The House’s sweeping inquiry into anti-Semitism at elite colleges expanded to investigate Columbia University and Barnard College on Monday.
New York College was hit with a 16-page letter from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, who warned that she has “grave concerns” about antisemitism on their campuses.
It comes days after antisemitic posters of a skunk with a Star of David were plastered across Columbia’s Upper West Side campus.
Foxx accused them of “failing to protect Jewish students” before and after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and demanded that both hand over information about their handling of antisemitic attacks — and pro-Palestinian radical groups.
“We have grave concerns about the inadequacy of Columbia’s response to antisemitism on its campus,” said the letter sent to five officials at Columbia and Barnard College, including Columbia president Minouche Shafik and Barnard president Laura Rosenbury.
The House committee expanded its investigation into campus antisemitism to Columbia, where protests have rocked the campus repeatedly since Oct. 7, including one five days later that led to accusations of mass antisemitism. AP Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, who held hearings on antisemitism at Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, sent a 16-page letter to Columbia and Barnard slamming them for their failure to protect Jewish students. AP
The committee is the same one that questioned campus antisemitism against Harvard president Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill in December, prompting both to apologize after Gay said that whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated campus rules depended “on context.”
The letter demanded documentation from both schools, including information about the Dec. 12 demonstration by two anti-Israel groups — Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) — that had already been suspended from campus.
Despite the ban, the House committee alleged, the group chanted “from the river to the sea” and “intifada, intifada, intifada, long live the intifada.”
“According to the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, several Barnard deans passed by the event but failed to stop it, and at least one Jewish student was assaulted at it,” the letter said.
Protesters gathered at an “All Out for Palestine” rally outside Columbia University last month. The Ivy League school was slammed in a 16-page letter from a House committee for not doing enough to protect Jewish students from antisemitism over the past two decades. SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The letter warned that “an environment of widespread antisemitism has been documented at Columbia for more than two decades prior to the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023,” and went on to note several reports of antisemitic incidents at the school, beginning in 2004.
The letter cited a 2016 report by the Jewish publication, “The Algemeiner” that placed Columbia first on a list of the 40 worst colleges for Jewish students in the US and Canada. Three years later, the watchdog group Alums for Campus Fairness documented dozens of antisemitic incidents at Barnard and Columbia.
“The dossier identified Columbia and Barnard as ‘arguably the most prominent settings for university-based antisemitism in the United States,'” the letter said.
This skunk poster with the Star of David was plastered all over Columbia earlier this month. It was directly compared by Jewish groups to vile Nazi posters depicting Jews as rats.
And it details a series of antisemitic incidents at the school that took place after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, including the “killings” carried out by SJP and JVP on October 12.
“Following the rally, a large crowd of protesters moved toward the university’s Kraft Center for Jewish Life, causing the building to be locked down and Jewish students sheltering inside,” the letter said.
“During the protest, a Jewish student wearing an Israeli flag was shouted at and called a ‘murderer,’ while another Jewish student who left the protest had an Israeli flag he was wearing and was thrown down the subway stairs.”
Harvard president Claudine Gay (left) and UPenn president Liz Magill (right) were both forced to quit after testifying poorly to the committee when they were questioned about antisemitism on their campuses. Getty Images
The letter demanded “all reports of antisemitic actions or incidents and communications since January 1, 2021” from the office of the president, provost, general counsel and “any Columbia office focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.”
The committee has also demanded “all documents and communications reflecting funding sources for Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Columbia-Barnard Jewish Voice for Peace,” among other groups.
A Columbia spokeswoman said if would cooperate with the investigation and said: “We are committed to combating antisemitism and all forms of hatred.” We have received a letter from Chairman Foxx and will cooperate fully with any investigation.” Barnard College did not respond to a request for comment.
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