An exhibition led by a Columbia University student organization recently celebrated Palestinian resistance, containing references both to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.
The event, called “Hind’s House,” lasted two days in November and was hosted by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP), which describes itself as a “gender-inclusive literary society.” Events at the exhibition included “Palestine 101,” “Protest Skills Training,” “Know Your Rights Training,” “Defense Training,” and “On Technogenocide,” according to The Free Press.
Shoshana Aufzien, a Jewish student at Columbia’s Barnard College, investigated the event and was appalled at what she saw. “The only way I can describe it,” Aufzien described, “is a museum of terror,” she told The Free Press.
The exhibition reportedly accused the Columbia board of trustees of committing “crimes against the Palestinian people,” including “sitting on the board of the NYPD Foundation.”
The presentation also had clothing containing the PFLP logo. “I usually associate Columbia frats with binge-drinking and hazing—not the PFLP,” Aufzien told The Free Press.
In a statement provided to Campus Reform, a Columbia spokesperson clarified that the event occurred off-campus.
“This event took place off campus in a house independently owned and operated by a group known to Columbia as the Association of Graduates of the Columbia Chapter of ADP,” the spokesperson stated.
“Upon learning of the event, the University notified law enforcement, the national Alpha Delta Phi Society leadership and a representative of the owner of the ADP house,” the spokesperson continued. “We immediately launched an investigation, which is ongoing.”
One picture at the display reportedly depicted a hang glider used by Hamas militants to kill Israelis on Oct. 7.
“In our struggle, we all are one as we continue to fight for divestment from genocide and the liberation of Palestine,” the Hind Collective, which helped to organize the exhibition, stated, according to The Art Newspaper. “Anyone who is exposed to the repression and state-facilitated violence against the Columbia pro-Palestine student body at any capacity understands the constant urgency for anonymity.”
“This genocide is intensifying right?” the author of one of the pieces of artwork at the exhibition reportedly stated, according to The Columbia Daily Spectator. “What happens when it passes that threshold of where it’s no longer violent and it’s more apocalyptic?”
Columbia has been in controversy recently for alleged instances of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias. During the fall semester, Professor Joseph Massad participated in a conference that was named after the official military operation title of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.
Following the massacre perpetrated by Hamas in October 2023, Massad wrote that “the ongoing war between the Israeli colonial army and the indigenous Palestinian resistance has only just begun.”
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
