Blaze News original: Jewish student wearing yarmulke at Columbia faces down anti-Semitism — and rises above it

When Passover began Monday evening at Columbia University, Jewish student Parker De Dekér like many others had already departed the New York City campus for his own safety.

De Dekér — a first-year student at the Ivy League school — is from Wisconsin and told Blaze News a major reason why he chose Columbia was for the opportunity to study while living among a good deal more Jewish people than he's encountered in his home state.

He said he was becoming more "religiously observant" — and a big part of that has been wearing his yarmulke.

But when some spotted De Dekér donning the universally well-known Jewish identifier atop his head last week, that spelled trouble for him.

As readers of Blaze News know, pro-Palestinian students last week set up tents on Columbia's campus and refused to leave until the school met a list of demands, including divesting from companies with ties to Israel. The New York Times said some referred to it as the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” Columbia University president Minouche Shafik on Thursday morning authorized New York City police to clear the encampment; officers made more than 100 arrests.

One of the arrestees was none other than the daughter of far-left U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.); as you might guess, Omar — not an Israel fan by any stretch — said she's "enormously proud" of her daughter for "pushing her school to stand against genocide."

Columbia also reportedly barred an Israel-born, Jewish professor from entering the school's main campus Monday morning by deactivating his identification card. Shai Davidai said Columbia indicated it could not ensure his safety.

'You f***ing Jew!'

De Dekér told Blaze News he got a taste of that danger last Wednesday evening on his way to a gathering at the Chabad house.

He said someone hollered at him — among other things — "you f***ing Jew!"

"The only way they could identify me as Jewish was my yarmulke," De Dekér recounted to Blaze News.

He added that a friend soon advised him to cease wearing it as doing so was "not safe."

De Dekér told Blaze News, "I took off my yarmulke and put it in my pocket." When he arrived at the gathering, he said he put it back on — but then removed it again when he left the Chabad house.

The experience of feeling "powerless" was "emotionally upsetting," De Dekér recalled — and he said he shed tears that night.

"Wow, this genuinely hurts," De Dekér recounted to Blaze News in regard to his raw feelings in those painful, "emotionally exhausting" moments.

'You know what?'

But something changed in De Dekér the next morning.

He said that "when I woke up Thursday, I thought, 'You know what?'"

That's right. De Dekér told Blaze News he felt compelled to look the "hatred" around him square in the eye — and wear his yarmulke all day Thursday as well as all day Friday.

Indeed, the vitriol was all too real. Apart from the sight of protesters waving Hezbollah flags and holding up cellphones adorned with the Hamas logo, among the anti-Semitic outbursts De Dekér knew of were:

• "Bomb bomb Tel Aviv!"
• "Go back to Poland!"
• "Genocidal maniacs!"
• "There is only one solution — intifada revolution!"

'I shouldn't have to change'

Despite it all, De Dekér shared with Blaze News that wearing his yarmulke "gave me more confidence and clarity" — and he realized that "I shouldn't have to change."

Not that his resolve mattered to others intent on harassing him. De Dekér shared with Blaze News that he endured still more anti-Semitism when he helped a friend move Thursday night as well as when he made his own decision to leave campus Friday.

"Yes, you leave campus, k***!" he recalled one person shouting at him — with an anti-Semitic slur attached — while another told him, "I'm so happy that you Zionists are finally leaving campus!"

De Dekér told Blaze News he's staying with a friend's family out of state but plans to return to campus Thursday. He added that in his estimation, about 60% of Jewish students at Columbia already planned on leaving campus for Passover — but the unrest in many cases "sped up" their departures.

Indeed, Rabbi Elie Buechler with the Columbia/Barnard Hillel on Sunday told Jewish students that police "cannot guarantee [their] safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy." Buechler also advised Jewish students to "return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved. It is not our job as Jews to ensure our own safety on campus.”

Columbia announced that its main campus will switch to remote-option learning for the remainder of the semester, WABC-TV stated, adding that U.S. House Republicans from New York have urged President Shafik to resign.

De Dekér told Blaze News he's happy there's a safer learning option than in-person-only but is "heartbroken" that Columbia has "lost control of the situation," adding that "tensions and conflict ... have evidently overwhelmed our administration." De Dekér also said he would have preferred that the school address "the issue of anti-Semitism head on."

In addition, Robert Kraft — a Columbia alum and owner of the New England Patriots — said he's pulling his considerable financial support of the school as he's "no longer confident that Columbia can protect its student and staff, and I am not comfortable supporting the university until collective action is taken."

'My experience is not unique'

De Dekér told Blaze News that "my experience is not unique" in regard to facing anti-Semitism and that because of it, many Jewish students feel pressure to hide their identities, to hide the Stars of David — to hide their yarmulkes: "They don't want to get hurt."

But he also noted that he senses that those outside of Columbia are primarily responsible for the spread of anti-Semitism on campus. In addition, De Dekér told Blaze News that despite rules in place barring non-students from infiltrating school property, they've somehow managed to do so.

De Dekér added that when Columbia's gates are closed "it's like Fort Knox" — so "how are they getting on" campus?

He also told Blaze News that he's felt "morally let down" by Columbia amid this "heartbreaking" episode as he previously saw the school as standing as "a pinnacle and space for dialogue."

De Dekér acknowledged, "My anger and frustration is with the university."

What did Columbia have to say?

Blaze News on Tuesday reached out to Columbia's Department of Public Safety in regard to De Dekér's assertions that non-students have been able to access campus and spew hatred at Jewish students — along with his questions regarding why university authorities seemingly have been unable to protect Jewish students, many of whom have chosen to leave for their own safety.

Public Safety on Tuesday referred Blaze News' request for comment to the university's communications department — which on Tuesday did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment on the matter.

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