Brian Cohen

Lavine Family Executive Director of The Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, Columbia / Barnard Hillel @cbhillel

[columbiafsi @columbiafsi]

Congratulations to Prof @Rebecca_Kobrin on the publication of her new book, “Credit to the Nation,” just reviewed in the @wsj_com !
She accomplished this while serving on @Columbia ‘s Antisemitism Task Force AND co-directing the @ColumbiaIIJS . We are so proud to call her a colleague and leader.

https://t.co/ylbIv4DqbH

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

The gratitude goes both ways. Thank you for your courage, partnership, and unwavering commitment to our students these past two years.

[columbiafsi @columbiafsi]

Two years ago, during the Hamilton Hall takeover, we opened this account out of necessity. What followed was a community built with courage, care, and conviction. We’re deeply grateful to our partners @cbhillel @ColumbiaIIJS @TheAENetwork @UJAfedNY , @CU_JewishAlumni alumni, parents, faculty and staff allies, and supporters out there who’ve stood with us. We will continue showing up, without hesitation, for our students.

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

Thrilled for Mike Uram and @JTSVoice An excellent choice to lead the Seminary
https://t.co/O9G5dmAqCz

[Columbia Jewish & Israeli Students ✡️🇮🇱 @CUJewsIsraelis]

Thank you to former hostage Omer Shem Tov for coming to speak at @Columbia today! The event was deeply moving and meaningful. And thank you to Columbia security for making sure it went smoothly!

[Gil Zussman @gil_zussman]

Thanks to @cbhillel and the Israeli and Jewish students for organizing a deeply moving and meaningful Yom HaZikaron ceremony @Columbia

[60 Minutes @60Minutes]

Watch the extended version of @andersoncooper's interview with Rachel Goldberg-Polin, an American Israeli mother whose son, Hersh, was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and then executed.

[CU/BC Hillel @cbhillel]

It was an honor to host Ernest Brod CC58 and LAW61, who spoke at the Kraft Center on Yom Hashoah about his story of surviving the Holocaust

[Jewish Coaches Association @JewishCoaches]

Another year, another incredible record-breaking Men’s Final Four Breakfast. ☕️✡️

It was truly amazing to be surrounded by nearly 400 Jewish & non-Jewish coaches, administrators, friends, allies, & many more this past weekend in Indy.

#JCA | #JewishCoaches | #JCAB2026

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

Check out my latest article: To the Families of Columbia's Class of 2030 https://t.co/MbpfiIb76n via @LinkedIn

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

Yikes

[Columbia Fact Check Project @ColumbiaFact]

(🧵 1/5) At tonight's University Senate governance forum, @jrslaugh told the audience @Columbia was "in violation" of its 1810 charter's $20,000 real estate cap. He said he'd "searched through all the archives". Three panelists, including a constitutional law prof, nodded along.

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

From a 1,100 person Shabbat dinner on the school’s basketball courts to an Ishay Ribo concert, Jewish joy is thriving at @Columbia That's the positive story about Jewish life at Columbia that doesn't get told enough.
Despite two years of growth and progress, challenges still exist on campus. But I spoke to @JNS_org about how Columbia students are celebrating their Judaism. https://t.co/CkQZSHOlZv

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

The @Starbucks employees past TSA at McNamara in @DetroitAirport did a phenomenal job on a busy morning. Everyone knew their job, did it well and did it quickly.

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

It’s the time of year when many high school seniors are deciding where to go to college, and almost every Jewish parent I know is asking the same question: "Is there antisemitism on campus?"
It's the wrong question.
In @JTAnews, I wrote about what families should be asking instead, and what 14 years at Columbia/Barnard Hillel has taught me about what actually shapes a Jewish student's experience.
https://t.co/6EaiwamLLj

[USA TODAY @USATODAY]

Rachel Goldberg-Polin (@BringHershHome) is the embodiment of every mother’s worst nightmare: losing a child. Now, she is turning her loss into a way to help others heal.

