Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after months of mismanagement of the hate-filled antisemitic support for Hamas terrorists and Israel’s demise that has permeated the New York City campus.
Shafik wrote in her announcement that she believed “working together we have made progress in a number of important areas. However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community.”
Not once in her 674-word statement did Shafik mention the vicious antisemitism that has ravaged her campus and which she has been unable to plainly condemn.
Columbia University Tries But Fails to Stop Event with Israeli Lawmaker
Columbia University is among many other Ivy League schools across the United States that have also become bastions of hate.
Shafik testified on April 17 before the House of Representatives’ Education and Workforce Committee on “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Anti-Semitism” along with the presidents of MIT and University of Pennsylvania about the antisemitism on their campuses.
During one exchange with Representative Lisa McClain (R-MI) over the multiple incidents of student demonstrators yelling the genocidal slogan “from the river to the sea” and support for a “global intifada” Shafik could not bring herself to denounce the hate outright.
“Are mobs shouting from the ‘River to the Sea Palestine will be free’ or ‘Long live the intifada’ … antisemitic comments?” McClain asked.
“When I hear those terms, I find them very upsetting,” Shafik responded.
“That’s a great answer to a question I didn’t ask, so let me repeat the question,” McClain replied.
Pressed, Shafik answered, “I hear them as such. Some people don’t.”
“Why is it so tough?” McClain asked.
“Because it’s a difficult issue because some hear it as antisemitic, others do not,” Shafik responded.
Under pressure, University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill resigned soon after a similar hearing she and two of her peers faced in December 2023.
During their testimony, the presidents of the top three US Ivy League universities (Harvard, UPenn and MIT) all refused to explicitly condemn the calls for genocide of Jews on their campuses during a high-profile hearing of the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Congress member Dr. Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
Magill, Harvard President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth all condemned the October 7th slaughter of Israelis by Hamas and affirmed Israel’s right to exist – but each one refused to state categorically that calling for the genocide of Jews on campus violates their schools’ codes of conduct.
“The Jewish people make up 2.4 percent of America’s population and are only two percent of the global population. For the past 5,000 years they have been enslaved, lynched, and systematically murdered. During that same time, they have relentlessly improved the course of humanity, selflessly contributing to societies which eventually betrayed them,” noted US Representative Lor Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR).
“And yet, President Gay, your university, Harvard, teaches only two courses on the history and culture of the Jewish people at the undergrad level and one of those classes is focused on portraying all Jews who support Israel’s existence as colonialists and racist – compared to the roughly 125 classes Harvard offers on Latino black indigenous and AAPI history. The discrepancy feels odd but you’re not alone,” Chavez-DeRemer noted.
“President Magill, the University of Pennsylvania offers three classes on Jewish history to undergrads.
“President Kornbluth, MIT only offers two classes on Jewish history to your undergrad students.
“This gives the impression that your deans and professors view Jews as an exception, that their voice as a minority group isn’t worth amplifying. This near eraser of Jewish history from offered courses is chilling to me.“
A few weeks later, Claudine Gay resigned from her post. Kornbluth remains — at least, for now.
