Metadata

• When: 2024-06-03

• Where: Columbia University

• Who: Katherine Franke

• Organizations:

• Tags: #Faculty

Description

The Columbia Law Review (CLR) decided to publish an article, Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept by Rabea Eghbariah, in violation of CLR’s normal standards of publishing. CLR’s Board of Directors, composed of Columbia Law School faculty, took down CLR’s website prior to publication and issued a statement stating that a “secretive process” was used to edit the article, with several members denied the opportunity to review it. Despite the attempt to delay publication and resolve the issue, the article was published, with the Board of Directors later adding a disclaimer on the article. On June 7th, CLR’s student editors voted to go on strike, demanding the removal of the disclaimer and complete editorial independence from the Board of Directors. The disclaimer was subsequently removed.

Notably, the article had previously been rejected by the Harvard Law Review. The content of the article itself seems legally shaky and blatantly antisemitic, repeatedly seeking to equate Nazism and Zionism, and declaring Israel so uniquely evil as to require new concepts of international law (see excerpts here). Despite this, Columbia professors such as Katherine Franke (post) and Joseph Howley (post) advertised it online.

Social Media

• https://x.com/columbiafsi/status/1798526028006187206

• https://x.com/efischberger/status/1798283323317309658

Media

• After publishing an article critical of Israel, Columbia Law Review's website is shut down by board by Jake Offenhartz, AP News, June 4, 2024

• Columbia Law Review student editors to strike after directors intervene with article on Nakba by Ayaan Ali, Columbia Daily Spectator, June 7, 2024

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