I wrote a piece about another historic buidling in DC that might be torn down. It has important New Deal murals--by Ben Shahn and Philip Guston--on the walls. I write about the democratic ideals that would go down with them if they're demolished. Gift link.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
The New Deal–era murals that adorn the walls of the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building offer an important lesson about patriotism, propaganda, and beauty, Judith Shulevitz writes. What will happen to them if the government sells the building?
I wrote a piece about Toni Morrison's contrary views on black history.
What about Confederate statues? someone asked. Leave them up, she said. Talk about them. Hang a noose around their necks.
She wasn’t kidding. Which explains some things about her novels.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Those who oppose ICE in Minnesota are battling not for a political agenda but for the goal of dissidents throughout history: a normal life, @galbeckerman.bsky.social argues.
Washington's portrait set the benchmark for presidential temperament; Trump's occupies a whole other universe. Me on the National Portrait Gallery and the president with the gorilla posture, in The Atlantic. (Not paywalled.)
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
We’re excited to share news about several journalists joining The Atlantic in January: @henrygrabar.bsky.social and Judith Shulevitz as staff writers; @suellentrop.bsky.social as a senior editor; and Uzodinma Iweala as a contributing writer. More here: www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...
The important thing to note about the latest right-wing Jewish conspiracy to shut down political protest and freedom of expression in the name of antisemitism is...most of the people involved are Christians.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/u...
Twitter: Break heads! Deport visa holders! Shut Columbia down! Never hire a single graduate!
Bsky: How dare they call the NYPD? Or arrest people trying to leave a library [after storming and vandalizing it]? Why, students were injured [resisting arrest]!
Twitter and Bsky: You deserve each other.
“Columbia should use its endowment to fight Trump!”
Great idea: let's liquidate 271 years of institutional capital, get wrecked by hedge funds, and hope alumni Venmo us the difference.
A financial reality check no one asked for but desperately need 👇
standcolumbia.org/2025/03/29/i...
Wrap your mind around two things at once, Isaac. What the Trump administration is doing to Khalil is lawless, terrifying, and wrong. Also: CUAD has been super-explicit about its support for Hamas, and he has served as a spokesman for CUAD. I oppose his deportation. I also oppose his whitewashing.
A shocking detail from the Signal affair that you may not have known (from the Jewish Insider):
Isaac, what is going on w you? I thought of you as one of the grownups.
Frank Foer's excellent deep dive into antisemitism at Columbia dredges up so much astounding stuff that no one else in the mainstream media has written about, it almost feels like samizdat. Gift link.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Chaim Grade's latest novel, which I've reviewed in the Atlantic, jams almost too much life into its pages. Not a criticism: the streets of prewar Jewish Eastern Europe also overflowed. Grade’s prose reproduces the way Jews thronged in their tight quarters.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
A few items of CUAD protest paraphrenialia: Hamas and Hezbollah flags, green headbands, inverted red triangles, literature stamped "Hamas Media Office." I can't prove anything about Khalil's feelings about this, which is protected speech. But nothing hidden about it. It comes out at every protest.
Isaac, have you ever been up to Columbia and seen a protest? Did you see the encampments? I feel like you're functioning with a fairly abstract understanding of what CUAD is.
Isaac, I'm not the government and I'm not making a case. I get to speculate. CUAD, of which he is an active member, has been unabashed about its support for Hamas as well as Hezbollah, Nothing controversial there.
I have to say that the crudeness of the language and the absence of reasoning in most of the negative responses to my posts somewhat vitiate their critique.
9/So Khalil is no hero. It's just that there is no basis in law, as far as I can tell, for the way the government is mistreating him.
8/ they handed out flyers (well, since the students refused to take them, they flung then on the ground) that featured, among other things, a giant jackboot stomping on the Star of David. None of this is protected speech. It's also effectively heckling--preventing the *teacher* from speaking.
7/ against threatening or harassing a group on the basis of national origin, and maybe on the basis of religion.
And let's think for a minute about what they were protesting: the expulsion of students who burst into a class taught by an Israeli and shut it down and refused to leave. Meanwhile,
6/ That's not something that should be prosecuted by the government--it should have First Amendment protection--but private universities don't have to abide by the FA; they do have to abide by Title VI. The material they distributed celebrated the massacre of Israelis. That is a violation of rules
5/ It is expressly forbidden to do that, because's it's a dramatic disruption of the educational process. Call it the hecklers' veto of studying. Then he was part of a group that handed out leaflets stamped by Hamas, among other things, and put up a poster of Sinwar.
4/ Is protest allowed indoors? No. Here's FIRE: *Because of concerns about disruption, noise, and even fire safety, colleges may generally impose more restrictive rules on what students can do inside buildings.*
Then Khalil was part of a group shouting through a bullhorn into a library...
3/ First, he was part of a group that barged onto the campus without permission--the campus is not open. Then he was part of a group that barged into the library, knocking over or manhandling (not clear which) a security guard to the point at which he had to go to the hospital.
2/ because even free speech is constrained by rules--time, place, manner, and other legitimate restrictions. He hasn't been punished by any disciplinary body, but he's no martyr. Take the case we've all followed closely: the occupation of the Barnard library.
1/ I strongly defend Mahmoud Khalil's right to *have* rights, due process, and all the other protections to which his green card entitles him. The way he is being treated is egregious and wrong. But I think we should be clear about what he has done. His actions do not constitute protected speech
2/ higher ed. That is not to say there hasn't been a shocking outburst of antisemitism on campus. It's just that Trump doing what he would have done anyway for his own reasons, then citing antisemitism, turns Jews into villains. In other words, scapegoats.
