House committee investigating Columbia University for 'environment of pervasive antisemitism'

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is investigating Columbia University and requested a trove of documents in its inquiry into anti-Semitism on campus.

In a Monday letter to Columbia University leaders, Rep. Dr. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), wrote that an “environment of pervasive antisemitism” has been documented at the school even before the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel.

After the Hamas terror attack, “numerous antisemitic incidents” were documented at the university, Foxx wrote in the letter obtained by Campus Reform.

Foxx cited numerous examples of recent anti-Semitic instances at the university, including one instance where an Israeli undergraduate student who spoke out in support of Israel on October 10, 2023, received messages saying “YOURE [sic] THE TERRORIST,” and “[h]ad fun with those crocodile tears bitch?” citing the Columbia Spectator.

[RELATED: UPenn begins turning over documents in House committee’s anti-Semitism investigation]

On Oct. 11, an Israeli Columbia University student was allegedly beaten with a stick by a former student who said “Fuck you. Fuck all you prick crackers,” according to the Columbia Spectator.

Columbia University officials suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and its Jewish Voice for Peace chapter on November 10, 2023, for violating several policies.

 While the groups have been suspended, according to the letter, the university has failed to enforce the suspensions.

Foxx cited a Dec. 7, 2023 SJP and JVP “Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony” which, according to the North Carolina congresswoman compared “the terrorist attack against Israel to the Chanukah story in violation of their suspension.”

“@SJP.Columbia will join us to meditate on the parallels between the Hanukkah story and current events, the importance of grassroots activism, and the significance of solidarity in the face of oppression and suppression,” an Instagram post from the JVP chapter said.

[RELATED: UPenn’s interim president condemns ‘antisemitic’ cartoons by lecturer as ‘reprehensible’]

Foxx is asking Columbia University to produce several documents, including the following by Feb. 26:

- “All reports of antisemitic acts or incidents and related documents and communications since January 1, 2021, including but not limited to all reports of antisemitic acts, incidents, or discrimination

- ”All records of requests to conduct protests at Columbia, including their disposition, since October 7, 2023 

- “All documents and communications since January 1, 2021, referring and relating to antisemitism, involving the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and/or University Senate 

 - ”The activities of Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Law Students for Palestine, and/or Columbia Social Workers 4 Palestine since October 7, 2023.”