Barnard College has seen it for weeks Anti-Israel turmoil Rock campus, students take over buildings. Eliana Birman, a Jewish student at Barnard, wrote a letter with Barnard student Shoshana Aufzien asking for accountability for the college. The open letter has obtained nearly 1,300 signatures within a few days.
Birman told Fox News Digital that the letter was a direct response to an email from the Barnard Student Government Association (SGA), condemning the academy’s request for police intervention in the unrest.
“My friends and I, especially my friends, are very frustrated by this because we think Barnard Student Government emails really represent us because when bombs threaten, when we are in an emergency, we honestly feel that there are police on campus,” Berman told Fox News. “And, we think the promise of not having a police commitment to never going to campus is to improve the safety of our community.”
The New York Police Department cleaned up pro-Barnard protesters from Barnard College after occupying the Milstein Library Wednesday night. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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this The New York Police Department is known as On March 5, the Barnard College campus was a bomb threat following hours of anti-Israel agitators protesting at the Milstein Center in the Barnard Library. During the operation, the multiple stirrer was arrested.
“Anyone who refuses to leave the location may be arrested,” the NYPD said in a post X. “Please stay away from the area.”
Barnard SGA releases letter On Instagramsaying that this “strongly condemns” the police’s presence on campus, saying that the school broke “long-term commitment.” When asked about the “commitment” mentioned in the letter, Berman said she didn’t know what SGA was referring to.
The SGA also listed three requirements in the letter: first: “Amnesty for all students who sit with the Milstein Library”; second, “good faith negotiations” with senior staff, SGA and student protesters; third, Barnard’s disciplinary process reorganized into a process involving students and teachers.
Anti-Israel activities Columbia University Last spring, there were notorious camps on the campus quadrilateral. Birman believes that messaging is still having an impact on student agitators. Barnard is the official college of Columbia University, and these institutions have long-term relationships.
A “Free Palestine” flag is hung inside a building at Barnard College in New York City. (X/Colombian Jews and Israeli students)
Berman told Fox News that there is no doubt: “I mean, no doubt, this is definitely from social media. But a lot of it is just a repetition of sounds I’ve heard in the past. What has been repeated since last spring of campus.”
Birman told Fox News Digital that despite protests conducted on campus by anti-Israeli agitators, she usually feels physically safe before bomb threats.
“Most of the time, I just walk around campus with my dog tag, the David Star and all of this stuff, and I feel totally safe. But when these protests open, I do have to be careful, I have to talk to where I go, who I talk to and who I have to talk to. I just have to do a little more to me,” Berman said.
Pro-Palestine student protesters showed outside Barnard College in New York on February 27, 2025, protesting the expulsion of two students who interrupted their college classes in Israel last month, the morning after pro-Palestine student protesters attacked a Barnard College building. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)
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Overall, Berman is not satisfied with Barnard’s handling Anti-Semitism on campus. She told Fox News Digital that the academy is making “awesome FSTRIDE” recently, but it still has room for improvement.
“I think the biggest aspect of acknowledging that what is happening is anti-Semitism. They admit it is a form of hatred, they admit it is intimidating and it creates a feeling of unrest on campus. But they don’t really say anything about anti-Semitism. I don’t know much about anti-Semitism. I don’t know much.”
Barnard Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital to Birman’s letter and the “commitment” mentioned in the SGA statement.
