Dozens of pro-Palestinian students Wednesday occupied the main lawn of Columbia University, as college president Minouche Shafik is set to defend the school’s response to campus antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war before Congress.
Shafik, board of trustees co-chairs Claire Shipman and David Greenwald, and antisemitism taskforce co-chair David Schizer will testify at a U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing, two months after the body launched a probe into Columbia’s record of protecting Jewish students.
“They collectively need to get a spine and say we’re not going to tolerate antisemitism, and we’re not going to tolerate violence on our campuses,” Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said at a press conference ahead of the hearing.
“There’s a lot of talk, but we don’t see much action,” Foxx continued. “There’s activity going on on the campus this morning. That shouldn’t be allowed. So, it’s very hard to measure what has been done so far.”
At 4 a.m., students affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of more than 100 student groups, started pitching a series of green tents near the 116th St. campus entrance, according to postings on social media.
Students pledged that the demonstration, called the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, will remain until the university meets their demand to divest Columbia’s finances from companies and institutions that profit from Israel.
“The presence of tents on South Lawn is a safety concern and a violation of university policies,” said a university spokesperson. “We are informing the students they are in violation of university policies and for their own safety and for the operation of the university they need to leave.”
Signs declared the encampment a “liberated zone,” according to social media. A faculty member was expected to lead a session on the history of anti-apartheid movements at Columbia later in the morning.
“We refuse to accept a world where the death of over 30,000 Palestinians is normal, acceptable, or profitable,” students wrote on Instagram.
The campus is closed to the public all this week, with a Columbia ID necessary to enter the campus gates, the university announced.
On top of the committee investigation, Columbia has also been under a U.S. Department of Education probe since November for allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia. Jewish students have filed a federal lawsuit against the administration, saying they permitted antisemitism to exclude them from the full Columbia experience.
Two out of three college presidents who testified during a congressional hearing in December, from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, later resigned. Both faced backlash over their tepid responses to whether students who call for the genocide of Jews should face discipline.
Shafik, whose tenure began at the start of this school year, declined to testify at that hearing, citing a prior commitment.
Shafik outlined her testimony in a Wall Street Journal article Tuesday.
“Calling for the genocide of a people — whether they are Israelis or Palestinians, Jews, Muslims, or anyone else — has no place in a university community,” Shafik wrote. “Such words are outside the bounds of legitimate debate and unimaginably harmful.”
Foxx, when she launched the congressional probe in February, pointed to a “pattern of deeply troubling incidents and developments at Columbia,” including a Jewish student who was beaten with a stick by a peer during a dispute over Israeli hostage posters, and a swastika drawn in a campus bathroom.
Earlier this month, Columbia announced the suspensions of multiple pro-Palestinian students for an unsanctioned campus event with “speakers who are known to support terrorism and promote violence,” Shafik said. Students for Justice in Palestine accused the university of a “coordinated campaign to boost Columbia’s public image” ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.
Pro-Palestinian students have repeatedly accused the administration of not doing enough to keep them safe from ‘doxxing’ trucks, physical attacks and arrests.
After Shafik, the city’s public schools Chancellor David Banks is scheduled to testify on May 8.
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