As Columbia University finds itself in a standoff with the federal government – just a year after NYPD officers stormed campus to break up pro-Palestinian protests– six mayoral candidates came to Columbia Journalism School on Monday to take questions from City Newsroom students.
Former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson was the only candidate who agreed with Mayor Eric Adams decision’s to send in the police last May, while others flatly rejected the move. “I was appalled,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said, stating that the mayor had not consulted with her before dispatching the NYPD. Independent Jim Walden, a former assistant U.S. attorney and the only non-Democrat participating in the forum, said that he would have only made that decision “if I saw that there were groups of protesters that were surrounding Jewish kids and trying to harass and intimidate them.” Walden supports a citywide ban on face masks during protests as part of his platform.
During the forum, news broke that Columbia student Mohsen Madahwi had been detained by ICE in Colchester, Vermont. The news was first reported by The Intercept. Like Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student detained by ICE on March 8, he is a green card holder. Madahwi, who was born in the occupied West Bank, was one of the organizers of the early pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia campus last year.
Asked about the Trump administration’s move to deport some student protesters, Tilson said he only supported removal of students whose free speech “crosses the line into illegal action” but not in the case of permanent residents.
Columbia has been in turmoil since the start of the war in Gaza. The Trump administration is threatening the university – and other higher education institutions– with withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding unless the schools meet certain demands. Research grants from the National Institutes of Health to Columbia have been frozen. All this has set off changes in the school’s management and policies regarding protests and freedom of speech.
Adams said it “would be my responsibility” to help Columbia through the loss of research funding. Her call to push back against the federal government –which is also withholding some federal aid to the city– was echoed by three other candidates.
Brooklyn State Senator Zellnor Myrie, appearing on Zoom, said he thinks “the Constitution is on our side” and that he is “prepared to leverage fiscal warfare should the administration not follow the courts.” The city, he said, needs “someone to stand up to a bully”
Former Assemblyman Michael Blake suggested the city withhold tax revenue from Washington in response to potential cuts to New York’s share of federal funds.
Queens State Senator Jessica Ramos, also joining remotely, offered a similar response, referencing the Recourse Act she’s sponsoring, a bill that would enable New York State to withhold taxes payments when the federal government fails to meet its financial obligations to the state.
The Council is already fighting back. On Friday, it passed a resolution condemning Trump’s revocation of federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Adams described the move as both symbolic and practical. “When we did the resol, we did it with the expectation that it would be looked at,” she explained. “If we say nothing” she added, “we lay down and give our city over to the Trump administration.”
On Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent activity in the city, Ramos and Myrie spoke about their experiences as children of undocumented immigrants. “My father was taken in an immigration raid when I was a baby,” Ramos, whose parents came from Colombia, explained, adding that she wished “more taxpayers understood” how the uncertainty of immigration policies for immigrant families “affects our bottom line, even in having to deploy more services for that family.” Myrie’s parents came to New York from Costa Rica before he was born.
When discussing city affordability, the most pressing issue of the mayoral race, Blake said that he would fund his proposals for a Guaranteed Income Program taking resources from, among other areas, the NYPD overtime expenses and the funding allocated to the Strategic Response Group. Tilson called for an economic growth approach to funding city services. Outlining the policies that would make this growth possible, he listed better policing of petty crimes that hurt small businesses.
Adams was asked about a bill she’s cosponsoring that would allow short-term rentals in certain cases, including through companies like Airbnb. “I have seen some homeowners be harmed by a lack of allowing their homes to be used for profit, to help them with their mortgages and help them to pay their bills,” she said.
On housing, Myrie defended the viability of his plan to build one million housing units in a decade, while Ramos proposed creating new affordable housing programs similar to Mitchell-Lama, created in 1955. She said this would lead to “modest homeownership opportunities” for working families.
City Newsroom invited five other candidates to the Pulitzer Hall forum. On Sunday, former Governor Andrew Cuomo –who’s leading the polls for the June 24 Democratic Primary – vowed to “check his schedule,” but his campaign didn’t reach back with a final answer. City Comptroller Brad Lander and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani declined to attend after initially accepting the invitation. Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer cited a traveling conflict, while Republican Curtis Sliwa couldn’t participate due to a prior commitment.
Cate Zanardi is a local politics reporter for City Newsroom. Previously, they covered environmental risk, housing, and activism for radio and print. They hail from Bologna, Italy.
Lauren hails from Long Island, NY and got her first taste of journalism as a food writer at Washington University in St. Louis. She previously worked as a teacher and now covers education for City Newsroom.
