Columbia Law Professor Katherine Franke Resigns Amid Controversy Over Pro-Palestine Stance
January 15, 2025A Columbia Law School professor who vocally defended students after they faced persecution from Columbia for protesting in support of Palestinian rights says she was terminated after 25 years in her job.
Katherine Franke accused Columbia’s administration of creating a “toxic and hostile” environment for debate and of failing to protect its students and faculty.
Columbia was at the center of a firestorm around campus protests for Gaza last year after it violently cracked down on student demonstrations, calling in the NYPD to dismantle a peaceful encampment.
“While the university may call this change in my status “retirement,” it should be more accurately understood as a termination dressed up in more palatable terms. In exchange for my agreement to step down as an active member of the Columbia faculty, the university demanded that I surrender significant rights and privileges that are provided to all retired faculty as a matter of policy. To describe my change in status with the university as a “retirement” is both misleading and disingenuous,” Franke wrote in a statement.
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