State: New York
City: New York City
Campus: Columbia University (Columbia)
Premilla Nadasen is a Barnard College history professor and Columbia-affiliated academic whose public record includes justifying Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, promoting anti-Israel activism, dismissing documented antisemitism, and openly supporting the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia University in 2024.
As of February 2024, Nadasen was listed as a professor of history at Barnard College, a constituent college of Columbia University. Her LinkedIn profile stated that she has served as co-director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women since July 2022. She was also listed as a member of the scholarly advisory committee of the Center for Women’s History at the New-York Historical Society.
Nadasen received a PhD in American history from Columbia University in 1998.
In December 2023, Premilla Nadasen was reported to be stepping down from her role as co-director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women amid allegations of multiple Title VI civil rights violations.
The allegations centered on activities conducted under Nadasen’s leadership at the Center and included concerns related to extremist advocacy and discrimination against Jewish students.
One reported incident involved the Center hosting a “Resistance 101” event that featured representatives from Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, an organization with documented ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The event drew scrutiny for promoting rhetoric commonly associated with violent “resistance” movements rather than academic discourse.
Additional criticism followed reports that, during the April 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University, Jewish students were denied entry to areas controlled by encampment organizers. Nadasen publicly supported the encampment while these exclusionary practices were reported.
Nadasen was also criticized for signing faculty statements that described the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks as a “military response,” a framing that minimized or justified acts of mass murder, rape, and kidnapping carried out against civilians. She was further photographed participating in faculty-led protests endorsing pro-Hamas rhetoric and actions on campus.
Taken together, these incidents contributed to concerns that Nadasen’s leadership and activism fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students and amplified extremist narratives within academic spaces, prompting public criticism and institutional scrutiny.
The letter described Hamas’s actions as a “military response” carried out by “an occupied people exercising a right to resist,” reframing mass murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping as legitimate political violence. The letter further claimed the attacks were “one salvo in an ongoing war” rather than an act of terrorism.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including civilians, children, and foreign nationals, and kidnapped hundreds more. These acts constitute war crimes under international law.
The letter Nadasen signed also defended Columbia students who contextualized the October 7 attacks as justified resistance within Israel’s existence.
The same statement referred to Israel’s war against Hamas as “illegal,” “genocidal,” and “ruthless,” ignoring Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure, tunnel networks, and human shields. Israel’s blockade of Gaza, implemented jointly with Egypt in 2011, was approved under international frameworks to prevent Hamas from acquiring advanced weaponry.
In December 2023, Nadasen signed a statement defending anti-Israel activists at Syracuse University who displayed signage reading “globalize the intifada” and distributed flyers using the same phrase. The statement dismissed concerns that the term could reasonably be interpreted as a call for violence against Jews.
Historically, Palestinian intifadas have involved suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, and mass civilian casualties. The second intifada alone resulted in over 120 suicide bombings targeting buses, cafés, and public spaces. In 2015, a wave of stabbings known as the “Knife Intifada” targeted Israeli civilians following incitement by political and religious leaders.
On April 26, 2024, Nadasen posted on X, “These are my students. So proud of them,” while sharing footage of the Columbia “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
She also participated in an anti-Israel ceremony titled “The People’s Graduation” on May 16, 2024, organized by faculty in response to disciplinary actions taken against students involved in the encampment.
The encampment, established on April 17, 2024, was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, Columbia’s banned SJP chapter, and Jewish Voice for Peace. Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.
The encampment escalated into criminal activity, including the illegal occupation of Hamilton Hall, property destruction, and the detention of university custodial staff. More than 100 individuals were arrested during multiple NYPD operations to dismantle the encampment.
