Shayoni Mitra is a Columbia University faculty member who has leveraged her position to influence and indoctrinate students into extremism. By way of attending numerous rallies in support of Hamas and frequently advocating for students who faced arrests for damaging property or occupying buildings on campus, Shayoni has proudly positioned herself as one of the central academic pillars propping up extremism on campus.
Support for Terrorism and Hamas Propaganda
Mitra’s activism goes far beyond political protest – it constitutes a pattern of open support for terrorism. By publicly aligning herself with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization responsible for the massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7, she has demonstrated a complete disregard for human rights, international law, and campus safety. Rather than distancing herself from the glorification of violence, Mitra has chosen to amplify voices and movements that justify murder, rape, and hostage-taking as forms of “resistance.”
Key Incidents Contributing to Extremism
Mitra’s role in promoting events that romanticize violent actors, such as Refaat Alareer—who openly praised the murder of Israeli babies—underscores her commitment to whitewashing terror. Through her rhetoric, she attempts to reframe acts of brutality as expressions of political identity, directly contributing to the normalization of violence within academic settings.
- April 22, 2024 – Mitra was a participant in the “Faculty Walkout” rally in support of the students who had been arrested by the NYPD and suspended for causing property damage and disturbances on campus.
- April 30, 2024 – Mitra posted on X that she was part of the occupation of Hamilton Hall, writing, “for 22 hours we had Hind’s Hall.”
- May 16, 2024 – She took part in and helped organize the People’s Graduation for Palestine. An antisemitic event posing as a mock graduation ceremony.
- December 9, 2024 – She was one of the organizers behind Remember Refaat: Palestine & the Poetic Imagination, an event that paid tribute to Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who called Hamas’ October 7, mass rape and murder of innocent men, women and children as “legitimate and moral” and joked about Hamas killing babies.
Implications of Her Role as an Educator
As a professor entrusted with shaping the minds of future leaders, Mitra’s conduct raises grave concerns. Her repeated endorsement of terror-affiliated movements and her refusal to acknowledge Hamas’s crimes erode the academic integrity of Columbia University. By leveraging her authority to promote narratives rooted in extremism and historical revisionism, she compromises the ability of students to engage in rigorous, honest intellectual inquiry.
Students under her instruction are not being challenged to think critically; they are being recruited into ideological crusades that vilify Jews, dismiss terrorism, and glorify anti-Western aggression. The result is a toxic learning environment where dissenting views are silenced, Jewish students are marginalized, and academic standards are subordinated to political fanaticism.
Shayoni Mitra’s ongoing presence at Columbia is emblematic of a deeper institutional failure to confront faculty-led radicalization. Her vocal support for Hamas, participation in events that romanticize terror, and influence over impressionable students make her a direct threat to campus safety, Jewish inclusion, and the university’s moral compass.
Columbia University must reckon with the fact that it has permitted an academic to operate as a political actor on behalf of violent extremists. Failure to act not only emboldens Mitra’s behavior but also signals to the broader campus community that glorifying terrorism and spreading hate are acceptable under the guise of scholarship.