Northeast
Columbia University professor says anti-Israel protests are really about this 1 thing
A Columbia University professor tells Fox News Digital that the anti-Israel demonstrations unfolding on the Ivy League campus at the end of the day are no longer about the Jewish State or Palestinians, but about “whether mob violence can bring our great university to a halt.”
Law professor Joshua Mitts spoke Tuesday after a group of agitators invaded Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, shattering windows and barricading doors using tables and chairs.
“When you have a group of students — it’s really a small group, I don’t believe even the majority of protesters support things like this — when you have a small group that is committed to destroying property and shutting down campus life, that is the moment that we, the faculty, need to stand behind the administration and say ‘it’s time to restore order, it is time to bring back the calm, academic environment that Columbia stands for,’” Mitts told Fox News Digital.
“And if you were concerned about cracking down on peaceful protesters, I hope the events of this morning have convinced you that there is at least a group out there who are not interested in peaceful protests at all,” he added.
LIVE UPDATES: UNIVERSITIES CRACK DOWN ON ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS
Protesters gesture from a window of Hamilton Hall after barricading themselves inside the building at Columbia University early Tuesday. (Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)
Mitts is one of the now more than 2,000 Columbia alumni, faculty members and parents of students that have signed a statement calling on President Minouche Shafik to crack down on antisemitism and restore safety.
“We understand that she may be constrained by faculty resistance to calling the police after what happened almost two weeks ago,” Mitts said, referencing a recent wave of arrests by the NYPD. “But at the end of the day, I think we have to ask ourselves, ‘are we serving our students by allowing this sort of chaos and anarchy to consume our campus?’ It might be hard, but we have to grow up, we have to restore order to campus.”
ANTI-ISRAEL MOB AT COLUMBIA REVEALS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WILL TARGET NEXT AFTER TAKING OVER ACADEMIC BUILDING
Members of an anti-Israel mob broke into Hamilton Hall early Tuesday morning. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
“At the end of the day, this isn’t really about Israel or Palestine, it’s about whether mob violence can bring our great university to a halt,” Mitts added.
Mitts told Fox News Digital that the “antisemitism on campus has been horrifying,” and added, “The question I would ask the protesters is, what is really your goal? If your goal is to help the Palestinians, then let’s work together to achieve that goal.”
A member of the maintenance crew confronted the protesters after he claimed he was held hostage inside Hamilton Hall in New York City on Tuesday. (Alex Kent/Getty Images)
“While the police coming onto campus is a painful moment in Columbia’s history, the alternative that we are seeing right now, buildings being taken over, windows smashed, Jewish students fearing for their safety — this is not an alternative that is sustainable for our community,” he also said.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to earn nearly $260,000 a year, in line with the salary paid to his predecessor.
The figure is based on public payroll records showing that former Mayor Eric Adams earned $258,750 in total pay.
Mamdani previously earned about $142,000 as a state assemblyman, according to Ballotpedia, an increase of roughly 80%.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on whether he plans to accept the full salary or donate a portion of it.
NEW YORK CITY IS ABOUT TO TEST MAMDANI’S PROGRESSIVE ECONOMIC VISION
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers his inaugural address Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, outside City Hall. (Fox News/Pool)
New York City consistently ranks among the most expensive cities in the country, with housing costs far above the national average.
An annual salary of about $260,000 would place Mamdani among the city’s top earners, more than three times New York City’s median household income of roughly $80,000, according to the most recent Census Bureau data.
Mamdani posted on his Instagram account in December that he and his wife Rama would move from their home in Astoria, Queens, to Gracie Mansion, the official, rent-free residence of the mayor on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, in January.
MAMDANI DISPUTES ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION AMID BLOWBACK FROM JEWISH COMMUNITY ABOUT DAY 1 EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Gracie Mansion in New York, on Sept. 26, 2024. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg)
“This decision came down to our family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for,” he wrote.
Mamdani was sworn in Jan. 1 as the 112th mayor of New York City, becoming the first Muslim to hold the office.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacts after speaking during his inauguration ceremony, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in New York. (Heather Khalifa/AP Photo)
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“City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability and abundance—where government looks and lives like the people it represents, never flinches in the fight against corporate greed, and refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too complicated,” Mamdani said in his inaugural address.
“In so doing, we will provide our own answer to that age-old question—who does New York belong to? Well, my friends, we can look to Madiba and the South African Freedom Charter: New York ‘belongs to all who live in it.’”
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A longtime staple near Pitt’s campus is closing its doors after more than four decades of business in Oakland.
Hemingway’s Cafe announced Thursday that it will be closing for good in May after more than 40 years along Forbes Avenue in the heart of Oakland.
“Since opening in 1983, Hemingway’s has been more than just a bar – it’s been a home, a meeting place, and an Oakland staple for generations of students, alumni, locals, and friends at the heart of the University of Pittsburgh,” the bar said.
The bar said while they are sad to be closing, they’re also grateful for the decades of memories, laughter, friendship, and traditions over the years.
“Thank you for making Hemingway’s what it has been for over four decades,” the bar said.
A final closing date for Hemingway’s hasn’t been announced.
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