Lien-Hang T. Nguyen is the Dorothy Borg Associate Professor of the History of the United States and East Asia at Columbia University, a prominent scholar of the Vietnam War, and general editor of the multivolume Cambridge History of the Vietnam War. Born in Saigon in 1974 and raised as a refugee in the United States, she brings a personal narrative of displacement to her work. Yet during Columbia’s recent crisis, her actions demonstrated a willingness to ignore bigotry when it appeared within her own political circles and to actively support a protest movement linked to intimidation and exclusion.
In April 2024, Nguyen participated in the pro-Hamas encampment, joining the faculty walkout rally that framed suspended and arrested activists as victims of political persecution. She appeared robed in academic regalia, symbolically lending institutional authority to a movement that created a hostile environment for Jewish students and triggered federal scrutiny of Columbia’s Title VI compliance.
Her activism follows a consistent ideological pattern. In November 2023, she signed the Columbia and Barnard faculty letter calling for “robust debate” about Israel and Gaza, a statement widely used by faculty activists to oppose administrative intervention while avoiding acknowledgment of the growing antisemitism on campus.
More troubling is her role in the 2019 Columbia World Leaders Forum. Nguyen served as moderator during an event where Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad openly repeated classic antisemitic tropes, questioned Holocaust death figures, declared himself “glad to be labeled antisemitic,” and asked why he could not “say something against the Jews.” Despite this, Nguyen did not challenge a single comment. Her silence was widely criticized as enabling hate speech in an academic setting and underscored how political convenience can override moral responsibility among faculty activists.
Nguyen’s record shows a throughline. She publicly supports protest movements aligned with her politics, even when they contribute to campus hostility, and she declines to confront antisemitism when doing so would create ideological friction. For students who rely on faculty to uphold academic integrity and moral clarity, this pattern sends the wrong message.
Record of Advocacy and Ideological Bias
Academic and Organizational Roles
Dorothy Borg Associate Professor of the History of the United States and East Asia
General editor of the Cambridge History of the Vietnam War
Co editor of Cambridge Studies in United States Foreign Relations
Faculty member with influence across Columbia’s history and international affairs programs
Public Statements and Activism
April 2024 participation in the pro-Hamas encampment and faculty walkout supporting suspended and arrested activists
November 2023 signing of the Columbia and Barnard faculty letter defending protest related discourse
2019 moderation of a Columbia World Leaders Forum where antisemitic remarks were made without challenge
Ongoing alignment with faculty narratives portraying administrative accountability as suppression of debate
Collaborations and Affiliations
Visible participant in faculty coalitions supporting the encampment
Member of the cohort of Columbia historians signing pro Palestine faculty statements
Public intellectual networks tied to activism within Columbia’s humanities and social sciences
Moderator and host for high profile global political figures including individuals with documented histories of antisemitic statements
Impact on Campus Climate and Accountability Concerns
Nguyen’s involvement reinforced a broader trend among Columbia faculty: the normalization of political activism at the expense of student safety and community trust. By participating in the encampment and remaining silent in the face of blatant antisemitism in a major public forum, she signaled that some forms of bigotry are tolerable if expressed by the “right” speakers or aligned with fashionable political narratives.
This selective silence and strategic activism created an environment in which Jewish students felt increasingly marginalized and unprotected. Faculty leadership carries weight, and Nguyen’s choices helped legitimize a campus culture that excuses hostility and fails to maintain consistent standards of inclusion.
