Capitol confrontation: Columbia president to testify amid escalating antisemitism claims
April 16, 2024
The president of Columbia University is going to have to face Congress over antisemitism on her campus. As with Harvard’s Claudine Gay back in December, this might not turn out well. For the issue is the same. Minouche Shafik is responsible at Columbia, and there has been, as we have reported, considerable antisemitism on that campus.
As we’ve pointed out rather a lot in fact, for there has been a disgusting amount of that antisemitism. Immediately after the attacks by Hamas there were groups on campus signing up to blame Jews and Israel. Matters were no better when we interviewed students at Columbia in November. In fact, things were still disastrously antisemitic when we returned in March.
This is not just some attack upon college in general, nor Ivy Leagues in particular. Yes, there are indeed other issues that we can all be concerned over but here we are talking about the physical safety of students. Not enough is being done to ensure that:
“Some of the worst cases of antisemitic assaults, harassment, and vandalism on campus have occurred at Columbia University,” North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx, the Republican chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee said in a March statement. “Due to the severe and pervasive nature of these cases, and the Columbia administration’s failure to enforce its own policies to protect Jewish students, the Committee must hear from Columbia’s leadership in person to learn how the school is addressing antisemitism on its campus.”
This is not even specific to Israel and antisemitism. Colleges have a duty to protect their students – especially from other students. Sometimes to often they do and the issue here is that they’re not protecting their Jewish students over this specific issue. That does make it a problem of antisemitism of course. But the problem is the selective enforcement of rights and ensuring of safety. That certain political groups gain such safety and protection and that others apparently do not.
That sort of partiality – bias, prejudice – is the complaint and the problem that must be solved. This time it’s antisemitism but it’s that the prejudice exists and is allowed which is the problem, not who it is aimed at this time specifically.
Four months after a Congressional hearing that helped sink two of her Ivy League counterparts, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik is heading to Capitol Hill for a showdown with lawmakers on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, AIM President Adam Guillette will attend the hearing on Capitol Hill – stay tuned for more, and visit ColumbiaHatesJews.com to join us in taking action.