oppression.”

Noura Erekat, a Rutgers University professor and human rights lawyer, on Sunday described the university’s mistreatment of Professor Franke as “horrible.”

Erekat wrote on the social media platform

Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), called Columbia’s actions “truly shameful” and said on Saturday that the American university stands with “Professor Franke and against this suppression of pro-Palestinian speech.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights, an advocacy organization, said Thursday that Franke’s resignation represents “a terrible attack on academic freedom and the defense of Palestinian rights.”

Colombia “cooperates” with “enemies” of its academic mission

According to the New York Times conditionSamantha Slater, a spokeswoman for Columbia University, said a complaint had been filed [against Franke] “Alleged discriminatory harassment in violation of our policies. An investigation was conducted and a finding was issued.”

In her resignation statement, Frankie noted how last February two of her colleagues filed a complaint against her with the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, accusing her of one of her comments to the US news outlet Democracy Now! The matter amounts to harassment of Israeli members of the Columbia community in violation of university policies.

In January 2024 interviewSpeaking about the university’s graduate programs’ relationship with countries including Israel, Franke said, “It’s something that a lot of us have been concerned about, because a lot of these Israeli students, who then come to Columbia’s campus, are coming straight out of their military service. It’s known that they They harass Palestinian students and other students on our campus.”

As the investigation into complaints against that comment progressed, Franke said that in April 2024 during a U.S. Congressional hearing, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik asked then-Columbia President Minush Shafiq what disciplinary action had been taken against Franke, who had commented about Israeli students on campus.

Stefanik incorrectly attributed this observation to the fact that “all the Israeli students who served in… [Israeli army] “Dangerous and should not be on campus,” Frank said.

“I agree with you that these comments are completely unacceptable and discriminatory,” President Shafiq replied. “Chairman Shafik was aware at the time that Congresswoman Stefanik’s summary of my comments was grossly inaccurate and misleading, yet she made no effort to correct the Congresswoman’s intentional mischaracterization of my comments,” Franke said in her statement.

Professor Franke says she faced harassment, including death threats, after the congressional hearing.

Shafiq, who was criticized for his handling of student protests, resigned from his position as university president in August.

Meanwhile, an outside law firm was later hired to investigate Franke’s comments last November, concluding that her statements violated the university’s equal opportunity and affirmative action policies. Frankie said she has filed an appeal.

“After reflection, it has become clear to me that Columbia has become a hostile environment, and I can no longer serve as an active member of the faculty,” Franke said in her statement.

“Rather than defending the university’s role in a democracy, in promoting critical debate, research, and learning about matters of vital public interest…Columbia’s leadership has demonstrated a willingness to cooperate with enemies of our academic mission.”