House Speaker Mike Johnson was met with a chorus of boos on Wednesday as he visited Columbia University in New York City to address the school’s hostile takeover by radical anti-Israel activists.
During his remarks to students, many of whom had been camped out for a week threatening their Jewish classmates, Johnson was drowned but refused to back down while calling for order.
“We respect free speech, we respect diversity of ideas, but there is a way to do that in a lawful manner, and that’s not what this is,” the Louisiana Republican told the crowd.
His comments were met with chants such as “Mike, you suck!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
#NOW Protesters chant “Mike you suck! Mike you suck!” As Speaker Mike Johnson is at Columbia University Encampment to speak to students and the press.
Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 [email protected] to license pic.twitter.com/LAmHuECXds
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) April 24, 2024
“It does not matter who shouts in our faces, we are going to do what’s right by America,” Johnson told the angry demonstrators.
Some in the crowd also taunted the speaker over an effort by Republicans such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust him, Axios reported.
One person was heard shouting, “How does it feel knowing your own party’s going to vote you out!?”
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Johnson responded by telling those heckling him to enjoy their free speech but advising them to educate themselves about Israel’s war against radical Islamic terror.
While on campus, the speaker also said Congress would not be silent while Jews were afraid to go to class at an American university.
Speaker Mike Johnson calls on Columbia University President Shafik to resign “if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos.” pic.twitter.com/O4zGsDSrxr
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) April 24, 2024
He further called on Columbia President Minouche Shafik to resign from her position if she is unable or unwilling to restore order at the Ivy League school.
Johnson later addressed his visit to Columbia during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters.
“We were looking out to a sea of students’ faces with rage,” the speaker said. “So many of them don’t even know what the heck they’re talking about. They don’t know what Hamas has done. They deny the facts of Oct. 7. Some of them denied 9/11.”
He concluded, “We have to call this madness out for what it is: It was chaos on that campus.”
Today, I saw firsthand the radical mob Columbia has allowed to run amok on campus, spouting antisemitism and threatening Jewish students.
If universities don’t get it under control, it will escalate.
Taxpayer dollars should not be going to institutions that allow this chaos. pic.twitter.com/drFd8WCuqJ
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) April 25, 2024
The speaker was joined at Columbia Wednesday by fellow House Republicans Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Nicole Malliotakis, Anthony D’Esposito and Mike Lawler of New York.
Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to make arrests and clear out the encampment on her campus earlier this week, and more than 100 people were eventually detained, CNN reported.
However, the campus remained the site of a chaotic spectacle days later.
