Columbia Business School professor Avi Friedman has resigned, citing the university's decision to appoint a Hamas-praising professor, Joseph Massad, to teach a course on Zionism, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
In his letter, dated Jan. 29, Friedman called his resignation "months in the making" and "unavoidable" given the "events of October 7, 2023, and the university's subsequent response." Friedman said he found himself "making excuses" in defense of Columbia and its administrators in the wake of Hamas's terror attack but "can no longer mask what has become inexcusable and systemic."
"The university's decision to appoint Joseph Massad to teach a class on Zionism represents a complete abandonment of academic integrity and unbiased scholarship," wrote Friedman. "This appointment was no oversight—it represents a deliberate choice that aligns with the university's ideology."
Massad, Friedman continued, "stands as a celebrated figure in the intifada movement—a status that Columbia now continues to endorse."
Friedman's resignation marks the second time a Columbia professor has resigned over Massad and his course on Zionism. Public affairs professor Lawrence Rosenblatt announced his departure from Columbia in December, arguing that having Massad teach a course on Zionism was "akin to having a white nationalist teach about the US Civil Rights movement and the struggle for Black equality."
A Columbia spokeswoman declined to comment on the resignation.
Massad, a professor of modern Arab politics who chaired the Columbia Arts and Sciences Academic Review Committee, has taught an undergraduate course titled "History of the Jewish Enlightenment in 19th century Europe and the development of Zionism" since 2016. He continued to teach that course in the wake of Oct. 7, which Massad praised as "awesome" in a piece published in the Electronic Intifada.
"Perhaps the major achievement of the resistance in the temporary takeover of these settler-colonies is the death blow to any confidence that Israeli colonists had in their military and its ability to protect them," Massad wrote in the Oct. 8 piece.
"In the interest of safeguarding their lives and their children's future, the colonists' flight from these settlements may prove to be a permanent exodus. They may have realized that living on land stolen from another people will never make them safe."
Columbia addressed the piece and Massad's course on Zionism in a December statement, which said Massad's rhetoric "created pain in our community and contributed to the deep controversy on our campus." It also downplayed Massad's course, calling it "one of three courses Columbia students can elect to take next semester on the subject of Zionism and the history of Israel, two of which are offered through Columbia's Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Professor Massad's class is limited to 60 students and is not a required course."
Friedman condemned that statement in his resignation letter, calling it "inadequate and disingenuous."
"His comments were not mere slip-ups that, as you said, 'created pain for many in our community and contributed to the deep controversy on our campus,'" Friedman wrote. "Rather, they represent his consistent worldview, one he continues to promote through interviews, podcasts, and articles."
In addition to his course on Zionism, Massad served from 2023 to 2024 as chairman of the Columbia Arts and Sciences Academic Review Committee, which conducts reviews of the school's departments and guides "administrative decisions." Though former Columbia president Minouche Shafik told Congress last year that Massad was "under investigation" and removed from the role, Massad contradicted her claims in an interview with the Electronic Intifada, saying, "No one has contacted me at all from the university with regards to my current chairmanship."