Michelle Steel Grills Columbia's President About Multiple Professors Accused Of Antisemitic Remarks

5 months ago

At yesterday's House Education Committee hearing, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) grilled Columbia University President Minouche Shafik about professors accused of antisemitism.

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Transcript

00:00 You're recognized for five minutes.

00:02 - Thank you, Dr. Box.

00:05 For over two decades, Columbia's Middle Eastern,

00:10 South Asian, and African Studies Department

00:13 has been extremely hostile to Israel and Jewish students.

00:18 Professor Joseph Massad, who vocally praised Hamas,

00:27 Professor Hamid Dabashi, who has made numerous

00:31 anti-Semitic remarks, including that Israelis

00:36 have a vulgarity of character and that is born deep

00:41 and structured to the skeletal,

00:44 I can't even pronounce, vertebrae of its culture,

00:50 and Rashid Khalidi, a professor of university now

00:56 and former PLO spokesperson called Columbia

01:01 Anti-Semitism Task Force bigots and fanatics

01:06 and right-wingers and extremists.

01:09 This is all on the record.

01:11 And do you think this kind of conduct

01:13 is appropriate and acceptable?

01:16 And what university took, what kind of action

01:19 that you took after these professors

01:22 were talking about like this?

01:25 Yes.

01:27 - Commissioner Steele, thank you for that question.

01:29 Before I answer it, I know Representative Hayes

01:31 asked me to confirm in writing about ongoing investigations

01:36 of some of the faculty that you've described.

01:39 So I just wanted to confirm now that both

01:41 Professors Massad and Franke are currently

01:44 under investigation for discriminatory remarks.

01:49 So I just wanted to put that on the record

01:51 for this occasion.

01:54 On the broader point that you raise,

01:57 what I would say is that--

01:59 - Just before you go with that,

02:00 how about the other two professors?

02:02 - I'm gonna come to that.

02:03 - So all three of them.

02:05 - Sorry, which ones are you referring to?

02:08 - So it's Professor Joseph Massad.

02:11 - Yes.

02:12 - And Professor Hamid Dabashi.

02:14 And you hired Rashid Khalidi, professor of your university,

02:19 that former PLO spokesperson.

02:23 We don't have any ongoing complaints

02:25 around those other two professors.

02:27 But what I would say is, since I have been in this role,

02:32 which is, I'm just entering my ninth month,

02:35 we have put in place mechanisms so that if faculty

02:38 cross the line in terms of any harassing

02:42 or discriminatory behavior, there will be consequences.

02:45 We can remove people from leadership roles.

02:47 We can remove them from the classroom.

02:52 We can, in some cases, have removed them

02:56 from Columbia altogether,

02:57 and we have several cases like that.

02:59 So we are making sure that going forward,

03:02 faculty who cross the line and discriminate

03:06 or harass students on any issue,

03:10 there will be consequences.

03:13 - You know what, I'm not just making up.

03:16 This happened, and this is the statement

03:19 that we just took it out from the newspapers

03:23 and other media.

03:24 So you really have to find out.

03:26 So nothing really happened, these three university professors

03:29 that what they were talking about, Israelis.

03:32 And then, let's just move then.

03:34 Columbia alumni have called on university

03:37 place the department into academic receivership,

03:42 as it has done for its English and anthropology departments.

03:47 Will you consider placing the department into receivership?

03:51 - I guess academic departments at Columbia are,

04:01 there isn't really a notion of receivership,

04:07 but what I would say is one of the things

04:09 that I'm very committed to is we have a broad offering

04:13 of almost 50 courses on Israeli, Jewish,

04:16 and Middle Eastern studies at Columbia.

04:18 But we also have an opportunity, I think, at this moment,

04:21 because so many students are interested

04:23 and there's so much demand and need, frankly,

04:26 for education about these issues,

04:29 that we are looking at expanding

04:30 and hiring some new faculty to try and broaden our approach

04:34 to make sure that we have some new and fresh thinking

04:38 in the areas of Israeli, Jewish, and Middle East studies.

04:43 - So what kind of broader thinking

04:44 and what kind of expansion?

04:46 So you're talking--

04:47 - We will be hiring additional faculty going forward

04:50 that will bring new perspectives.

04:51 - But you're gonna do all those background checks

04:53 and their records, though,

04:55 because your professors already talk about

04:57 this kind of statements and this is not really acceptable.

05:01 - We will do all the background checks

05:06 that you would expect for our faculty

05:08 because it's a privilege to teach at Columbia.

05:10 - So it's not just English and anthropology departments,

05:13 but do you consider the Middle Eastern, South Asian,

05:17 and African studies department

05:19 balanced and well-run departments?

05:22 Because over two decades,

05:25 they were extremely hostile to Israel.

05:29 - Thank you, Ms. Steele.

05:33 We'll get answers to your questions.

Michelle Steel Grills Columbia's President About Multiple Professors Accused Of Antisemitic Remarks

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