Gary Wilder, a CUNY anthropology professor, announced his boycott of a Columbia University conference, citing Columbia's alleged collusion with government efforts to undermine higher education and suppress dissent. His action is part of a larger movement involving over 1,800 academics and 50 organizations protesting Columbia's response to political repression, particularly regarding Palestinian activism. The American Association of University Professors supports this stance, viewing Columbia's alignment with political repression as a violation of academic freedom. The university's past actions, including collaboration with the NYPD against student protests, underscore concerns about institutional autonomy and students' safety.
Near the end of March, Gary Wilder, a professor of anthropology at the City University of New York, sent an email about his decision to decline attending a conference at Columbia University, explaining he was doing so because Columbia is "actively colluding with the U.S. government's project to destroy higher education and criminalize dissent."
Wilder is one of more than 1,800 academics and 50 organizations who have joined a quickly expanding boycott of Columbia, which has been at the center of U.S. state and political repression surrounding activism for Palestinian liberation.
The lengths to which administrators have been willing to go also suggests their actions are not mere capitulation, but rather a strategic alignment with the Trump administration.
Columbia invited the New York Police Department onto its campus, which resulted in the brutalizing and arrest of students protesting.
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