Columbia University President Nemat Shafik to Testify Wednesday on Anti-Semitism on Campus
Geert Vanden Wijngaert via AP
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Geert Vanden Wijngaert via AP
Columbia University President Nemat Shafik to Testify Wednesday on Anti-Semitism on Campus
Geert Vanden Wijngaert via AP
There is a little air of déjà vu at the Capitol on Wednesday.
The president of Columbia University is expected to testify about how the school has responded to anti-Semitic incidents since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the Israeli military response in Gaza.
Nemat Shafik, who goes by Minouche, will attend the House Education Committee hearing alongside a Columbia University law professor and two administrators. In a letter to the campus community, Shafik said she was ready to “share what we have learned as we fight against this ancient hatred at Columbia University.”
Jewish students on college campuses experienced a “sharp increase” in anti-Semitic incidents after October 7, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League.
Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the committee’s Republican chairwoman, said in a news release that she called the hearing because “some of the worst cases of anti-Semitic attacks, harassment and vandalism on campus are occurring are produced at Columbia University.
The new testimony comes several months after another hearing on campus anti-Semitism, in which lawmakers questioned the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania. Columbia’s president was unable to attend that December hearing due to scheduling issues.
“It’s impossible to win an audience, but it’s easy to lose an audience and end up on television,” says Christopher Armstrong, an attorney at Holland & Knight who advises clients on how to respond to congressional investigations.
He says Columbia lawmakers and administrators had the benefit of studying this first hearing and having ample time to prepare.
“There’s an upside to this, but there’s also a downside,” Armstrong says. “The witness has a lot more time to prepare, to think through any line of attack, but members of the Hill have also had just as much time, which makes the situation a little more unpredictable.”
The consequences of the December hearing
The December hearing with the presidents of Harvard, MIT and Penn was marked by high tension and headline-grabbing consequences. That was largely due to tough questions from Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who refused to accept the presidents’ vague, prepared answers.
Just days after the hearing, Penn President Elizabeth Magill resigned.
Less than a month later, Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned following accusations of plagiarism.
Stefanik celebrated the resignations by posting on social media: “Two down. One to take away.“
MIT President Sally Kornbluth remains in office.
Activism on Columbia’s campus continued
At Columbia University, tensions have continued to escalate among students, as well as between students and administration, since October 7.
“People on campus are definitely paying attention to this hearing,” says Jacob Schmeltz, a political science student at Columbia and co-vice president of the Jewish student union on campus.
“This issue has completely taken over campus since October 7. So I think everyone is gearing up and waiting to see what happens.”
He said he hopes the hearing won’t play out the same way it did in December. “I hope that this is a productive discussion centered on the experience of Jewish students at Columbia and that it does not become a hearing where various members of Congress use their agenda for their own partisan political gain.”
Columbia is being investigated by the House committee that will hold Wednesday’s hearing for “the inadequacy of Columbia’s response to anti-Semitism on its campus,” according to a letter sent by the committee at school.
It is also among a number of universities under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education regarding alleged civil rights violations following October 7.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, several Jewish professors at Columbia and its sister school, Barnard College, warned of the “weaponization” of anti-Semitism on college campuses. “And we advocate for a campus where all students, Jewish, Palestinian and everyone in between, can learn and thrive in a climate of open and honest inquiry and rigorous debate.”
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