2023-11-15 Sikh Club Discrimination

Metadata
When: 2023-11-15
Where: Columbia University
Who:
Organizations:
Tags:
Description
Additional evidence: folder
The president of SEWA and other board members have been forced to resign due to pressure from alumni to sign on to CUAD.
The president’s efforts to condemn Hamas and demand the return of hostages was shut down.
Since November 15th, alumni have been putting pressure on Sewa to support SJP/JVP and criticizing the current iteration of the organization. See folder.
On November 19th, a discussion was held regarding signing onto CUAD. See audio. That same day, a letter by multiple alumni was sent out expressing “solidarity and full support” of SJP and JVP.
On December 12th, the president of SEWA was invited to a video call and forced to resign.
“Via FaceTime yesterday, I was informed that people had raised concerns with current leadership after it was found that roughly 75% of the club voted in favor of signing onto CUAD after my numerous attempts to stop this from happening on the grounds of it being harmful for a religious group to take a clear side on such a polarizing issue... They said that this was a clear example of my leadership being detrimental to the group because when the form was anonymous, a clear majority was found, but during conversations, there was more of an even split, supposedly because people were “afraid to go against me…” It’s important to note that since signing onto CUAD, other board members have decided to step down - feeling that this was a perversion of Sikh values.”
Media
Interview: Simran claims she was ousted as President of Sikh club on campus for being pro-Israel, PODCAST: Eliana Goldin interviews Simran Singh, Spotify, January 29, 2024
Former Co-President of Columbia Barnard Sikh Group Says She Was Forced Out for Being Pro-Israel by Aaron Bandler, Jewish Journal, February 9, 2024
Footer
Please see the Footer page for important reference information regarding usage rights, inquiries, and other matters.