Dr. John R. Pamplin II, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, researches the social consequences of structural racism and inequity. But in April–May 2024, his activism moved far outside his academic lane and directly into Columbia’s most volatile political crisis.
Pamplin actively participated in the pro-Hamas encampment, joining faculty walkouts, standing with the “Liberated Zone,” and appearing in photos alongside colleagues who gave faculty legitimacy to a protest site widely documented as hostile to Jewish and Israeli students. His rally sign, “Hands Off Our Students”, became a shorthand for the faculty faction that insisted student protesters were victims rather than participants in disruptive and intimidation-linked actions.
In May 2024, he joined Columbia’s AAUP chapter in condemning President Minouche Shafik for bringing in the NYPD, framing the intervention not as a response to rising safety threats but as an attack on “shared governance.” Pamplin positioned himself as a defender of student activism, ignoring the Title VI complaints, escalating harassment reports, and explicit antisemitic rhetoric that accompanied the encampment.
His activism echoed the broader faculty pattern: reframing a campus crisis as a governance dispute, downplaying the experiences of targeted students, and insisting that administrative intervention, not the encampment itself, was the real harm.
For a public health scholar, Pamplin offered no public acknowledgment of the psychological distress experienced by Jewish students, many of whom reported feeling unsafe walking across their own campus. Instead, his engagement centered exclusively on defending the protest movement and criticizing the administration for attempting to restore order.
As with many faculty activists, his social media presence is now locked or private, but his participation remains visible across petitions, walkout statements, encampment photos, and AAUP actions.
Record of Advocacy and Ideological Bias
Academic Roles
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Research focus on structural racism, inequity, and mental health
Pro-Palestinian Activism
Apr 2024: Participated in the pro-Hamas encampment
Apr 2024: Joined the faculty walkout supporting the “Liberated Zone”
Apr 2024: Signed petition opposing disciplinary measures for student activists
May 2024: Participated in AAUP push against President Shafik over police intervention
Digital presence largely locked, but activity documented through photos and faculty letters.
Impact on Campus Climate and Accountability Concerns
Pamplin played a role in a critical shift on campus: faculty using their authority to shield a movement that produced widespread reports of antisemitism and intimidation.
His participation signaled to students that faculty power was behind the encampment, even as Jewish students described feeling threatened, unwelcome, and unsupported by Columbia’s leadership. The message was unmistakable, certain faculty would defend activist solidarity over student safety.
This is how hostile climates form: not just through student actions, but through faculty endorsement. Pamplin’s alignment with the encampment contributed to Columbia’s growing crisis of trust, safety, and credibility, and raised serious questions about how far public health scholars should go in legitimizing movements that endanger members of their own campus community.
