Columbia University leaders speak before Congress to discuss rampant anti-Semitism on campus: LIVE BLOG

Several Columbia University leaders will testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce during a hearing on Wednesday.

The House committee announced on March 11 that Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik along with Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Claire Shipman and David Greenwald will appear at the hearing, titled “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism.”

Follow along for the latest developments at the hearing with Campus Reform’s live blog:

1:43 p.m.: The hearing was adjourned.

1:15 p.m.: Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said Professor Joseph Massad, who previously called the Oct. 7 attack “awesome” and “stunning,” is no longer sharing an academic review committee.

1:00 p.m.: In response to a question from Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), Shafik said that Columbia University’s Middle East Institute Visiting Professor Mohamed Abdou was told to “leave” the university.

12:09 p.m.: Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) asks Shafik if anti-Black racism would be tolerated at Columbia University, as it employs professors who have made blatantly anti-Semitic comments.

”It is not tolerated, and it is not acceptable, and over the last six months we had done every town and have worked tirelessly to improve our policies,” Shafik said.

11:27 a.m.: Shafik said that Columbia University’s Middle East Institute Visiting Professor Mohamed Abdou will not be employed at the university again, but indicated he’s currently employed at the Institution.

As Campus Reform previously reported, Abdou praised Hamas and the tactics it used during an interview in November 2023.

“The warriors, the resistance fighters that were in Hamas, numbered less than 1,500 and look how they flipped the table—not only on an entire settler colonial state with no definable borders, but rather on the whole world,” Abdou said, referring to the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

“You don’t need mass movements to change the world,” he continued. “You need a dedicated thousand, 1,500, a few thousand, that really are organized and know what it is that they’re doing, what they’re fighting for.”

Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said that Columbia University’s Middle East Institute Visiting Professor Mohamed Abdou will not be employed at the university again, but indicated he’s currently employed at the Institution.

As Campus Reform previously… pic.twitter.com/S3cdROGNM1

— Adam Sabes (@asabes10) April 17, 2024

11:16 a.m.: Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik condemned Professor Joseph Massad’s previous statements calling the Oct. 7 attack “awesome” and “stunning.”

”No less astonishing was the Palestinian resistance’s takeover of several Israeli settler-colonies near the Gaza boundary and even as far away as 22 kms, as in the case of Ofakim,” Massad wrote in The Electronic Intifada, characterizing in positive terms the murder, rape, beheading, and burning of civilians.

Columbia University Board of Trustees Co-Chairs Claire Shipman and David Greenwald said they wouldn’t have given Massad tenure if given the option today.

11:00 a.m.: All Columbia University administrators responded “yes” when asked by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate harassment policies.

All Columbia University administrators responded “yes” when asked by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate harassment policies. pic.twitter.com/n5x7zNlAqb

— Adam Sabes (@asabes10) April 17, 2024

10:56 a.m.: Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said that the FBI was contacted regarding a student group that hosted an event with an Israeli-designated terror organization.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Within Our Lifetime hosted the virtual event titled “Resistance 101,” on March 24 with Samidoun, a Palestinian advocacy group. 

The Israeli Ministry of Defense designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization and “a subsidiary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)” in February 2021, according to NGO Monitor.

10:45 a.m.: Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said there has been a rise in anti-Semitism at Columbia, stating that her administration has been in regular contact with the NYPD and FBI.

Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said there has been a rise in anti-Semitism at Columbia, stating that her administration has been in regular contact with the NYPD and FBI. pic.twitter.com/Cj0NuQiIxe

— Adam Sabes (@asabes10) April 17, 2024

10:24 a.m.: Columbia University students are demanding to be let into the hearing room, which is at capacity. Students began yelling “I skipped class” and “Let us in!”

10:09 a.m.: Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik along with other administrators arrive at the hearing.