Columbia University activists plan Veterans Day protest, but organizers are “taking back” the protest from the “Israel-US WR machine” in the name of Palestinians killed in Gaza I hope that.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, an unsanctioned student group, is distributing flyers for the event, which will be held Monday at the Ivy League school’s Morningside Heights main campus.
“Veterans Day is an American holiday that honors patriotism, love of country, and the sacrifices of our veterans. We reject this holiday and refuse to celebrate it,” a flyer for the agitator group’s event reads. It was dark.
“The American war machine should not be honored for the terror it inflicts on others,” the flyer adds. “Instead, we celebrate Martyrs’ Day in honor of those martyred by the Israeli and American war machines. A day to honor patriotism, love of country, and the sacrifices of the martyrs.”
Enraged by the plan, university veterans are planning a simultaneous veterans’ celebration to counter the hostile forces.
The protests were seen as a slap in the face after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel sparked riots on campus, many of which were directed at student veterans.
“That post really shook up the hornet’s nest,” said Sam Nahins, 31, an Air Force veteran and graduate student at Columbia University who completed his undergraduate degree at the school this spring.
“They never hid their disdain for veterans. But now it’s really out in the open,” he added. “Last year, students and faculty ran around dressed as jihadists, shouting death to America, death to Western civilization, death to everything but the cause, while their friends called them infidels, murderers, baby killers, etc. I was called.”
What concerns Nahins most is the impact that events like the Martyrs’ Day demonstrations might have on the mental health of fellow veterans at the university after such a tumultuous year. Especially after one of my best friends from school took his own life a few months ago.
The friend, Brandon Christie, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was working on a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics, but stopped going to class in the weeks after October 7 last year.
Christie eventually dropped out of school altogether and disappeared in September, before being found dead of her own hands in an upstate park days later.
“This is all really having a negative impact on the mental health of veterans, and nothing was really being done about it,” Nahins said.
Nahins, who has served as an unofficial liaison for the school’s large veteran community of more than 700 students, told administrators that after learning of the plans for Martyr’s Day, He raised such concerns and had a “meaningful” phone conversation with Columbia University’s interim leadership on Sunday. President Katrina Armstrong said:
“When I told President Armstrong about what happened last year, she seemed really surprised,” he said.
Armstrong was appointed interim president in August after his predecessor, Minoush Shafik, resigned over his handling of a series of anti-Israel protests. Demonstrations escalated into violence and destruction, forcing the New York Police Department to storm a barricaded campus building in April.
The school told the Post it supports its veteran community, the largest of any Ivy League school, and downplays the influence of Day of the Martyrs organizers.
“Columbia University is proud of our students, faculty and staff who are military veterans, and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice and the invaluable contributions they have made to our communities.” a spokesperson told the Post. “The University honors veterans every day on Veterans Day, and we are proud to participate in tomorrow’s New York Veterans Day Parade, as we have for more than a decade.”
“We are aware that small groups have called for demonstrations tomorrow, and our public safety team is monitoring campus activities for any disruption. As always, we will continue to teach and create knowledge. , we are committed to maintaining our core mission of advancing the company,” the spokesperson added.
Columbia University Apartheid Policy did not respond to a request for comment.
The group’s flyers circulated outside campus, including some New York state legislators who reacted with disgust.
“Any effort to defame our veterans is shameful and must be confronted head-on. We cannot tolerate disrespecting men and women,” said Queens City Councilman Robert Holden, who saw the flyer.
“These lunatics are not going to bring back Veterans Day. Not today and never will,” he added.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
