Dear President Shafik and President Rosenbury,

We are writing as Christian alumni to express full support for students of Muslim, Jewish, Christian and all faith traditions that have come together to peacefully demonstrate their vision of a more just and peaceful future at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, and similar student movements across the country.

We wholeheartedly condemn Columbia University’s suppression of free speech and peaceful protest, stifling honest dialogue and the exchange of ideas. These principles are not just the bedrock of universities and democracies but are the foundation of human fraternity.

We reject the manipulation of our religion to justify violence and occupation. We reject the antisemitic underpinnings of Christian Zionism and the enduring Islamophobic legacy of imperialism, or what the Rev. Munther Isaac called a “theology of empire”.  

We alumni have watched with agony the destruction of every university in Gaza among the many acts of genocide against Palestinians. We witness with horror the oldest Christian communities in the world being targeted in Gaza and across Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity, and have deep admiration for the Columbia students who refuse to be complicit in this genocide through their tuition. We call on the University to allow its students to follow their consciences without fear of arrest, eviction, suspension, doxxing and other extreme measures of punishment and intimidation. We ask the Columbia University administration to make the University worthy of its principled and brave student body, and we pledge to withhold support for Columbia until the administration:

·     ends the militarization of its campus,

·     reverses suspensions and drops charges against students supporting Palestinian liberation,

·     reinstates Columbia’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, and

·     heeds the demands of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, following the clear wishes of the Columbia College, as demonstrated by the divestment referendum in 2020 and again on April 22, 2024.

In solidarity,

Christian Alumni of Columbia University