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cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
CUIMC Stands Up
@cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
250 followers 70 following 94 posts
Grassroots group of Columbia University Irving Medical Center affiliates standing up for patients, research, students, academic freedom, and science everywhere.

Views ours only, not Columbia’s, although we wish they were!

https://www.cuimcstandsup.org
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Students, faculty, & campus workers are leading this incredible pushback.

We will not back down in defense of higher education & our democracy.

There is an unstoppable wave of unified rejection of Trump’s authoritarian agenda cresting throughout higher education.

Join Us.

#DefendHigherEd
October 16, 2025 at 5:39 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
“Columbia must resist narratives that single out some students for protection while ignoring the suffering of others…The current lopsided treatment of students by this administration regarding the war in Gaza risks worsening the very divisions it claims to address.” (6/6)
Columbia must resist narratives that single out some students for protection while ignoring the suffering of others. These narratives misrepresent the nature and causes of campus tensions and provide the cover for outside attacks that undermine our university's mission. Columbia must reject pressures-whether from donors, alumni, political actors, or internal stakeholders-to privilege some views and silence others in the name of safety or institutional reputation. At its best, a university defends the full spectrum of intellectual freedom, not only fostering inclusion based on identity, but also protecting the right to protest, question, critique, and hold power accountable. This means respecting students and scholars across political, religious, and ideological spectra and protecting their civil rights. The current lopsided treatment of students by this administration regarding the war in Gaza risks worsening the very divisions it claims to address.
July 26, 2025 at 11:33 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
‼️🚨WHAT’S AT STAKE: Higher ed “has long served as a necessary counterweight to authoritarianism…

But that crucial role is possible only if universities support discourse that includes dissent and uphold their core values of inclusion, equity, and academic freedom consistently, not selectively” (5/6)
What's at stake Across the country, universities are under intensifying political pressure to suppress protest, narrow intellectual discourse, and align with authoritarian narratives. Higher education has long served as a vital space for critical thinking and dissent-a necessary counterweight to authoritarianism and the abuse of power. But that crucial role is possible only if universities support discourse that includes dissent and uphold their core values of inclusion, equity, and academic freedom consistently, not selectively.
July 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
“The findings…fall short of capturing the range of experiences of Jewish students on campus…

Columbia's prevailing discourse…oversimplifies and obscures these complex and painful realities, thereby undermining our community's ability to address the challenges.” (4/6)
The findings presented in the task force's report fall short of capturing the range of experiences of Jewish students on campus. Embedded within the data, and reflected in accounts since October 7, 2023, are the facts that many Jewish students have reported feeling alienated for criticizing Israel's assault on Gaza and some have been targeted by alumni and professors, or labeled as "self-hating Jews" for their support of Palestinian rights. In addition, Jewish students, like students of all backgrounds, have been exposed to threats, harassment, administrative punishment, arrest, and physical attacks for participating in a noble tradition of Columbia student protests against global injustices. Therefore framing all of the "immense challenges faced by our Jewish students" as a problem of antisemitism as Columbia's prevailing discourse does, oversimplifies and obscures these complex and painful realities, thereby undermining our community's ability to address the challenges.
July 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
“The current framing—which is endorsed by Columbia's leadership, exploited by the federal government, and echoed by their allies in the media—oversimplifies and obscures, and
risks deepening divisions rather than healing them.” 🎯 (3/6)
The University's responsibility is to respond to these complexities, not reduce them to a singular narrative of antisemitism. The current framing-which is endorsed by Columbia's leadership, exploited by the federal government, and echoed by their allies in the media- oversimplifies and obscures, risks deepening divisions rather than healing them.
July 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
“The administration's narrative obscures these facts, marginalizes the pain and suffering of Muslim students, and erroneously homogenizes Jewish students' experiences by ignoring the pressures many encountered for protesting Israel's assault on Gaza.” (2/6)
The data reflects a campus community struggling with grief, moral urgency, intense polarization, and the failure of University administration to broker the ensuing tension in a constructive manner. As described below, these struggles affect Jewish students and Muslim students at comparable rates. The administration's narrative obscures these facts, marginalizes the pain and suffering of Muslim students, and erroneously homogenizes Jewish students' experiences by ignoring the pressures many encountered for protesting Israel's assault on Gaza. Changing our understanding of the problem changes the solutions needed to address it.
July 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
“But, looking at this agreement, one has to think that it wasn’t worth it. What value is there to saving lives and extending them if these lives are lived in a world of restricted speech, arbitrary arrest, and cheerful physical violence?”

Read more here:

open.substack.com/pub/riseupco...
Columbia's Agreement with the Federal Government
The Columbia administration has finally done what many of us have urged it not to do: it has signed a bad agreement with the federal government to address the government’s phony concerns about Columbi...
open.substack.com
July 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
cuimcstandsup.bsky.social
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves:

“I don’t think the values of the Trump administration are the values of the Columbia medical faculty. In fact, I am certain they are not. We have made a deal with the devil. Those don’t usually work out.”

We can confirm ‼️
I don't think the values of the Trump administration are the values of the Columbia medical faculty. In fact, I am certain they are not. We have made a deal with the devil. Those don't usually work out. 1 And far from all of them were on board with a deal. See the web page of CUIMC Stands Up, a group of medical faculty who have and continue to oppose any deal under these circumstances. They have even launched a satirical newsletter, check it out!
July 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM