BREAKING NEWS: Elise Stefanik Leads Press Briefing On Antisemitism With Columbia University Students

good morning thanks for being here today good morning today House Republicans led by chairwoman Fox will continue our investigation of the heinous scorge of anti-Semitism running rampant on America's college campuses a few months ago when the university presidents of Harvard Penn and MIT testified they made history for their morally bankrupt answers as the most testimony in the history of the United States Congress and two are now former presidents and after billions of views and World outcry it set off a long overdue earthquake in higher education the Columbia University president was invited to that hearing but did not attend today the Colombia president will appear in front of the education and Workforce committee along with Board of Trustees leaders and we will hold them accountable for their failure to combat anti-Semitism on their campus and their failure to protect Jewish students for over 200 years Colombia University has held the same motto quote in thy light shall we see light taken from Psalms Colombia claims to work in God's light sadly for all the Jewish students on their campus this could not be further from the truth fueled by hatred and ignorance unchecked anti-Semitism has become common place on Colombia's campus Nazi era anti-semitic propaganda litters the grounds swas ia's graffiti school property and mobs assaulting Jewish students professors openly supporting Hamas and calling for the genocide of the Jewish people meanwhile despite claims otherwise Colombia's leadership refuses to enforce their own policies and condemned Jewish hatred on campus creating a breeding ground for anti-Semitism and a hot bed of support for terrorism from radicalized faculty and students just look at the campus reaction following the tragic events of October 7 over 150 Colombia faculty Justified the terrorist attack on Israel resulting in the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust A Colombia Professor penned an article glorifying Hamas and anti-israel student groups invited known members of a terrorist group to speak in support of the terrorist Slaughter this hearing is an important step towards transparency and accountability in chairwoman Fox's investigation and in our oversight of the failure of colleges and universities to condemn and combat anti-Semitism and their failure to protect Jewish students before our hearing we wanted to make sure that America hears the firsthand experiences directly from Jewish students studying at Colombia we are joined today by Eden yagar a junior at Columbia University and Yola ashkanazi a senior at Barnard we're going to begin with Yola good morning thank you for having me after the testimony before this group back in November regarding anti-Semitism on us campuses I couldn't imagine that almost half a year later we'd be having a similar conversation but I appreciate the opportunity to share with you and the American people what's happening today on the Columbia University campus my name is Yola ashkanazi and I'm a student at Columbia University you've all seen the wave of hatred for Jews that has swept college campuses in the last six months for Jewish students like myself we've lived it for most students the College Years provide an opportunity to find belonging on campus Colombia meanwhile has recognized clubs that say things like quote zionists not invited and the Holocaust wasn't that special there have been swas drawn in the international Affairs building and in h Meer Hall we've been subject to an endless barrage of rhetoric and divisive actions that have left us marginalized and unsafe Columbia permits hate rallies on our campus that call for violence and the ation of the Jewish State chance of we don't want no zionists here death to the Zionist State and call for inapa revolution reverberated across our buildings targeting every Jewish Israeli and Zionist student on February 2nd one of my friends was physically held against the wall outside of Dodge fitness center by hateful demonstrators because he was wearing an item that identified him as Jewish when reporting the incident Columbia Public Safety Officer suggested he not wear anything identifying identifying him as Jewish when tensions are high and when Columbia Professor Joseph mad publicly praised Kamas attacks as quote awesome just days after their Massacre on Israeli civilians and when he attended the unauthorized rally on April 4th he sent a chilling message that violence against Jews is permissible on our campus and Colombia students as we have seen have followed suit I and all other Jewish students can share countless more examples of what we've been subjected to on campus but perhaps more disheartening is the endless Gaslight of Jewish students by Columbia University's Administration when seeking help to understand our frustration you don't need to look any further than president shafi's oped in the Wall Street Journal yesterday president shafik absurdly claims quote most of the people protesting on Columbia's campus do so from a place of genuine political disagreement not from personal hatred or bias or support for terrorism while I don't doubt that many of my peers are seeking to express their political opinions peacefully what I and other pro-israel students at Colombia have been subjected to is not well-intentioned political debate it has not been debate at all when Barnard hosted a day of dialogue it was boycotted when people chant inata Revolution and death to the Zionist state they're announcing their hatred for Jews not debating politics when they cheer for the hotis quote make us proud turn another ship around they are obviously demonstrating support for terrorism when they when they herang us with chance of from The River To The Sea shafik doesn't want us to believe our own eyes and ears what our University president president calls a quote political disagreement a bipartisan res resolution in congress makes it clear that the slogan from the river to the sea is anti-Semitic and calls for the total eradication of the Jewish Democratic state of Israel and the annihilation of the 9 million people who live there I'd like to personally thank the members of Congress on both sides of the aisle for demonstrating leadership and moral Clarity on the topic and I hope my University can follow suit those sentiments don't contribute to AC academic debate and to be clear they are not limited to protest and signage and spe specific areas we have been harassed with hateful slogans in the dorms dining halls and classrooms all we've asked for is to be left alone protected on campus and able to study in peace after all the attention a few months ago it's shocking that I still have to deal with a hostile learning environment and an Administration that is unwilling or unable to enforce the University's own policies an anti-Semitism task force was created to Plate concerned students but all it does is collect data there's absolutely no transparency what about what they're doing if anything to the people violating the university rules four students were suspended for planning an event supporting terrorism yet they showed up on campus the next day and participated in a demonstration in clear violation of their suspension I have to ask where is the accountability where is the tangible action to ensure that we as Jewish students are safe and welcome on Colombia's campus it is not enough to issue statements condemning anti-Semitism we need concrete steps to address the root causes of this hatred and bigotry instead of tackling the problem head-on Colombia tries to normalize support for for terrorism and anti-Semitism by conflating it with political criticism president shaik writes that quote anti-Semitism has been with us for thousands of years the Jewish students on campus have been under extreme duress since October yet it took a summon before Congress for shaik to write that she hopes to quote begin to find common ground in finding solutions to anti-Semitism in short she wants to start the process of starting the process but for Jewish students the need is urgent the time for Solutions is now thank you we'll now hear from Eden yadigar thank you chairwoman stonic and chairwoman fox for your steadfast commitment to amplifying the voices and experiences of American Jewish college students in the face of pervasive anti-Semitism plaguing our universities my name is Eden yadigar and I an undergraduate student at Columbia University I am a proud first generation American a proud Jew and the daughter of immigrants who fled Iran in the face of religious persecution on February 29th I had the privilege of participating in the round table convened by the committee on education and the workforce focused on the scourge of anti-Semitism on campuses Across America six weeks later I am disheartened to say that this fact remains the Jewish community at Colombia is alone the subject of today's hearing is Colombia in crisis Colombia University's response to anti-Semitism though a more appropriate title would have been Columbia in crisis Columbia University's failed response to anti-Semitism in the 5 months following October 7th the Colombia Administration sat idly by as a tsunami of anti-Semitism in the forms of harassment bullying exclusion intimidation and physical violence flooded every aspect of Campus Life a tenear professor insisted that people who are religiously observant and go regularly to synagogue are indoctrinated a student Star of David necklace was ripped off her neck as she walked to class on several occasions Jewish students have been accosted by fellow Columbia students who yelled the Jews at them on campus in the kosher section of the dining hall and in the law school many Jewish students are too fearful to report incidents of discrimination and harassment that occur both in and out of the classroom because of how little faith they have that the university will take the necessary steps to protect them the University's in action has left Jewish students abandoned months of Silence from our leadership has conditioned us to believe that the university does not care about us and will not protect us those in the Columbia faculty and administration that have allowed the situation to reach this point should be deeply ashamed they have failed their Jewish students presumably in this hearing president shafik will point to a handful of very recent steps taken to address the anti-semitic campus atmosphere these steps are necessary but not sufficient the fact that we have gotten to the point of student suspensions following an event in which speakers tied to us designated foreign terrorist organizations praised and promoted Hamas Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad should be caused enough for alarm I am here to call on our University leadership to continue its recent trajectory and take meaningful sustained steps to ensure that all students at Colombia are able to learn free from hatred intimidation and harassment of any kind I similarly urge this committee to continue to hold our University Administration accountable in implementing the necessary action to affect such change to be clear and as we've seen in recent days in cities across the us freedom of speech does not include freedom to harass freedom of speech does not include freedom to threaten freedom of speech does not include freedom to interfere with the education of Jewish students nor of any students on campus the situation unfolding on our campus does not just threaten Jewish students it is a fundamental attack on Colombia's values and on America's values anti-Semitism is not an exclusively Jewish issue nor is it a political one anti-Semitism is an American issue and it must remain a bipartisan one in thy light shall we see light Colombia's motto captures the essence of what drew me and so many others to the university it epitomizes the Colombia that I know can be yet the Columbia that I currently attend is unrecognizable from that version it is time to turn the light back on colia and illuminate the way for all of us thank you good morning these students who have spoken have been incredibly articulate and defining the problems that we are seeing on our campuses and particularly at Colombia I am so proud of them for the way they have made their statements and argued their case they've told us along with other students that Jewish students faculty and staff live and work in fear on Colombia University's campus while anti-Semitism has been festering on numerous college campuses Columbia University stands out as one of the worst offenders not only have Jewish members of the community experienced the administration's failure to enforce its own policies firsthand but their lives have also been further endangered as Colombia students faculty and staff have supported and glorified terrorism even hosting an affiliate of the terrorist group pflp these students have articulated that again extremely well today's hearing will expose the pervasive and extreme anti-Semitism president Colombia and allow Congress to hold the university leaders accountable for their unacceptable dereliction of their duty to protect students Jewish students and staff Colombia University must confront anti-Semitism aggressively and unequivocally this committee will continue to hold Colombia's leaders accountable until its students are guaranteed the safe learning environment they are entitled to does anyone have any questions you'd like to ask yes and is well I think it's up to the universities to ensure the safety of their students that's what we have been doing in this hearings hearings saying what are you doing to ensure the safety of your students the administrations on these campuses have got to take action to do that they collectively need to get a spine and say we're not going to tolerate um anti-semitism M and we're not going to tolerate violence on our campuses this me um in terms of Colombia again I think there's a lot of talk but we don't see much action as the students have pointed out here today uh there's activity going on on the campus this morning morning uh that shouldn't be allowed so it's very hard to measure what has been done so far yes ma'am are you asking are are we going to do anything to hold students accountable it's not up to this committee to be holding those students accountable it's up to the university administrators to hold them accountable uh we have to hold the administrators accountable for what they're doing or not doing back in the back I'm well we're not getting good and uh distinct answers to the questions that we're asking but we'll keep asking and we'll keep pushing so uh we've asked specific questions you all have the letters that we have sent out and we're going to continue to press the schools for specific information and we will see how that turns out yes ma'am it pays to be on the front row are youres what we have said from the very beginning what not just our hope is but what should be is that students and faculty must feel safe on their they must be safe and they must feel safe on their campuses this is all about the role of the university in terms of focusing on allowing the students to get a good education they're not going to be able to do that if they're distracted for fear of their lives or for fear uh of of being accosted by someone on their campuses that we are exercising our oversight responsibilities and we're saying to the campus administrators you have to hold keep your students safe uh we'll continue to press the issue as long as we can one more question um we haven't made a decision on that thank you everybody same

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Length: 18min 59sec (1139 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 17 2024