Columbia College’s head has defended her establishment’s efforts to sort out antisemitism to members of Congress.
Dr Nemat Shafik was questioned amid a debate about free speech on US campuses that has intensified throughout the Israel-Gaza warfare that erupted in October.
Two different Ivy League college heads stepped down final 12 months after dealing with a backlash for their very own responses.
Dr Shafik condemned antisemitism, however was much less clear when quizzed a couple of particular pro-Palestinian slogan.
Showing earlier than the Home Committee on Training and the Workforce, Dr Shafik was requested whether or not phrases utilized by some activists, similar to “from the river to the ocean, Palestine might be free”, had been antisemitic.
“I hear them as such, some folks do not… it is a troublesome problem as a result of some folks hear it as antisemitic, different folks don’t,” she stated.
Jewish teams say the slogan – which refers back to the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea – is a name for the destruction of the state of Israel. Those that defend the phrase say it’s a pro-Palestinian independence rallying cry.
For the reason that 7 October assaults by Hamas on southern Israel that sparked the warfare in Gaza, Republicans in Congress have accused elite US universities of changing into havens for anti-Jewish hate.
Dr Shafik had earlier stated: “Columbia strives to be a group freed from discrimination and hate in all its kinds, and we condemn the antisemitism that’s so pervasive as we speak.”
Requested if requires genocide of Jews had been towards faculty coverage, Dr Shafik unequivocally stated they had been.
Three different officers from the New York Metropolis faculty testified throughout Wednesday’s listening to and gave the identical response to that query.
“My ideas are that you’re proper that we’ve got an ethical disaster on our campus,” co-chairwoman of the board of trustees, Claire Shipman, informed the committee.
“You are in all probability uninterested in listening to that I discover the behaviour of a few of our college students, a few of our school, unacceptable.”
Whereas Dr Shafik stated there had been an increase in such hatred on campus since October, she stated the faculty was working to guard college students.
She informed the listening to that 15 college students had been suspended and 6 had been on probation for violating guidelines concerning campus protests.
Final 12 months, the leaders of the College of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise had been condemned by politicians and alumni for his or her look at a listening to earlier than the identical Home committee.
The presidents of Harvard and UPenn resigned after dealing with a backlash for declining to supply a transparent reply as to if “calling for the genocide of Jews” was towards their college insurance policies.
Earlier this week, there was one other controversy after the College of Southern California (USC) cancelled a pupil’s commencement speech amid a backlash over her social media exercise on Israel.
Asna Tabassum – who had been picked to given an handle because of her excessive tutorial scores – stated she had been silenced, however the college cited campus safety dangers.
Forward of Wednesday’s congressional listening to, pro-Palestinian Columbia pupil activists arrange tents on a campus garden and pledged to occupy the area till the college divested from firms with ties to Israel, in keeping with the scholar newspaper, Columbia Spectator, and Fox Information.
