Shortly after Columbia University enacted mask restrictions to comply with a Trump administration order against antisemitism, masked protesters organized on campus. They opposed the perceived ban despite the lack of a formal ban. This led to notable statements from Jewish students, reflecting fears about higher education's future and community safety. The administration, facing pressure from federal authorities and a potential loss of $400 million in funding, implemented mask rules amid rising tensions over treatment of Palestinian issues in protests, which critics view as repression of dissenting voices.
The fresh round of demonstrations led a Jewish Columbia student to question whether the new rules went far enough. 'It's frightening to see what has happened...,' she said.
'Columbia, in collaboration with the White House, is attempting to repress its students fighting for Palestinian liberation just as Israel has broken the ceasefire...,' a flyer read in part.
'They're protesting the mask ban. They're defying what they perceive is a mask ban. There is no mask ban,' Eden Yadegar, 21, told The Post.
The Trump administration called for a total ban on masks at campus protests as part of a sweeping list of university reforms in a March 3 letter.
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