Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led a press briefing on Wednesday with students from Columbia University on antisemitism.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Good morning.
00:01 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
00:02 Thank you for all you do.
00:06 Thanks for being here today.
00:07 Good morning.
00:10 Today, House Republicans, led by Chairwoman Fox,
00:14 will continue our investigation of the heinous scourge
00:17 of anti-Semitism running rampant on America's college campuses.
00:21 A few months ago, when the university presidents of Harvard,
00:24 Penn, and MIT testified, they made history
00:27 for their morally bankrupt answers as the most viewed
00:30 testimony in the history of the United States Congress.
00:33 And two are now former presidents.
00:36 And after billions of views and world outcry,
00:38 it set off a long overdue earthquake in higher education.
00:42 The Columbia University president was invited to that hearing,
00:45 but did not attend.
00:47 Today, the Columbia president will
00:49 appear in front of the Education and Workforce Committee,
00:51 along with board of trustees leaders.
00:53 And we will hold them accountable for their failure
00:56 to combat anti-Semitism on their campus,
00:58 and their failure to protect Jewish students.
01:01 For over 200 years, Columbia University
01:04 has held the same motto, quote, "In thy light
01:07 shall we see light."
01:09 Taken from Psalms, Columbia claims
01:11 to work in God's light.
01:13 Sadly, for all the Jewish students on their campus,
01:15 this could not be further from the truth.
01:18 Fueled by hatred and ignorance, unchecked anti-Semitism
01:22 has become commonplace on Columbia's campus.
01:25 Nazi-era anti-Semitic propaganda litters the grounds.
01:29 Swastikas, graffiti school property,
01:32 and mobs assaulting Jewish students,
01:34 professors openly supporting Hamas
01:36 and calling for the genocide of the Jewish people.
01:39 Meanwhile, despite claims otherwise,
01:41 Columbia's leadership refuses to enforce their own policies
01:45 and condemn Jewish hatred on campus,
01:47 creating a breeding ground for anti-Semitism
01:50 and a hotbed of support for terrorism
01:52 from radicalized faculty and students.
01:56 Just look at the campus reaction following the tragic events
01:59 of October 7.
02:00 Over 150 Columbia faculty justified the terrorist attack
02:04 on Israel, resulting in the deadliest day for Jews
02:07 since the Holocaust.
02:08 A Columbia professor penned an article glorifying Hamas
02:12 and anti-Israel student groups invited
02:14 known members of a terrorist group
02:16 to speak in support of the terrorist slaughter.
02:19 This hearing is an important step
02:21 towards transparency and accountability.
02:23 In Chairwoman Fox's investigation
02:26 and in our oversight of the failure of colleges
02:28 and universities to condemn and combat anti-Semitism
02:32 and their failure to protect Jewish students.
02:34 Before our hearing, we wanted to make sure
02:37 that America hears the firsthand experiences directly
02:40 from Jewish students studying at Columbia.
02:43 We are joined today by Eden Yadigar,
02:45 a junior at Columbia University,
02:47 and Yola Ashkenazi, a senior at Barnard.
02:49 We're going to begin with Yola.
02:51 -
02:57 Good morning.
02:58 Thank you for having me.
02:59 After the testimony before this group back in November
03:03 regarding anti-Semitism on US campuses,
03:06 I couldn't imagine that almost half a year later
03:09 we'd be having a similar conversation.
03:10 But I appreciate the opportunity to share with you
03:13 and the American people what's happening today
03:16 on the Columbia University campus.
03:18 My name is Yola Ashkenazi,
03:20 and I'm a student at Columbia University.
03:22 You've all seen the wave of hatred for Jews
03:24 that has swept college campuses in the last six months.
03:27 For Jewish students like myself, we've lived it.
03:31 For most students, the college years provide
03:33 an opportunity to find belonging on campus.
03:36 Columbia, meanwhile, has recognized clubs
03:39 that say things like, quote, "Zionists not invited,"
03:42 and "The Holocaust wasn't that special."
03:44 There have been swastikas drawn
03:46 in the International Affairs Building
03:48 and in Havermeyer Hall.
03:49 We've been subject to an endless barrage of rhetoric
03:52 and divisive actions that have left us
03:54 marginalized and unsafe.
03:55 Columbia permits hate rallies on our campus
03:58 that call for violence
03:59 and the eradication of the Jewish state.
04:01 Chants of "We don't want no Zionists here,"
04:04 "Death to the Zionist state,"
04:05 and "Call for intifada revolution"
04:07 reverberated across our buildings,
04:09 targeting every Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist student.
04:13 On February 2nd, one of my friends
04:15 was physically held against the wall
04:16 outside of Dodge Fitness Center
04:18 by hateful demonstrators
04:19 because he was wearing an item
04:20 that identified him as Jewish.
