John Ma

State: New York
City: New York City
Campus: Columbia University (Columbia)

John Ma is a Professor of Classics at Columbia University, specializing in the ancient Greek world and the broader eastern Mediterranean. While his scholarship is rooted in antiquity, and includes a period as a visiting scholar at Hebrew University, Ma has become an outspoken figure in Columbia’s contemporary political battles.

In April 2024, Ma participated in the pro-Hamas encampment, which became the epicenter of antisemitic hostility on campus. He posted repeatedly from the encampment, praising student activists, criticizing NYPD attempts to restore order, and signaling full faculty approval for a movement whose rhetoric and confrontational tactics made Jewish and Israeli students feel targeted. His involvement was so direct that he was named in a federal Title VI lawsuit alleging Columbia allowed a hostile environment of antisemitism to flourish.

This was not an isolated incident. Ma consistently positions himself against institutional oversight and accountability, signing multiple letters in 2024 defending the encampment, attacking congressional scrutiny, and framing administrative attempts to address antisemitism as political overreach. By 2025, he broadened his activism further, participating in anti-Trump protests like “No Kings Day” and signing faculty warnings that portrayed Trump’s policies as threats to academic freedom.

Whatever the issue, Ma’s pattern is consistent: when protests escalate and campus safety deteriorates, he sides with the activists, even when their rhetoric crosses lines that violate the rights and safety of other students.

Record of Advocacy & Ideological Bias

Academic and Organizational Roles

Ma uses his faculty prestige to validate and normalize protest movements, presenting them as intellectual or moral crusades while dismissing the very real safety concerns raised by Jewish students and faculty.

Public Statements and Activism

Apr 2024: Participated in and supported the pro-Hamas encampment, posting photos, commentary, and criticism of NYPD intervention.
Apr 2024: Signed “Defending Columbia University from the Congressional Assault on Higher Education.”
Apr 2024: Signed a letter reaffirming “academic freedom” amid mounting antisemitism reports.
Mar 2025: Signed a faculty letter warning that Trump’s policies threaten university autonomy.
Jun 2025: Participated in anti-Trump “No Kings Day” protests at Columbia.
Jun 2025: Shared sympathetic content regarding an Australian deported after pro-Palestinian protest activity.
2024–2025: Frequently posted content defending encampment protesters and attacking NYPD actions.

Collaborations and Affiliations

Ma aligns closely with Columbia’s activist faculty factions, those who defend encampment behavior, downplay antisemitism, and reframe violent or exclusionary rhetoric as “student expression.” His posts and public stances amplify and legitimize these networks.

Impact on Campus Climate & Accountability Concerns

Let’s be direct: John Ma played a real role in escalating Columbia’s crisis. When Jewish students described the encampment as threatening, when Title VI complaints detailed harassment and intimidation, Ma wasn’t a neutral observer; he was there supporting it, documenting it, and defending it in real time.

Faculty presence at a protest matters. It signals institutional approval, even when the environment becomes hostile or dangerous. Ma’s decision to boost encampment messaging, attack police intervention, and publicly side with activists gave the movement academic cover exactly when it was crossing into violations of student safety.

And this pattern did not end with the encampment. His advocacy consistently frames enforcement of safety rules as authoritarian, congressional oversight as censorship, and warnings about antisemitism as political manipulation. Meanwhile, the students most affected – Jewish and Israeli – are dismissed as collateral.

When a professor repeatedly legitimizes extremist rhetoric and downplays harassment, he becomes part of the machinery that allows antisemitic hostility to grow on campus.