Colleges Must Answer
THE world watched in horror over the weekend as Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones in an unprecedented attack against Israel. Following decades of proxy warfare, the Iranian regime is directly attacking our greatest ally.
This comes months after the barbaric Oct. 7 attacks when Iranianbacked Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and brutally murdered, raped, tortured and kidnapped more than a thousand innocent Israeli civilians, leading to the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The unprecedented and continuous attacks on Israel’s very existence have shocked the conscience of the world.
They also exposed the deep rot of antisemitism that exists within our society, and unfortunately no sector has allowed this rot to grow more than America’s colleges and universities.
In December, I exposed just how ingrained antisemitism has become at America’s so-called “elite” institutions of higher education when I questioned the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn in what has become the most-viewed congressional testimony in history.
These presidents’ disgraceful attempts to contextualize my straightforward question — “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct?” — were a symptom of decades of moral decay, intellectual laziness and dangerous far-left radical groupthink.
As a result of this hearing, two presidents were ousted, and the House Education and the Workforce Committee and Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) launched an investigation into antisemitism at America’s colleges and universities.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik was invited to attend December’s Education Committee hearing but did not appear, citing a scheduling conflict.
Since the horrific Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, antisemitism and antisemitic attacks at Columbia have been egregious and commonplace.
Shafik and Columbia board of trustees co-chairs will appear before the committee Wednesday to answer questions regarding their failures to ensure Jewish students are able to attend school in a safe environment.
More than 150 Columbia faculty members joined in a letter describing Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as “just one salvo in an ongoing war between an occupying state and the people it occupies, or as an occupied people exercising a right to resist.” Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine declared they were “in full solidarity” with Hamas’ “resistance.” The university continues to employ a professor who described the Oct. 7 attack as “astonishing,” “astounding” and “awesome,” while events like
Resistance 101, led by a man who spoke of “friends and brothers in Hamas,” continue to proliferate.
In February, students from schools across the country attended an Education Committee roundtable where they shared their stories about the horrors of antisemitism they’ve seen and experienced on their campuses. One Columbia student cited a clear double standard and lack of rule enforcement against organizations attacking Jewish students.
Our investigation has highlighted the need for real change and action at these institutions, as implementing half-measures are not enough.
While Columbia suspended Students for Justice in Palestine, it has failed to enforce its rules on demonstrations. Like many universities, Columbia stood up a task force, but it failed to even define antisemitism and cowardly failed to condemn chants of “Death to the Zionist State.”
We will bring Columbia leadership in front of Congress and hold them accountable for these incidents and their inadequate response to our investigation.
Universities have a duty to keep their students safe. And when they fail, Congress has the duty to conduct rigorous oversight of the billions of US taxpayer dollars that support these higher-ed institutions.
We will not rest until this unchecked antisemitism is stopped.