04:22 When reporting the incident,
04:23 Columbia Public Safety Officer
04:25 suggested he not wear anything
04:26 identifying him as Jewish when tensions are high.
04:29 And when Columbia professor Joseph Massad
04:33 publicly praised Hamas attacks as, quote, "awesome,"
04:36 just days after their massacre on Israeli civilians,
04:39 and when he attended the unauthorized rally
04:41 on April 4th, he sent a chilling message
04:44 that violence against Jews
04:45 is permissible on our campus.
04:47 And Columbia students, as we have seen,
04:49 have followed suit.
04:50 I and all other Jewish students
04:53 can share countless more examples
04:54 of what we've been subjected to on campus.
04:56 But perhaps more disheartening
04:58 is the endless gaslighting of Jewish students
05:00 by Columbia University's administration
05:02 when seeking help.
05:04 To understand our frustration,
05:05 you don't need to look any further
05:06 than President Shafik's op-ed
05:08 in the Wall Street Journal yesterday.
05:10 President Shafik absurdly claims, quote,
05:13 "Most of the people protesting on Columbia's campus
05:16 do so from a place of genuine political disagreement,
05:18 not from personal hatred or bias
05:20 or support for terrorism."
05:21 While I don't doubt that many of my peers
05:24 are seeking to express
05:25 their political opinions peacefully,
05:27 what I and other pro-Israel students at Columbia
05:29 have been subjected to
05:30 is not well-intentioned political debate.
05:33 It has not been debate at all.
05:34 When Barnard hosted a day of dialogue,
05:36 it was boycotted.
05:38 When people chant "Intifada revolution"
05:40 and "Death to the Zionist state,"
05:41 they're announcing their hatred for Jews,
05:43 not debating politics.
05:45 When they cheer for the Houthis,
05:46 quote, "Make us proud, turn another ship around,"
05:48 they're obviously demonstrating support for terrorism.
05:51 When they harangue us with chants of
05:54 "From the river to the sea,"
05:55 Shafik doesn't want us to believe
05:56 our own eyes and ears.
05:58 What our university president calls
06:00 a, quote, "political disagreement,"
06:01 a bipartisan resolution in Congress
06:04 makes it clear that the slogan
06:05 "From the river to the sea" is anti-Semitic
06:07 and calls for the total eradication
06:09 of the Jewish democratic state of Israel
06:11 and the annihilation of the 9 million people
06:13 who live there.
06:14 I'd like to personally thank
06:15 the members of Congress
06:16 on both sides of the aisle
06:18 for demonstrating leadership
06:19 and moral clarity on the topic,
06:20 and I hope my university can follow suit.
06:22 Those sentiments don't contribute
06:24 to academic debate,
06:26 and to be clear,
06:27 they are not limited to protests
06:28 and signage in specific areas.
06:30 We have been harassed with hateful slogans
06:32 in the dorms, dining halls, and classrooms.
06:34 All we've asked for is to be left alone,
06:36 protected on campus,
06:37 and able to study in peace.
06:39 After all the attention a few months ago,
06:41 it's shocking that I still have to deal
06:43 with a hostile learning environment
06:44 and an administration that is unwilling
06:47 or unable to enforce
06:48 the university's own policies.
06:50 An anti-Semitism task force
06:51 was created to placate concerned students,
06:54 but all it does is collect data.
06:55 There's absolutely no transparency
06:57 about what they're doing,
06:58 if anything, to the people violating
07:00 the university rules.
07:01 Four students were suspended
07:02 for planning an event supporting terrorism,
07:04 yet they showed up on campus the next day
07:06 and participated in a demonstration
07:08 in clear violation of their suspension.
07:10 I have to ask, where's the accountability?
07:13 Where's the tangible action to ensure
07:14 that we, as Jewish students,
07:16 are safe and welcome on Columbia's campus?
07:18 It is not enough to issue statements
07:20 condemning anti-Semitism.
07:21 We need concrete steps to address
07:23 the root causes of this hatred and bigotry.
07:26 Instead of tackling the problem head-on,
07:27 Columbia tries to normalize support
07:29 for terrorism and anti-Semitism
07:31 by conflating it with political criticism.
07:33 President Shafik writes that, quote,
07:35 "Anti-Semitism has been with us
07:36 for thousands of years.
07:38 The Jewish students on campus
07:39 have been under extreme duress since October."
07:42 Yet it took a summons before Congress
07:44 for Shafik to write that she hopes to, quote,
07:46 "begin to find common ground
07:48 in finding solutions to anti-Semitism."
07:50 In short, she wants to start the process
07:52 of starting the process.
