A sweeping House investigation into anti-Jewish hatred at elite universities expanded Monday to investigate Columbia University and Barnard College.
New York colleges received a 16-page letter from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, who warned that she had “serious concerns” about anti-Semitism on their campuses. .
It comes days after an anti-Semitic poster of a skunk with the Star of David was plastered across Columbia’s Upper West Side campus.
Foxx accused them of “failing to protect Jewish students” before and after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and demanded that both hand over information about their handling of anti-Semitic attacks and radical pro-Palestinian groups.
“We have serious concerns regarding the inadequacy of Columbia’s response to anti-Semitism on its campus,” said the letter sent to five Columbia and Barnard College officials, including Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Barnard President Laura Rosenbury.
The House committee is expanding its investigation into campus anti-Semitism to Columbia, where protests have rocked the campus repeatedly since Oct. 7, including this one five days later, which led to accusations of mass anti-Semitism. AP Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, who has held hearings on anti-Semitism at Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, sent a 16-page letter to Columbia and Barnard criticizing them for failing to protect Jewish students. AP
The committee is the same one whose questioning of Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill about campus anti-Semitism in December led to both apologizing and resigning after Gay said whether to ask for the genocide of the Jews violated campus rules depended “on the context.”
The letter demands documentation from the two schools, including information about a Dec. 12 demonstration by two anti-Israel groups: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which had already been suspended from campus.
Despite the ban, the House committee alleges, the groups chanted “from the river to the sea” and “intifada, intifada, intifada, long live the intifada.”
“According to the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, several Barnard deans passed by the event but failed to stop it, and at least one Jewish student was assaulted at the event,” the letter says.
Protesters gathered at an “All for Palestine” rally in front of Columbia University last month. The Ivy League school was criticized in a 16-page letter from a House committee for not doing enough to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism over the past two decades. SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The letter warns that “an atmosphere of widespread anti-Semitism has been documented at Columbia for more than two decades prior to the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023,” and goes on to recount several reports of anti-Semitic incidents at the school, which began in 2004.
The letter cites a 2016 report by the Jewish publication “The Algemeiner” that ranked Columbia first on its list of the 40 worst universities for Jewish students in the United States and Canada. Three years later, the watchdog group Alums for Campus Fairness chronicled dozens of anti-Semitic incidents at both Barnard and Columbia.
“The dossier identified Columbia and Barnard as ‘arguably the most prominent settings for university anti-Semitism in the United States,’” the letter said.
This sign of a skunk with a Star of David was posted throughout Columbia earlier this month. Jewish groups directly compared it to vile Nazi posters that portrayed Jews as rodents.
And it details a series of anti-Semitic incidents at the school that occurred in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, including a “killing” organized by both the SJP and the JVP on October 12.
“After the demonstration, the crowd of protesters moved toward the university’s Kraft Center for Jewish Life, resulting in the building being locked down and Jewish students taking shelter inside,” the letter says.
“During the protest, a Jewish student carrying an Israeli flag was yelled at and called a ‘murderer’, while another Jewish student leaving the protest had the Israeli flag he was carrying torn off and thrown down a subway staircase.” .
Harvard President Claudine Gay (left) and UPenn President Liz Magill (right) were forced to resign after disastrous testimony before the committee when they were questioned about anti-Semitism on their campuses. fake images
The letter demands “all reports of anti-Semitic acts or incidents and communications since January 1, 2021” from the office of the president, provost, general counsel, and “any Columbia office focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion.” ”.
The committee has also demanded “all documents and communications reflecting the funding sources of Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine and Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace,” among other groups.
A Columbia spokesperson said it would cooperate with the investigation, saying, “We are committed to combating anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.” “We have received President Foxx’s letter and will cooperate fully with any investigation.” Barnard College did not respond to a request for comment.
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