Hamas kidnapped and executed her son, Hersh. Her commitment to save as many of the 251 hostages as possible never wavered. https://t.co/VO2n6MgyBS

📸: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, for USA TODAY

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

Some will defend this as academic freedom. Abdou supports and incites violence. His views are well known — they don't belong on any campus, even UTS.

[Stu Smith @thestustustudio]

🚨 UTS Pushed “Death to the Akademy” Online. Former Columbia Professor Muhammad Abdou Used the Event to Call for Jihad and Praise Elias Rodriguez

Union Theological Seminary, a Columbia affiliate, canceled the in-person portion of “Death to the Akademy” at the eleventh hour, with organizers later indicating the event would continue online.

Organizers, Queer Muslims of NYC and Students for a Liberated Palestine at UTS, blamed “Zionist reactions” and accused the seminary of “flagrant Islamophobia.”

At the online event itself, Muhammad Abdou told students to engage in jihad.

“Let us fulfill that threat, and you know what I mean, with all the details , with the full blunt force. Let us engage in jihad, and there are rules for jihad, and Muslims know that Allah has commanded rules. We don’t engage in wanton violence, but we don’t accept the negative peace either.”

He also praised Elias Rodriguez for the “assassination of two Zionists.”

“God bless him. He took action. He took action. Elias, he took action. Take action. Not only that kind of action, just to be very clear, because there’s also building. We need to destroy. We need to create alternatives.”

Elsewhere in the same event, he urged students to use their leverage in academia, arguing that without students, higher education would grind to a halt.

“If you throw a wrench into that system, you’ll discombobulate. So be a threat, fulfill it.”

The strongest argument for the seminary’s intervention may have been Abdou’s own words. This is not a fringe figure, but an individual who has taught at multiple universities, including Columbia, Cornell, the American University in Cairo, the University of Toronto, and Queen’s University.

[נדב איל Nadav Eyal @Nadav_Eyal]

1/ Eighteen hourse since the start of the U.S.–Israel operation against Iran - several insights and new pieces of information.
***The Middle East is still in shock over the assassination of Ali Khamenei, the world’s longest-serving dictator and the architect of the “Axis of Resistance.” Together with other eliminations, this is a strategic blow of historic magnitude - and the first time Israel has killed the head of a sovereign state.
In many ways, Israel has sought to restore its deterrence after October 7, once it became clear it had none- not vis-à-vis Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or the Houthis. The killings of Sinwar, Nasrallah, Khamenei, and Assad’s flight to Moscow are an attempt to rebuild regional deterrence.

[נדב איל Nadav Eyal @Nadav_Eyal]

There is a campaign of targeted harassment against journalists in Israel. It is not random or spontaneous.
The figure leading it - a convicted felon- is sharing videos alongside the Justice Minister and the Minister of National Security. What began as political incitement has now taken an openly racist turn with mob tactics. My latest:https://t.co/MS5cTw7IzU

[Mark D. Levine @MarkLevineNYC]

DHS entered a Columbia U. residential building—without a judicial warrant—and detained a student this a.m. Agents made misleading statements to campus security.

This is a dangerous escalation. It does nothing to make us safer. I am working with authorities at all levels to get clarity on this disturbing situation.

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

We started in Lerner Hall. Then we added the Kraft Center. Then we needed to add Low Library. The courts are the only space on campus that can accomodate us!

[Maiya C-Y Edelson @maiyacy]

@brcohen @Columbia I love the location!!!

[Brian Cohen @brcohen]

It was an incredible evening. The Jewish community at @columbia is very special.

[CU/BC Hillel @cbhillel]

This past Friday was something:
- 1300 students, faculty and staff from @Columbia and @BarnardCollege celebrating Shabbat dinner
- 310 loaves of Challah baked by students
- 7 different post dinner receptions at the Kraft Center
- in every sense of the word, it was a Mega Shabbat.