Three Columbia University deans who exchanged disparaging text messages that the university president said “touched on ancient antisemitic tropes” during a forum about Jewish issues in May are resigning, a spokesperson said Thursday.

The deans, who had responsibility for undergraduate student affairs, sent the biting and sarcastic messages as they reacted in real time to Jewish speakers expressing concern about antisemitism on campus during the two-hour event.

In June, Minouche Shafik, the university president, placed the three deans on indefinite leave as an investigation proceeded.

In the texts, one dean suggested that a Jewish speaker was playing up concerns for fundraising purposes. Another sent vomit emojis in reaction to the mention of a college newspaper opinion piece written by one of the school’s rabbis.

The deans did not respond to calls requesting comment. Samantha Slater, a Columbia spokesperson, confirmed the resignations by email but did not provide further comment.

The episode, which became public in June when an attendee shared her pictures of one of the dean’s cellphones with The Washington Free Beacon, has been deeply embarrassing to the administration. University leaders have been trying to convince Congress, alumni and its own Jewish students that it takes antisemitism on campus seriously.

The turmoil over a scandal some alumni are calling “textgate” comes as Shafik and other administrators prepare for how they will respond to what they expect will be another powerful wave of pro-Palestinian activism in the fall.

In a sign of the university’s challenges, pro-Palestinian vandals attacked the Brooklyn Heights apartment building of the university’s chief operating officer, Cas Holloway, early Thursday morning, splashing red paint on the floor and releasing insects into the lobby, police said.

The three deans who resigned — Susan Chang-Kim, the college’s vice dean and chief administrative officer; Cristen Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life; and Matthew Patashnick, the associate dean for student and family support — were not faculty members and did not have tenure protections.

The dean of Columbia College, Josef Sorett, also participated in the text exchanges, though to a lesser extent. After the incident, he sent an apology note to the community. Sorett, a scholar on religion and race, is a tenured professor, which gives him protections that make it harder to remove him from the faculty. He will continue in his position.

The New York Times News Service