While the focus of pro-Hamas activism at Columbia University has centered on students, some have pointed to the contributions of the New York City Ivy League institution’s faculty.
Christopher Rufo and Hannah Grossman of City Journal write that Neuropsychology Professor Jennifer Manly participated in a protest calling for divestment from Israel, while appearing in front of a banner that read “Demilitarize education” and “Palestine is Everywhere.” The same April 2024 protest was said to have involved a blockade to prevent university personnel from disrupting a campus encampment.
City Journal also reports that Manly has involvement in approximately $100 million in federal grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the last several decades. The outlet notes that much of her work consists of the “so-called social determinants of health thesis, posits that racism, sexism, and homophobia can cause brain disease in ‘Black and Latinx communities’—a thesis that critics have described as pseudo-science.”
Rufo and Grossman also note that in an interview from last year, Manly stated that, “we shouldn’t blame people for their lifestyle choices in terms of their brain health,” concerning the idea that racism contributes to Alzheimer’s. She also reportedly advanced the idea that “systems of oppression” cause minorities to suffer from higher rates of dementia.
In January, Manly published a taxpayer-funded article that suggests that “racism is associated with inflammation and dementia risk.” This research was part of a NIH grant of over $700,000, according to City Journal.
[RELATED: Trump administration strips millions more from Columbia University over anti-Semitism]
Manly’s university biography notes that her “research focuses on mechanisms of inequalities in cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s Disease.” The web page also acknowledges that “[h]er research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association, and she has authored over 220 peer-reviewed publications and 10 chapters.”
In 2021, Manly was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. During 2011-2015, she served on the HHS Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
