As students return to Columbia, the epicenter of a campus protest movement braces for disruption [Video]

As Columbia University resumes classes Tuesday, students and faculty are planning, and bracing, for a resumption of the pro-Palestinian protests that convulsed the Manhattan campus at the tail end of the spring semester and touched off a wave of college demonstrations nationwide.In recent weeks, the universitys new leadership has embarked on listening sessions aimed at cooling tensions, released a report on campus antisemitism and circulated new protest guidelines meant to limit disruption. But student organizers are undeterred, promising to ramp up their actions including possible encampments until the university agrees to cut ties with companies linked to Israel.As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist, said Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student who represented campus protesters in negotiations with the university. Not only protests and encampments, the limit is the sky.The start to the school year comes less than a month after the resignation of Columbias president, Minouche Shafik, who brought police onto campus twice last spring to clear out protest encampments. When a small group of students occupied a university building, hundreds of police officers surged onto campus, making arrests and plunging the university into lockdown.On Tuesday morning, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside one the school's entrances, some beating drums, while a long line of students and staff made their way through a security checkpoint. Other entrances had shorter lines, while some were shuttered with bike locks.Since Shafiks resignation, the interim president, Katrina Armstrong, has met with students on both sides of the issue, promising to balance students rights to free expression and a safe learning environment. While the message has inspired cautious optimism among some faculty, others see the prospect of major disruptions as all but inevitable.We are hoping for the best, but we are all wagering how long before we go into total lockdown again, said Rebecca Korbin, a history professor who served on Columbias antisemitism task force. There havent been any monumental changes, so I dont know why the experience in the fall would look much different than what it did in the spring.In a report released Friday, the task force, made up of Columbia faculty, accused the university of allowing pervasive antisemitism to fester on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The report recommended that the university revamp its disciplinary process and require additional sensitivity training for students and staff.Demonstrations against the war have already started bubbling up on college campuses this semester, including one at the University of Michigan resulting in multiple arrests. While the handful of recent protests near Columbia have been minor, signs of last springs tumult are apparent.The universitys tall iron gates, long open to the public, are now guarded, requiring students to present identification to enter campus. Inside, private security guards stand on the edge of the grassy lawns that students had seized for their encampment. A new plaque on a nearby fence notes that camping is prohibited.Layla Hussein, a junior at Columbia who helped to lead orientation programming, described the added security measures as an unwelcome and hostile distraction.Were trying to cultivate a welcoming environment. It doesnt help when you look outside and its a bunch of security guards and barricades, Hussein said.Others have accused the university of treating the student protesters too leniently, arguing that a lack of clear guidelines would result in further turmoil this semester. Though some of those disciplinary cases remain ongoing, prosecutors have dropped charges against many of the students arrested last semester and the university has allowed them to return to campus.They violated every rule in the book and they openly state theyll continue to do so, said Elisha Baker, a junior at Columbia who leads an Israeli engagement group, adding: We need to have a serious reckoning with the disciplinary process to make sure students have a safe learning environment.After Jewish students sued Columbia, accusing them of creating a dangerous environment on campus, the university agreed in June provide a safe passage liaison to those concerned with protest activity. In July, Columbia removed three administrators who exchanged private text messages disparaging certain speakers during a discussion about Jewish life in a manner Shafik said touched on ancient antisemitic tropes. One of the administrators had suggested in a text that a campus rabbi was going to turn concerns about antisemitism into a fundraising opportunity.A spokesperson for Columbia said the university had since bolstered its guidelines around protests and developed new training for incoming students on antisemitism and Islamophobia.The revised protest regulations require organizers to inform the university of any scheduled protests, barring demonstrations that substantially inhibit the primary purposes of a given university space.The University may restrict expression that constitutes a genuine threat of harassment, that unjustifiably invades an individuals privacy, or that defames a specific individual, the guidelines note.Like many universities, Columbia is also in the midst of a contentious debate about the definition of antisemitism, and whether anti-Zionist speech common at the student protests should be seen as a form of discrimination.At New York University, which also saw large-scale protests and an encampment last spring, an updated code of conduct now warns students that speech critical of Zionism could run afoul of its anti-discrimination policy. The move has drawn praise from major Jewish groups, as well as backlash from student groups and some faculty.The Columbia task force report defines antisemitism as prejudice, discrimination, hate, or violence directed at Jews, including Jewish Israelis, double standards applied to Israel and exclusion or discrimination based on real or perceived ties to Israel.Eduardo Vergara, a graduate student at Columbia who teaches literature in the Spanish department, said many instructors were going into the semester uncertain about what they could and couldnt say in the classroom. He said he fully expected to spend much of the semester discussing the war in Gaza and the reaction on campus.It feels like everything is calm now, he added. I dont think thats going to last long.

