April 17, 2024
By Michael Cusanelli
NEW YORK — Another Ivy League school was in the hot seat on Wednesday over their policies around antisemitism on campus.
Columbia University’s president and board co-chairs testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as the latest institution to face questions about their handling of antisemitic rhetoric on campus.
Last year, the Harvard and University of Pennsylvania presidents testified in front of the same committee, with both resigning from their posts soon after.
Wednesday’s testimony became heated at points, with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik firing off multiple questions for Columbia President Nemat Shafik.
Stefanik also accused the university of failing to address the spread of antisemitism on campus following the attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
“Congresswoman, you’ve put your finger on one of the hardest issues we as board chairs face right now,” said Claire Shipman, a co-chair on the Columbia University Board of Trustees.
Stefanik interjected, calling Columbia’s systems of rules and enforcement “broken.”
She also pressed Shafik about a Columbia professor who called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel “awesome.”
Stefanik’s office said Columbia committed to removing that professor from an academic review board. But Shafik said that the professor had been spoken to by a “very senior person in the administration” and that she said that was not what she intended to say.
“You see the concern here, though, with the lack of enforcement,” Stefanik said. “You see the concern that speaking to these professors is not enough, and it’s sending a message across the university that this is tolerated.”