07:53 But for Jewish students, the need is urgent.
07:56 The time for solutions is now.
07:58 Thank you.
07:58 We'll now hear from Eden Yadigar.
08:06 Thank you, Chairwoman Stefanik
08:18 and Chairwoman Fox,
08:19 for your steadfast commitment
08:21 to amplifying the voices and experiences
08:23 of American Jewish college students
08:25 in the face of pervasive anti-Semitism
08:28 plaguing our universities.
08:29 My name is Eden Yadigar,
08:31 and I'm an undergraduate student
08:33 at Columbia University.
08:34 I am a proud first-generation American,
08:37 a proud Jew,
08:38 and the daughter of immigrants
08:39 who fled Iran in the face
08:41 of religious persecution.
08:42 On February 29th,
08:44 I had the privilege of participating
08:46 in the roundtable convened
08:48 by the Committee on Education
08:49 and the Workforce,
08:50 focused on the scourge of anti-Semitism
08:52 on campuses across America.
08:54 Six weeks later,
08:56 I am disheartened to say
08:57 that this fact remains.
08:59 The Jewish community at Columbia is alone.
09:03 The subject of today's hearing
09:05 is "Columbia in Crisis,
09:07 Columbia University's Response
09:08 to Anti-Semitism."
09:09 Though a more appropriate title
09:12 would have been "Columbia in Crisis,
09:14 Columbia University's Failed Response
09:16 to Anti-Semitism."
09:17 In the five months following October 7th,
09:21 the Columbia administration sat idly by
09:23 as a tsunami of anti-Semitism
09:25 in the forms of harassment,
09:27 bullying, exclusion, intimidation,
09:30 and physical violence
09:31 flooded every aspect of campus life.
09:33 A tenured professor insisted
09:37 that people who are religiously observant
09:39 and go regularly to synagogue
09:41 are indoctrinated.
09:42 A student star of David Necklace
09:45 was ripped off her neck
09:46 as she walked to class.
09:47 On several occasions,
09:50 Jewish students have been accosted
09:51 by fellow Columbia students
09:53 who yelled, "Fuck the Jews,"
09:55 at them on campus,
09:57 in the kosher section of the dining hall,
09:59 and in the law school.
10:01 Many Jewish students are too fearful
10:03 to report incidents
10:04 of discrimination and harassment
10:06 that occur both in and out of the classroom
10:08 because of how little faith they have
10:10 that the university will take
10:11 the necessary steps to protect them.
10:13 The university's inaction
10:15 has left Jewish students abandoned.
10:17 Months of silence from our leadership
10:20 has conditioned us to believe
10:22 that the university does not care about us
10:24 and will not protect us.
10:25 Those in the Columbia faculty
10:28 and administration
10:29 that have allowed the situation
10:31 to reach this point
10:32 should be deeply ashamed.
10:33 They have failed their Jewish students.
10:36 Presumably in this hearing,
10:38 President Shafik will point to a handful
10:40 of very recent steps
10:42 taken to address
10:43 the anti-Semitic campus atmosphere.
10:45 These steps are necessary,
10:47 but not sufficient.
10:48 The fact that we have gotten to the point
10:51 of student suspensions
10:52 following an event
10:53 in which speakers tied to
10:54 U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations
10:58 praised and promoted Hamas, Hezbollah,
11:00 and the Islamic Jihad
11:02 should be cause enough for alarm.
11:03 I am here to call on our university leadership
11:07 to continue its recent trajectory
11:09 and take meaningful, sustained steps
11:11 to ensure that all students at Columbia
11:13 are able to learn free from hatred,
11:16 intimidation, and harassment of any kind.
11:18 I similarly urge this committee
11:20 to continue to hold
11:21 our university administration accountable
11:24 in implementing the necessary action
11:25 to affect such change.
11:28 To be clear,
11:29 and as we've seen in recent days
11:30 in cities across the U.S.,
11:32 freedom of speech
11:33 does not include freedom to harass.
11:35 Freedom of speech
11:37 does not include freedom to threaten.
11:39 Freedom of speech
11:40 does not include freedom to interfere
11:43 with the education of Jewish students,
11:45 nor of any students on campus.
11:47 The situation unfolding on our campus
11:50 does not just threaten Jewish students.
11:52 It is a fundamental attack
11:54 on Columbia's values
11:55 and on America's values.
11:57 Antisemitism is not
11:59 an exclusively Jewish issue,
12:01 nor is it a political one.
12:02 Antisemitism is an American issue,
12:05 and it must remain a bipartisan one.
12:07 In thy light shall we see light.
12:09 Columbia's motto captures the essence
12:12 of what drew me
12:13 and so many others to the university.
