Columbia President Minouche Shafik faces rising calls from Congress to step down

Calls for Columbia President Minouche Shafik to resign surged Monday over what congressional critics described as her failure to rein in the virulent anti-Israel protests that have engulfed the Ivy League institution.

The eight Republicans in the New York House delegation fired off a letter Monday saying that the unrest that prompted Ms. Shafik to cancel in-person classes Monday “is a direct product of your policies and misguided decisions.”

“The ongoing situation that has unfolded is a direct symptom of your continued lax enforcement of policy and clear double standards,” reads the letter led by Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair.

“Your failure to enforce the rules on campus has created an environment in which students and outside agitators know they are able to operate with impunity and without any accountability,” they said. “While the rot is systemic, the responsibility rests squarely on your shoulders. It is time for Columbia University to turn the page on this shameful chapter. This can only be done through the restoration of order and your prompt resignation.”

Other congressional lawmakers urging her to step down include Sens. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, and Tim Scott, South Carolina Republican.

“President Nemat ‘Minouche’ Shafik needs to resign immediately for allowing students to turn their campus into a breeding ground for hatred,” Mr. Scott said in a Monday statement.

Mr. Fetterman compared the situation to the 2017 Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, posting on X: “Add some tiki torches and it’s Charlottesville for these Jewish students.”

Ms. Shafik has served as president for less than a year after assuming the top job in July, but her tenure coincided with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, which prompted Israel to declare war — and pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses to explode.

After months of appeasing radical pro-terror professors, @Columbia’s leadership has surrendered the campus to violent pro-Hamas antisemites. President Shafik has failed her most basic duty: Keeping students safe. She must resign. pic.twitter.com/iNiT3wFczR

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) April 22, 2024

Her testimony before the House Education and the Workforce Committee last week wasn’t disastrous — she agreed that calling for “genocide of Jews” would violate campus rules — but many lawmakers were critical of Columbia’s handling of rising antisemitism.

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx said in a Sunday letter that Columbia has violated Title VI with its “continued failure to restore order and safety,” saying that “multiple Jewish students” have left campus over “well-founded fears regarding their physical safety.”

At the same time, Ms. Shafik has run afoul of the pro-Palestinian left by calling on the New York Police Department last week to dismantle the week-old “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” Police arrested 108 demonstrators, according to the Columbia Spectator.

The student newspaper denounced Ms. Shafik in a Thursday staff editorial, accusing her of bringing in “a police force infested with systemic racism and armed with riot gear.”

“Unlike her predecessor’s steadfast commitment to free speech, Shafik has demonstrated a complete lack of consistency in enforcing her principles, failing to differentiate between speech she personally opposes and speech warranting suppression,” said the editorial.

The newspaper ran Monday an opinion article headlined “Shafik must resign” by alumnus Oren Root, who compared the situation to the 1968 campus arrests of anti-war protesters.

“Let’s hope that by August of this year, Shafik has followed her 1968 predecessors’ examples and resigned,” said Mr. Root.

Ms. Shafik called Monday for a “reset,” ordering classes to be held virtually while increasing security and convening a working group of administrators and faculty to “try to bring this crisis to a resolution.”