Columbia’s partnership with Slow Factory comes as the school grapples with pervasive anti-Semitism within its faculty ranks and student body.
By Jessica Costescu, The Washington Free Beacon
On Oct. 7, immediately after Hamas terrorists slaughtered scores of Israelis, left-wing nonprofit Slow Factory announced its unequivocal support for the attack.
“As all eyes around the world focus on Palestine, keep in mind that these walls were built to separate along ethnic lines, the very definition of apartheid,” the group wrote alongside an image of a bulldozer destroying a fence that separates Gaza from Israel.
That bulldozer, Slow Factory wrote, was “breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation” to achieve “systemic change for collective liberation.”
Prior to Oct. 7, the left-wing organization, which touts its “antiracist” approach and work to achieve “climate justice,” focused on climate education initiatives.
In the wake of Hamas’s attack, however, Slow Factory pivoted to “Palestinian liberation.”
It launched a billboard media campaign in major U.S. cities, funded several fellowships on “Palestine,” and churned out anti-Semitic social media content. Included on its website is a page dedicated to defending Hamas.
“The use of ‘But Hamas’ and its political and military goals to justify the oppression of Palestinian people as a whole, and the Israeli military occupation ignores the context of the 75-year occupation of Palestine,” the page says.
“Hamas is a relatively recent response to the systemic violence the Palestinian people have experienced for three quarters of a century.”
The organization’s embrace of Hamas has alienated some of its past corporate partners. Swarovski—which partnered with Slow Factory in 2019 and 2020 on a fashion-related program—told the Washington Free Beacon that it no longer works with the nonprofit, citing a difference in “values.”
But one notable organization has not distanced itself from Slow Factory: Columbia University.
The Ivy League institution partnered with Slow Factory’s education initiative, Study Hall, on a conference series that took place in 2020 “to highlight geologists, chemists, researchers, and innovators to share their scientific methodology with fashion’s leading experts.”
When the Free Beacon reached out to both Slow Factory and Columbia about that partnership, Slow Factory quietly scrubbed the webpage that listed its various corporate and academic partners.
Still, Columbia is featured prominently on the nonprofit’s “About Us” page, which touts a smaller number of collaborators. Slow Factory also touts its work with two Columbia instructors, Marco Tedesco and Laurel Zaima, both of whom participated in the 2020 conference series.
The university’s apparent unwillingness to distance itself from Slow Factory reflects the school’s struggle to deal with pervasive anti-Semitism on campus, an issue implicating both Columbia’s student body and its faculty.
On Monday, for example, Columbia announced it would not fire four deans who exchanged disparaging text messages and dismissed concerns of anti-Semitism on campus amid an alumni panel on the issue.
Earlier this year, an unauthorized encampment on Columbia’s lawn prompted anti-Semitic chants, threats of violence toward Jews, and, ultimately, the illegal occupation of a campus building.
Slow Factory is a left-wing nonprofit organization dedicated to “collective liberation.” Since Oct. 7, it has pushed hard for “Palestinian resistance,” routinely posting anti-Semitic messages on social media accusing the Jewish state of “genocide” and “apartheid” and denying claims that Hamas raped Israeli women.
It has also argued that Jewish people do not have a right “to feel safe on stolen Land.”
The morning of Oct. 7, Slow Factory spared no time defending the attack. The group immediately blamed Israel, glorified the attack as an act of “resistance,” and accused the Jewish state of “apartheid.” It also condemned those who “oppose Palestinian resistance.”
“To oppose Palestinian resistance is to say that Palestinians should accept apartheid. To oppose Palestinian resistance is to say Palestinians should accept life in an open air prison. To oppose Palestinian resistance is to say that Palestinians should accept death,” the group said.
On Oct. 10, while Israel was still counting its dead, Slow Factory once again blamed Israeli “apartheid” for the attack and resulting violence.
“The root cause of the violence is apartheid,” it wrote. “It’s time to end the attack on the people of Gaza who cannot escape the falling bombs. It’s time for a ceasefire. It’s time to end the occupation. End the apartheid.”
Columbia’s partnership with Slow Factory comes as the school grapples with pervasive anti-Semitism within its faculty ranks and student body. A university spokeswoman downplayed the partnership.
“Columbia licenses our intellectual property to hundreds of companies in an attempt to bring these life saving or life improving innovations from the lab to the market,” the spokeswoman said. “To that end, Slow Factory Labs was one company that licensed Columbia’s intellectual property in 2022. We have no relationship with SFL beyond that one license agreement.”
Slow Factory, which did not respond to a request for comment, kept the anti-Semitic rhetoric rolling through the following months.
On Jan. 27, for example, the organization likened the situation in Gaza to the Holocaust. Two days later, it accused Zionists of claiming “the right to kill people and planet for the illusion that Jewish people to [sic] feel safe on stolen Land.”
In March, meanwhile, Slow Factory denied claims that Hamas raped Israeli women on Oct. 7, instead arguing that “Israel rapes Palestinians” as “a tool of terror.” Slow Factory on June 12 again denied claims of sexual violence by Hamas against Israeli women.
In April, Slow Factory called the word “terrorist” a “racial slur” and accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon. The organization also shared a letter from alumni at Columbia University’s Climate School in solidarity with the “brave students of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
Slow Factory is no stranger to posting anti-Semitic content online. Since 2021, the group has come under fire for posting materials that promote the Jewish state’s eradication.
Some of the organizations listed on Slow Factory’s now-scrubbed partner page distanced themselves from the nonprofit. The U.N. Office for Partnerships told the Free Beacon that it no longer works with Slow Factory, as did H&M.
Other past partners—including Adidas, Audi, Tesla, NASA, MIT’s Media Lab, and YouTube—did not respond to requests for comment.
Update, 11:20 a.m.: This piece was updated to include comment from Columbia University, which was provided after publication.
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