12:15 It epitomizes the Columbia
12:18 that I know can be.
12:19 Yet the Columbia that I currently attend
12:22 is unrecognizable from that version.
12:25 It is time to turn the light back on,
12:27 Columbia, and illuminate the way
12:29 for all of us.
12:30 Thank you.
12:30 Good morning.
12:38 These students who have spoken
12:43 have been incredibly articulate
12:45 and defining the problems
12:49 that we are seeing on our campuses
12:52 and particularly at Columbia.
12:55 I am so proud of them
12:57 for the way they have made
13:01 their statements
13:02 and argued their case.
13:05 They've told us,
13:09 along with other students,
13:11 that Jewish students, faculty, and staff
13:13 live and work in fear
13:15 on Columbia University's campus.
13:18 While antisemitism has been festering
13:21 on numerous college campuses,
13:24 Columbia University stands out
13:26 as one of the worst offenders.
13:28 Not only have Jewish members
13:31 of the community experienced
13:32 the administration's failure
13:34 to enforce its own policies firsthand,
13:37 but their lives have also been
13:39 further endangered,
13:41 as Columbia students, faculty, and staff
13:43 have supported and glorified terrorism,
13:46 even hosting an affiliate
13:48 of the terrorist group, PFLP.
13:51 These students have articulated
13:53 that again extremely well.
13:55 Today's hearing will expose
13:59 the pervasive and extreme antisemitism
14:02 present at Columbia
14:03 and allow Congress
14:06 to hold the university leaders accountable
14:09 for their unacceptable dereliction
14:12 of their duty to protect students,
14:14 Jewish students, and staff.
14:16 Columbia University must confront
14:19 antisemitism aggressively
14:22 and unequivocally.
14:24 This committee will continue
14:26 to hold Columbia's leaders accountable
14:28 until its students are guaranteed
14:31 the safe learning environment
14:34 they are entitled to.
14:35 Does anyone have any questions
14:39 you'd like to ask?
14:40 Yes.
14:42 [inaudible]
15:02 Well, I think it's up to the universities
15:05 to ensure the safety of their students.
15:08 That's what we have been doing
15:09 in this hearings, saying,
15:12 what are you doing to ensure
15:14 the safety of your students?
15:15 The administrations on these campuses
15:18 have got to take action to do that.
15:21 They collectively need to get a spine
15:24 and say, we're not going to tolerate
15:27 antisemitism and we're not going
15:30 to tolerate violence on our campuses.
15:33 Yes, ma'am.
15:37 [inaudible]
15:47 In terms of Columbia, again,
15:49 I think there's a lot of talk,
15:50 but we don't see much action
15:53 as the students have pointed out here today.
15:55 There's activity going on
15:58 on the campus this morning
15:59 that shouldn't be allowed.
16:02 So it's very hard to measure
16:05 what has been done so far.
16:07 Yes, ma'am.
16:09 [inaudible]
16:28 Are you asking, are we going to do
16:29 anything to hold students accountable?
16:31 [inaudible]
16:35 It's not up to this committee
16:37 to be holding those students accountable.
16:39 It's up to the university administrators
16:41 to hold them accountable.
16:42 We have to hold the administrators
16:45 accountable for what they're doing
16:47 or not doing.
16:48 Back in the back.
16:50 [inaudible]
17:03 Well, we're not getting good
17:05 and distinct answers
17:08 to the questions that we're asking,
17:10 but we'll keep asking
17:12 and we'll keep pushing.
17:13 So we've asked specific questions.
17:16 You all have the letters
17:18 that we have sent out
17:19 and we're going to continue
17:21 to press the schools
17:23 for specific information
17:25 and we will see how that turns out.
17:27 Yes, ma'am.
17:30 [inaudible]
17:31 It pays to be on the front row.
17:33 [inaudible]
17:44 What we have said
17:45 from the very beginning,
17:46 what not just our hope is,
17:50 but what should be
17:52 is that students and faculty
17:55 must feel safe on there.
17:57 They must be safe
17:59 and they must feel safe
18:00 on their campuses.
18:02 This is all about
18:04 the role of the university
18:05 in terms of focusing on
18:08 allowing the students
18:10 to get a good education.
18:12 They're not going to be able to do that
18:14 if they're distracted
18:15 for fear of their lives
18:17 or for fear of being accosted
18:21 by someone on their campuses.
18:23 We are exercising
18:25 our oversight responsibilities
18:27 and we're saying
18:28 to the campus administrators,
18:30 you have to keep your students safe.
18:34 [inaudible]
18:37 We'll continue to press the issue
18:41 as long as we can.
18:42 One more question.
18:45 [inaudible]
18:53 We haven't made a decision on that.
18:54 Thank you, everybody.