- Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., asked Colombia President Nemat Shafik whether chanting “Intifada” violated Colombia’s rules.
- Shafik said she sought to “really clarify where language crosses the line between protected speech and discriminatory or harassing speech.”
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik is in the hot seat as Republicans accuse her of leading one of the worst “hotbeds of anti-Semitism and hatred” on campus.
Shafik testifies before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Wednesday, months after a similar hearing led to the ouster of Harvard President Claudine Gay over his anti-Semitic remarks.
House Republican Party Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik accused Columbia leaders of refusing to “enforce their own policies and condemn Jewish hatred on campus, creating fertile ground for anti-Semitism and a hotbed of support for terrorism from radicalized professors and students.”
President Virginia Foxx played a clip of students gathering at Columbia and shouting “Intifada!” and “We will honor all martyrs!” in reference to the Hamas attackers on October 7.
“While anti-Semitism has spread across many college campuses, Columbia University stands out as one of the worst offenders,” Foxx insisted.
Shafik insisted that she has worked aggressively to combat anti-Semitism on campus, including holding more than 200 meetings on the topic, hosting daily campus security team meetings and working with the NYPD and FBI when hate crimes occur on campus.
She said the “vast majority” of protests on campus have been “peaceful” and said the college is focused on respecting free speech, but “cannot and should not tolerate abuse of this commitment to harassment and discrimination.”
Columbia students insist their university did nothing about the ‘tsunami of anti-Semitism’ on campus after the Hamas attack – just as President Nemat Shafik testifies before the Education Committee and of the House of Representatives.
Pro-Palestinian students take part in a demonstration in support of the Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, at Columbia University in New York, USA.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., asked Shafik whether chanting “Intifada” violated Columbia’s rules.
“I find this incredibly distressing and I deeply wish people would not use them on our campus,” Shafik said. “This is abhorrent and has no place in our community.”
She continued: “I think one of the issues we’re actively debating right now…is clarifying where language crosses the line between protected speech and discriminatory or harassing speech.”
Current Columbia students also say the school did nothing about the “tsunami of anti-Semitism” on campus after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2022.
Jewish students told stories of Star of David necklaces being ripped from their necks as they walked to class, having anti-Semitic slogans shouted in their faces, saying Colombia offered “no transparency about what they done, where appropriate, to persons who violated university rules.” .’
“In the five months since October 7, the Columbia administration has stood idly by as a tsunami of anti-Semitism in the form of harassment, intimidation, exclusion and physical violence has flooded all aspects of campus life,” a Jewish student said at a news conference. press conference before the hearing.
President Shafik said one of the suggestions from the school’s anti-Semitism task force was to limit where students could protest.
“If you have to sing, it should only be in a certain place so people don’t want to hear it, or are protected from hearing it.”
“While anti-Semitism has spread across many college campuses, Columbia University stands out as one of the worst offenders,” Foxx insisted.
NYPD officers stand guard as people gather to protest the ban on Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at Columbia University
“The ultimate answer to anti-Semitism and all its forms is education,” Shafik said.
A previous hearing on anti-Semitism in January had devastating consequences for other college presidents whom Republicans have criticized for excusing anti-Semitism: Harvard President Claudine Gay and Penn President Liz Magill , resigned after appearing before the Education and Workforce Committee.
Ranking Democrat Bobby Scott played a clip from the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally.
“While I appreciate my colleagues’ new concerns regarding some Across-School students on campus, I would like to note that this is at odds with House Republicans’ budget proposals,” he said.
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