Rebecca Massel CC’26 studied political science and feels that her time at Columbia has been defined by service-driven leadership and a commitment to campus life. Massel was the Columbia/Barnard Hillel student body president. Through her three years on Hillel’s executive board, she supported more than 1,500 Jewish students by organizing meaningful programming and strengthening student leadership. She also found meaning in working with and learning from other student leaders and University administrators to amplify the needs of Jewish students. Massel also served as a news editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator, where she reported on the pro-Palestine encampments, rising antisemitism, and the federal response. Her work highlighted student perspectives during a complex and tense time. For her senior thesis, she studied the mobilization of the 2023–24 pro-Palestine movement on U.S. college campuses and correlated it to the rise of campus antisemitism.