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A man records himself eating fast food amid piles of cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches, chicken nuggets, hashbrowns and fries, and, of course, copious amounts of sauce all with heightened sound to hear his chewing, chewing and more chewing.It's too much food for anyone to eat at one meal on a regular basis, but the video has nearly 5.8 million views, so that seems to be the point for many mukbang videos.The word "mukbang" is derived from a mashup of the Korean words "meokda," which translates to eat, and "bangsong," which means broadcast. The videos usually feature a person recording themselves eating a lot of food on camera while talking to their virtual audience.Lately, the word has become even more popular by YouTube and TikTok content creators using the term more loosely with their casual "eat with me" and "have a meal with me" videos that have more average-sized meals. By mid-August, there were over 4 million videos on TikTok with the mukbang hashtag. It's video after video of foodie influencers, some with millions of followers on the platform, biting into various textured food on camera, the mic catching the sounds of their noisy slurps and crunches. Some of the food combinations are unexpected and even unappetizing but many people say they can't look away.As mukbangs grow in popularity, dietitians are expressing concern about the potential impact of this trend on its audience.Why are mukbangs popular?The word "mukbang" began to see a rise in YouTube searches in the beginning of 2015, according to Google Trends, and it hasn't stopped climbing since. But for off-platform web searches, the word peaked at the start of the global coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.That could be due to viewers watching for some social connection, as if they were sitting across the table from the mukbang creator, said Grace Derocha, a registered dietitian in Michigan.Kieanna, a mukbang creator who has been posting videos since October and already has over one million followers, says her most viewed videos often feature her eating foods that create ASMR-like sounds. (She didn't want to include her last name since she does not use her full name on her mukbang social media accounts.)Kieanna was introduced to the world of mukbangs about eight years ago as a viewer. She now records about three to five videos a week, often recording herself in her car trying a wide display of different menu items from popular restaurant chains or in her home eating meals that she has cooked. Sometimes, she gets experimental with unusual foods, such as candy-coated pizza or candy-coated hot dogs, to provide a crisp crunch for the mic and a shocked reaction from her audience, she said."A lot of people just use it for entertainment," she said. "Sometimes, they just say that the food looks good."Dietitians' concerns about mukbangsA January 2020 study that analyzed over 5,000 mukbang videos on YouTube found that those that were the unhealthiest showing someone overeating in a shorter amount of time or eating exceedingly spicy or irritating foods that could cause discomfort or harm were watched significantly more than the less extreme videos."My initial reaction was like, 'Wow, that's a lot of food to eat in one sitting,'" said Derocha, who is also a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The foods are often "not exactly the most nutrient dense or healthy."Derocha says she's concerned that the more extreme videos could encourage some viewers to overeat, avoid certain foods or fail to eat the various nutrients their bodies need.A person with a restrictive eating disorder could use the videos to fulfill the sense of eating without eating any food, said Suzanne Fisher, a registered dietitian based in Florida who works with patients trying to improve their relationship with food."I think a lot of it is almost voyeuristic in a way, almost romanticizing what it would be like to consume such a large amount of food," Fisher said.The viewers also don't know what happens off camera, Fisher said. Some videos could be edited in a way that viewers think the food is being consumed, but the mukbang creator is actually spitting it out between takes, she added.Kieanna said she tries to be transparent with her audience, letting people know in the comment section that she often does not eat all the food shown and exercises off camera."There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes of it," she said. "I feel like people probably should just use it for entertainment, and shouldn't really take it too seriously because at the end of the day, it's just social media. Social media isn't necessarily real, so you can't really believe everything you see."Not all mukbangs are the sameSome mukbangs could have a positive influence, such as a video that inspires others to try a nutritious recipe, Derocha said. "It could be a source of inspiration for someone to step outside of their box and try something new."Rosemarie Dehesa is a content creator with over half a million followers on TikTok and has posted videos of her cooking, eating and working out since 2022. Dehesa enjoys creating and posting the mukbangs to connect with other people across the world who share a passion for food, she said."Food brings people together," Dehesa said. "As long as the content is positive and fun, I think there is no problem.""People ask me, 'How do I stay so fit?' I'm always just staying active," said Dehesa, who says she practices intermittent fasting, meets a daily step goal, and exercises for nearly three hours every day. "I post it to be transparent, and it's a part of my life, you know, eating and working out. I love doing both."It's important that you prioritize your own health goals, which may differ from the person on the screen, Derocha said. Ensure that you are fulfilling your appetite with a balance of nutrient-dense foods, along with "fun foods" you enjoy, she added.Staying mindful while watching mukbangsEveryone is going to respond differently to mukbangs, said Alex D'Elia, a registered dietitian based in New York, who is an expert on how nutrition can impact mental health."I think that this all has to come down to viewer responsibility for themselves knowing what your trigger is and understanding that if something like this has become compulsive," D'Elia added. "That's a warning sign that we need to pull back."D'Elia recommends practicing mindfulness, not only when watching the videos and noting how they make you feel, but also when eating throughout the day. Try to observe the effects different types of food have on your mental well-being."If you feel tired throughout the day, or you're getting agitated, check in with yourself. When's the last time I ate? What did I eat? Was it balanced?" D'Elia said. Use your check-ins as a guide to say, "OK, I feel like this when I eat this; let's see how I feel when I eat this way."Many mukbangs feature fast food or fried food that has a crispy texture to bite into for the camera. Fisher recommends people try not to categorize food into "bad" and "good" choices because that could cause you to want to consume the perceived "bad" foods in unhealthy amounts."I'm not saying eat fried foods at every meal, but also don't vilify every single food that comes across your plate. That's really important as well," Fisher said. "It's how you create healthy balance within your life."