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Columbia College leaders have appeared earlier than a congressional committee to reply questions on alleged instances of anti-Semitism on campus.
The listening to was a follow-up of kinds to an identical panel held in December that included the presidents of Harvard, the College of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how (MIT).
However on Wednesday, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, president of Columbia College, tried to keep away from the identical pitfalls that made the earlier listening to go viral.
She pledged robust motion to fight anti-Semitism, even taking part in discussions about particular Columbia professors and disciplinary actions throughout the listening to.
“We have now already suspended fifteen college students from Columbia. We have now six on disciplinary probation,” Shafik stated as she detailed her actions earlier than the Committee on Training and the Workforce, a part of the Home of Representatives.
“These are extra disciplinary actions which have in all probability been taken at Columbia during the last decade. And I promise you that from the messages I hear from college students, they’re getting the message that violations of our insurance policies could have penalties.”
Nonetheless, Republicans on the committee sought to carry Columbia College accountable for what they noticed as failures for the reason that warfare in Gaza started on Oct. 7.
On that date, the Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing greater than 1,000 individuals. Within the ensuing warfare, Israeli assaults in Gaza killed greater than 33,800 Palestinians, sparking widespread protest.
Like many faculty campuses, Columbia College has been a middle for pupil activism in current months, with protesters gathering each for and in opposition to the warfare.
However the college has acquired specific consideration given its fame as a prestigious Ivy League faculty and its efforts to crack down on unauthorized gatherings.
Some critics have argued that the suspension of pro-Palestinian college students and teams has put a damper on freedom of expression on campus, whereas others argue that the federal government has allowed a hostile environment to thrive.
Columbia College President Nemat Shafik speaks earlier than the Home Training and the Workforce Committee on April 17 (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)
Partisan divisions over campus exercise
Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx opened the listening to Wednesday with a press release defending the view that campus directors have didn’t create a secure studying setting for Jewish college students.
She pointed to pro-Palestinian activism as proof that Columbia and different campuses have “erupted into hotbeds of anti-Semitism and hatred.”
“Columbia is at finest responsible of gross negligence — and at worst has turn into a platform for many who assist terrorism and violence in opposition to the Jewish individuals,” she stated in ready remarks.
Her assertion referred to an incident on October 11, when an Israeli pupil was allegedly overwhelmed with a stick whereas placing up posters of prisoners taken by Hamas.
However at a number of factors throughout the listening to, representatives took the microphone to level out that anti-Semitism was a part of a broader drawback of discrimination and hate within the US.
“Anti-Semitism just isn’t the one type of hatred on the rise in our faculties. It isn’t the one type of hate that impacts the flexibility of our kids or college students to be taught,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat, stated from her seat on the committee.
“Islamophobia and hate crimes in opposition to LGBTQ college students have additionally elevated lately. They’ve led to deaths by suicide and harassment. However this committee has not but held a single listening to on these points.”
In the meantime, Consultant Ilhan Omar, a distinguished progressive voice within the Home of Representatives, sought to dispel any conflation of anti-war protests with anti-Jewish hatred.
“Have you ever seen a protest saying, ‘We’re in opposition to the Jewish individuals’?” Omar requested Columbia President Shafik, who replied, “No.”
Omar went on to focus on the case of pro-Palestinian college students who had been sprayed with a foul-smelling chemical in Columbia and in different instances “harassed and intimidated.”
“There was a current assault on the democratic rights of scholars throughout the nation,” she stated.
Committee Chair Virginia Foxx moderated the April 17 listening to titled “Columbia in Disaster: Columbia College’s Response to Antisemitism” (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photograph)
Controversy looms over the viewers
Shafik tried to stroll a high-quality line throughout the listening to, promising fast and decisive motion in opposition to anti-Semitism whereas underscoring her campus’ dedication to freedom of expression.
She was joined by Claire Shipman and David Greenwald, of Columbia’s board of administrators, and by David Schizer, member of the campus job power in opposition to anti-Semitism.
However looming over the proceedings was the specter of the December listening to, which led to the resignation of two college presidents.
