Tensions flared at Columbia University as faculty and students with progressive views rallied to disrupt an ICE recruitment event announced by the university.
The controversy erupted following the posting of an advertisement on Columbia’s School of Professional Studies website. The ad promoted a virtual career expo for U.S. Customs and Border Protection scheduled for February 18.
The event’s description invited participants to “Help defend the homeland,” as it sought to fill numerous “mission critical positions.” Several agencies from the Department of Homeland Security were slated to attend the event.
Attendees were promised insights into the agency’s mission and how they could contribute positively to their community and nation.
The announcement sparked an immediate and intense backlash.
“This is unacceptable,” declared journalism professor Helen Benedict on social media. “Columbia is aiding ICE recruitment. Alumni should voice their disapproval and suspend donations.”
“The depravity is bottomless,” fumed journalism professor Nina Berman.
Students and faculty quickly flooded the school with demands to pull the event.
“This event undermines campus trust, makes parts of our community feel targeted or unsafe, and further damages Columbia’s public standing by reinforcing the view that we are complicit in the turn towards authoritarianism,” wrote a faculty coalition. “Silence will be read as consent.”
Ever since its Morningside Heights campus became the epicenter of nationwide pro-Palestinian protests in 2024, Columbia has found itself pulled between the demands of its largely left-leaning school community and mounting pressure from federal officials over antisemitism concerns.
The university faced federal civil-rights investigations and a threat from the Trump administration to yank $400 million in federal funding, prompting negotiations. It ended up settling for $200 million, and disciplined close to 80 students.
“Our university is not just complicit, it is actively facilitating the recruitment of people like Border Patrol Agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection Officer Raymundo Guttierez, the two killers of Alex Pretti,” blasted the university’s Young Democratic Socialist of America chapter.
Columbia quickly caved, pulling the promotional page by the end of the day Feb. 11. The event, however, will go on.
As universities across the country begin hosting their spring career fairs, many have faced pressure from students over government agencies such as DHS being invited.
Earlier this week, the University of Maine removed CBP as an attending employer to its annual career fair after threats from students of boycotting the event, the school paper reported.
And in Missouri, the feds pulled out of the University of Saint Louis’ upcoming job fair after school administrators told them they expected disruptions from students.
“As a result of that conversation, CBP withdrew and requested a refund,” a university spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed.
Columbia said the CBP recruitment event ended up on the school’s website through a third-party platform it uses to manage its job board — and that in response to the backlash it decided it would only promote its own events on the school’s website going forward.
“The University do not control or select the employers available on the . . . network,” a university spokesperson said. “Job opportunities or career expo events made available on the platform should not be construed as a sponsorship or endorsement by . . . the university.”
