By Janelle Kono

An Asian American student senator at Columbia University is being bombarded with racists texts after speaking out on the Israeli-Gaza conflict.

In total, Helen Han Wei Luo received around 1,400 messages, comments, and email full of racist slurs in response to her comments shared on social media. Posts and comments about her included phrases such as “Ching Chong Ming Mong,” “Slat eye yellow b*tch,” and “ch*nk.” Commenters also described Luo as a “CCP” puppet and “sub-human.”

During the November Senate plenary session, Luo, Senate representative of Graduate Humanities, spoke up with concern regarding how protesters had been labeled terrorists. She worried that the University had spoken against antisemitism but neglected to protect the constitutional rights of freedom of speech of protestors.

During the meeting, part the plenary session was recorded and released on social media, which violated a University Policy of requiring consent to be filmed. A clip of Luo’s statement was recorded by fellow Columbia student, Elisha Baker.

Baker then created a post, featured on X which had the caption, “Today in her official capacity as a Columbia Senator, grad student Helen Han Wei Luo argued against even discussing antisemitism on campus! This is so unbelievably offensive.” The clip of Luo voicing her concerns about the University only focusing on antisemitism and neglecting the concerns of protestors and other students was released. It received over 161k views since it was posted on November 22nd. It was also reshared 205 times and received 186 comments.

This launched what can only be labeled as a racist doxing against Luo.

“No one should ever have to face this, especially students who are vulnerable… and not protected by the administration” – Helen WeiHan Luo

Subsequently, two more significant posts were created and shared on Instagram. One noted Luo’s birth town of Wuhan and reshared one of her posts speaking out about her experience as Wuhanese during the pandemic. It then concludes with the question “How would you have felt, Helen, if someone said back then that Sinophobia should not be acknowledged.” This post was created and shared by @documentingjewhatredoncampus @jewsinschool and @safe.campus.

The last major post was an Instagram post by @jewhatedb and released with a photo of Luo in her early 20s in a swimsuit, and then proceeded to “expose” Luo’s views.

AsAmNews spoke to Luo about this experience. She explained the effect of all the racist comments and messages saying that she got very ill and couldn’t sleep or eat for a while. “I’m a little bit older than an undergrad, so I am better equipped to deal with this in some sense, but it really is not something a human should have to handle.” She noted that she did read through most of the comments, messages, and emails and noted “No human being is made to withstand that.”

Luo noted that the individuals who created the posts have had a pattern of targeting young women of color and estimates that over 15 other young women have been similarly targeted. While posts have been created about tenured White individuals, these posts do not receive as much traction. She noted that the group “does not have a great appetite for civil discourse. They go to harassment and doxing instead of engaging in good faith within the institutionally recognized forum. I think this is incredibly worrying as a trend.”

In response to the racist outpouring Luo has received, a petition signed by more than 500 people is calling for Columbia to issue a public statement, for the removal of a professor who had reshared the post in which Luo is shown in a swimsuit, and for a disciplinary hearing to be held for Elisha Baker for violating the Senate bylaws for recording and releasing the video of the plenary meeting “with the intent to harass and intimidate.” The signers included 14 organizations.

Luo notes that while individuals from the administration have reached out to offer support, no institutional action has been taken to address perpetrators of incident. “I am very concerned that no institutional action will ever happen because this has been going on repeatedly.”

During the following plenary on December 13th, the Senate discussed the issue of harassment via social media and how it stifles open dialogue due to fear of retaliation. In this meeting, Luo spoke on her experience and asked, “Would anyone like to know what I and other female and minority students at Columbia have been called in the last week alone?”

Ovita Williams, Executive Director of the CSSW Action Lab for Social Justice at Columbia School of Social Work, read a statement on behalf of anonymous faculty members who stated their concern of the “breach of senate norms.” She noted “Faculty, too, are increasingly wary of retaliation, creating a chilling effect that stifles open academic discourse and political engagement…The role of social media in amplifying this harassment has created a hostile environment.”

In response to the repeated occurrence of the recording and distribution of Senate meetings, the meetings will be moved to in-person instead of zoom at the request of Katrina Armstrong, Interim President at Columbia.

Jeanine D’Armiento, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Columbia Senate, wrote in a statement to the University’s news publication, The Columbia Spectator, “Working with the administration we in the University Senate will look to develop policies and a community code of conduct to prevent this type of behavior and protect the ability to have open discussions and debate.”

Baker, the student who filmed the meeting, released a statement to The Columbia Spectator saying, “While I find the comments she [Luo] made at the November 22nd plenary extremely problematic, I would never do a member of this community and I unequivocally condemn racist and anti-Asian attacks on Senator Han Wei Luo.”

AsAmNews reached out to Columbia University regarding the petition about Luo’s treatment and Millie Wert, Assistant Director of Media Relations responded on behalf of the University saying, “We are committed to supporting all members of our community as they study, teach, and work on our campus. Our objective is to build and sustain a community where everyone can thrive and feel that they belong. Harassment, including online targeting, and discrimination are not acceptable at Columbia. Reports of harassment and discrimination will be investigated through our offices and processes.”

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