Tipsheet

Columbia University President Responds to Claims of Anti-Semitism on Campus

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  April 17, 2024 5:15 PM

On Wednesday, during a congressional hearing, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik responded to claims of antisemitism on campus since October 7. This comes after several instances of antisemitism on campus have been reported.

To recap, in October, shortly after Hamas began its barbaric attack on Israel, a coalition of Columbia University student groups signed and published a statement blaming Israel and the U.S. for Hamas’ invasion and calling for “liberation,” which Townhall covered.

After this, students in former first lady Hillary Clinton’s staged a walk-out during her class to “shame” the school for how they believe it allowed its students who signed a statement against Israel to be “publicly shamed.” In addition, more than 100 professors at Columbia signed a letter defending the students who supported Hamas’ attacks on Israel. In the letter, the professors called on the university to protect the students from “disturbing reverberations” for expressing their support. 

It doesn’t stop there. The U.S. Department of Education announced that it had launched investigations into several schools over alleged antisemitism. Columbia was one of them. 

In the hearing, New York Republican Rep. Elisa Stefenik questioned Shafik about Columbia professor Joseph Massad. Stefanik pointed out that Massad is listed as the chair of the university’s Arts and Sciences Academic Review Committee. 

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After Hamas’ invasion into Israel, Massad wrote an article glorifying it, calling it “awesome” and “remarkable.”

“They [Israeli] may have finally realized that living on land stolen from another people will never make them safe,” he wrote. 

Shafik claimed that Massad had been removed from his position over these remarks.

“Massad is still in fact listed on the Columbia website as chair of the academic review committee, are you aware of that?” Stefanik said. 

Shafik claimed that she would need to “check that.”

Stefanik held her phone up with the webpage listed showing Massad as chair.

“So, he hasn’t been removed. You said in front of Congress under oath that he was removed. Well let me tell you, he’s still listed as chair,” Stefanik said.

Stefanik pressed Shafik again on the issue. Shefak claimed that she wanted to get the facts on the situation and then come back to Congress with that information. She did confirm that Massad was under investigation.

“Let me ask you this, will you make the commitment to remove him as chair?” Stefanik asked.

“Yes,” Shafik answered, stuttering. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) asked Shafik if she had seen any demonstrations on campus that are “against Jewish people.” 

Shafik said “no.” 

However, all the other witnesses on the panel claimed that they have seen antisemitic, or as one put it, “anti-Jewish” protests on campus. 

Claire Shipman, a member of Columbia’s board, added that there was an antisemitic incident at the law school. 

“The students were trying to call a ‘protest,’ but it was an event to harass admitted students who were Jewish and it’s outrageous,” she said. 

Stefanik told Shafik that at some of the events, students chanted: “f*** the Jews,” “death to Jews,” “f*** Israel,” and more. 

“You don’t think these are anti-Jewish?” she asked. 

“Completely anti-Jewish..completely unacceptable, as well,” Shafik said. 

“So, you change your testimony on that as well? So there have been anti-Jewish protests?” 

“There were protests…the protest was not labeled as an anti-Jewish protest…anti-Jewish things were said at protests, yes.”

Stefanik noted that Mohamed Abdou, another Columbia staffer, was hired after the October 7 attacks. Abdou posted that he was “with Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic jihad” on Oct. 11. 

“He also decried false reports accusing Arabs and Muslims of decapitating the heads of children and being rapists. We know that there we decapitations of babies, of innocent Israeli citizens, of seniors, of women, there were rapes, and yet, Columbia hired this individual as a professor. How did that hiring process work? Were you aware of those statements before the hiring?” Stefanik pressed. 

“I share with you your repugnance at those remarks,” Shafik said. “On my watch, faculty who make remarks that cross the line in terms of antisemitism, there will be consequences for them. I have five cases at the moment who have either been taken out of the classroom or dismissed.”

“And, is he [Abdou] one of those?” Stefanik said. 

“He will never work at Columbia again,” Shafik affirmed. “He has been terminated, and not just terminated, his files will show that he will never work at Columbia again.”

Stefanik then inquired about the university’s hiring processes going forward.

“I agree with you that I think we need to look into how to toughen up those requirements,” Shafik said.