On December 5, Claudine Homosexual of Harvard, Liz Magill of the College of Pennsylvania, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT stood earlier than the identical committee for questions on anti-Semitism on their campuses.
Through the assembly, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik urged college presidents to clarify — with easy yes-or-no solutions — whether or not “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their codes of conduct on campus.
In each instances, college presidents tried to tell apart between protected speech and harassment, resulting in sophisticated responses.
“If the speech turns into habits, it might be harassment, sure,” Magill stated. She later added, “It is a context-dependent resolution, Congressman.”
Shortly afterwards, clips of the listening to went viral, with politicians on each side of the aisle criticizing college presidents for failing to robustly denounce anti-Semitism and genocide.
Magill resigned 4 days after the listening to as public outrage grew. Homosexual — Harvard’s first black president — additionally resigned in January amid strain not solely over the listening to but in addition over questions on plagiarism.
These occasions solid a shadow over Wednesday’s panel, and a number of other representatives referenced them immediately.
Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, for instance, applauded Columbia directors for offering extra candid solutions than their counterparts at Harvard and the College of Pennsylvania.
“You all did one thing they could not: you had been in a position to condemn anti-Semitism with out utilizing the phrase, ‘It is determined by the context,’” he stated.
“However the issue is: motion on campus does not match your rhetoric at present.”
A regular strategy to hate
On Wednesday, Shafik and the Columbia directors had been additionally pressed on most of the similar points as their counterparts at Harvard, MIT and the College of Pennsylvania.
Republicans on the committee requested them to consider chants akin to: “From the river to the ocean, Palestine shall be free.” Whereas some see the mantra as anti-Semitic, others see it merely as a name for a Palestinian state.
“I’ve acquired letters from our Jewish college saying they do not discover it anti-Semitic both,” Shafik stated at one level throughout the listening to.
However she additionally defined that she personally felt the language was “extremely hurtful.”
One suggestion she stated the campus was contemplating would create particular areas for that kind of protest.
“If you will chant, it ought to solely be performed in a sure place in order that individuals who do not wish to hear it are shielded from having to listen to it,” stated Shafik, who conveyed the concept.
Schizer, in the meantime, indicated he was advocating a regular strategy to hate and intimidation, no matter who was focused.
“I’m conservative. I’ve an in depth relationship with many conservative college students. There have been occasions once they have been given the sign that they need to act very slowly on a sure occasion or not specific a sure perspective as a result of it will make others really feel uncomfortable,” Schizer stated.
“And it is placing that that sort of language just isn’t utilized to Jewish college students. When Jewish college students stated, ‘We really feel uncomfortable,’ the emphasis was on, ‘No, no, no, freedom of speech.’”
“Now I wish to be clear: I feel freedom of expression is important, however I additionally suppose consistency is important. We have now to take the identical strategy for everybody.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik pressured the president of Columbia College over her hiring practices (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photograph)
Professors below hearth
Nevertheless, a few of the harshest criticism finally fell on Columbia professors, who weren’t current on the listening to.
Committee members cited statements from professors akin to Joseph Massad, Mohamed Abdou and Katherine Franke as proof of bias and discrimination inside Columbia’s college.
“We have now 4,700 lecturers at Columbia, most of whom spend all their time instructing their college students,” Shafik stated at one level, defending her hiring practices.
“I at the moment have 5 instances which were faraway from class or rejected.”
Within the case of Abdou, a visiting professor, Stefanik confronted Shafik a couple of message he wrote on social media on October 11, saying he was “with Hamas.”
“He won’t ever work at Columbia once more,” Shafik replied. “It has been terminated. And never solely fired, however his information will present that he won’t ever work at Columbia once more.”
Massad, in the meantime, got here below hearth for an article he wrote within the publication Digital Antifada, during which he described the October 7 assault as an act of “modern Palestinian resistance.”
“Mr. Massad is below investigation,” Shafik stated, including that she believed the professor had been faraway from a management position throughout the college.
Columbia College leaders face scrutiny over anti-Semitism on campus | Training information
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