Columbia president denounces antisemitism, vows to do more

WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Four months after a congressional hearing led to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia University‘s president appeared before the same committee on Wednesday and unequivocally denounced antisemitism on her campus and refuted claims she has allowed Columbia to become a hostile environment.

“We condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today,” Columbia President Nemat Shafik said in an opening statement. “Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly.”

She was called before the committee to address questions of antisemitism and the school’s response to conflicts on campus over the Israel-Hamas war. She was originally asked to testify at the House Education and Workforce Committee’s hearing in December, but she declined, citing scheduling conflicts.

Her vision clashes with one presented by Republicans in Congress and some Jewish students who say antisemitism has gone unchecked at Columbia. As evidence, they cited a Jewish student who was hit with a stick on campus while putting up posters of Israeli hostages, and protesters yelled chants that some consider a call for the genocide of Jews.

Hours before the hearing, students supporting Palestinians protested on Columbia’s campus.

Moataz Salim, a pro-Palestine activist who spoke with NewsNation outside of the hearing, said criticizing Israel’s policies and its handling of the war with Hamas is not the same thing as antisemitism.

“The reason we’re here is not to dispute that there is real antisemitism,” he said. “It’s to say that that pro-Palestinian voices have been stifled. They’ve been censored and suppressed, and there’s a real rise in anti-Palestinian sentiment and Islamophobia.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.