Controversial Columbia University Assistant Professor Shai Davidai has been temporarily suspended and has been denied access to the main campus occupied by pro-Palestinian student demonstrators since April 22, 2024, in New York City, the United States, when his security card was deactivated.
Known as a divisive and outspoken pro-Israel professor at Columbia University in New York City, Shai Davidai holds the post of assistant professor in the business school. The prestigious school stated that Shai Davidai continuously harassed and threatened University employees in violation of University policy.
Shai Davidai Temporarily Suspended by Columbia University
Davidai, in a post on his Instagram handle, announced his suspension and in a video laced with abuses stated,
“The university has decided to not allow me to be on campus anymore. My job. Why? Because of October 7. Because I was not afraid to stand up to the hateful mob.”
He later wrote on X, “I don’t care about my future. I care about what this acceptance of anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, and anti-American terrorism means for the students on campus.”
He also stated that the suspension was in response to his posting multiple videos detailing his interaction with university public safety officials last October 7, when a protest was organized by the pro-Palestine Columbia University Apartheid Divest student group. He also threatened to sue the university over the suspension and said that he was “not going anywhere.”
Davidai is accused of intimidating a number of students who took to social media to denounce his actions.
One student wrote on X on Wednesday,
“I have been reporting him nonstop since October 2023 for many things including making video edits of me and only now that he absolutely lost his mind at Columbia administrators did they finally take action against him.”
Another student wrote,
“The Columbia business professor who has: targeted me for months, retweeted inappropriate comments about my body, and claimed I was part of Hamas as we evacuated my family from Gaza (we’re Palestinian Christians) is now banned from Columbia’s campus for harassment,”
She also stated that the professor had demanded that the National Guards should be called in to evict the student protestors.
Shai Davidai is an Israeli native who is conducting research and will not be teaching this semester according to a letter by Columbia. The school also clarified that he has not been suspended and can return to the campus after he completes workplace conduct training and complies with school policy.
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