As a mother, I never thought I would fear sending my children to college. I once dreamed that they would study at Columbia University. Today, Columbia, like too many of America’s top campuses, has become a breeding ground for radicalization, and that dream turned into a nightmare.
And as a lifelong New Yorker, I never thought I would see the day when the potential leadership of my city would defend terrorism, the very threat we, as Americans, are supposed to oppose. Yet here we are.
Over the past year, we’ve seen mobs on Columbia’s campus chanting “Glory to the martyrs” and “From the river to the sea,” library takeovers, and violent demonstrations. This was open terror support, and Columbia’s faculty stood with it, defending chants glorifying October 7 and justifying terrorism as “resistance.”
This is not just a campus crisis. What began in the lecture halls is now spilling directly into our streets and our politics.
The clearest warning? Zohran Mamdani, a radical shaped by campus activism, is now the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City.
Mamdani is not just another progressive politician. As a student at Bowdoin College, he co-founded the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter that publicly defended Rasmea Odeh, a convicted terrorist responsible for a Jerusalem bombing that killed two young students. His group hosted speakers who blamed the US for 9/11 and promoted terrorism as legitimate “resistance.”
Where did Mamdani learn that? From his father, unsurprisingly, a professor at Columbia University.
At 79 years old, Mahmood Mamdani remains a powerful voice in Columbia’s academic world. The Gaza Tribunal, to which he serves as an adviser, claims its mission is to “awaken civil society” against Israel’s so-called genocide.
Mamdani's father tried to destigmatize suicide bombing
Moreover, the senior Mamdani openly glorified and supported suicide bombers, writing in his book, “Suicide bombing needs to be understood as a feature of modern political violence rather than stigmatized as a mark of barbarism.”
Let’s put it together: The leading mayoral candidate of New York City promotes radical views. His father, teaching at a university now infamous for its antisemitism and campus hate, openly supports terrorism and praises suicide bombers.
From a radical campus activist to a political frontrunner, Mamdani’s rise is not a coincidence. It’s the inevitable result of years of unchecked campus extremism spilling into real-world power.
Columbia isn’t alone. In 2024, violent pro-Hamas protests erupted at UCLA, UPenn, NYU, and other top universities. These were not peaceful demonstrations. Protesters chanted in support of terror groups, physically intimidated students and staff, and created fear and chaos. Many were arrested.
Where does this radicalization begin? In classrooms. Even the US Department of Homeland Security now classifies college radicalization as a domestic terrorism threat. Its 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment warns that ideologies tied to foreign terrorist organizations are taking root in American universities.
Today, both Mamdanis hold positions of influence: one in academia, shaping young minds in Columbia’s classrooms, the other in politics, shaping New York’s future. Let’s be honest, no father keeps ideology out of fatherhood. Together, they are a representation of the dangerous process of radicalization in America.
As a parent, I’m forced to ask: When did America’s most prestigious universities become recruitment grounds for extremism? Why are we allowing campus radicalism to shape the future of our cities? When chants glorifying Hamas echo through Manhattan’s streets, and when political candidates refuse to condemn terrorism, we know the line has already been crossed.
So, what must be done?
First, universities must be held accountable. Institutions must continue to be investigated for whether they’re allowing terror-linked ideologies to spread under the guise of academic freedom. Universities that ignore radicalization should face consequences, including funding cuts.
Second, voters must look beyond slogans and carefully examine candidates’ pasts. When someone like Mamdani refuses to condemn his defense of terrorists, that’s not “youthful activism”; it’s a red flag.
Third, parents must stop viewing Ivy League degrees as automatic guarantees of opportunity. When education is replaced by indoctrination, prestige means nothing. I once dreamed my children would study at Columbia. Today, I fear they would return radicalized. And when I look out my window at the city I love, I fear that what started on campus is now taking hold in City Hall.
The threat is no longer theoretical. It’s here. In our universities. On our streets. And, if we’re not careful, in the office of New York’s next mayor. The safety of our streets and the future of our children depend on whether we’re willing to confront this danger before it’s too late.
The writer is a stay-at-home mom, an artist, and a lifelong New Yorker who is heartbroken by what’s happening to her city and worried for her children’s future.