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1 of 6 | U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson calls on Columbia president Minouche Shafik to resign, during a press conference Wednesday on the steps of Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in New York City. Students in support of Palestine are protesting the university’s ties with Israel by camping on the university’s lawn. Photo by Sarah Yenesel/EPA-EFE
April 24 (UPI) — House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Columbia University president Nemat “Minouche” Shafik to resign during a tense news conference Wednesday on the New York City campus where he was loudly booed by pro-Palestinian students and activists.
“We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and anti-Semitism to flourish on our campuses, and it must be stopped in its tracks. Those who are perpetuating this violence should be arrested,” Johnson told the crowd from the steps of Low Memorial Library.
“I am here today, joining my colleagues and calling on President Shafik to resign if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos,” Johnson proclaimed, as protesters chanted “Free, free Palestine.”
“Administrators at Columbia have proven themselves to be incapable of achieving their basic responsibility, which is keeping students safe,” Johnson said. “Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are targeted on campus.”
Administrators at Columbia have proven themselves to be incapable of achieving their basic responsibly – keeping students safe.
I join my colleagues in calling on President Shafik to resign.
Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are targeted on campus. pic.twitter.com/GARHwgKF0M— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) April 24, 2024
Johnson, who was joined by other Republican lawmakers, met with Jewish students at the Ivy League university earlier Wednesday. Johnson also met with Shafik, who he told must take immediate action to solve the unrest on campus, or resign.
“We met briefly with the president and her top officials right before we came out on the steps here. We encourage her to take immediate action and stamp this out. And our feeling is that they have not acted to restore order on the campus,” Johnson said.
Columbia president Shafik has not commented on her meeting with Johnson, who vowed his next call would be to President Joe Biden.
“My intention is to call President Biden after we leave here and share with him what we have seen with our own two eyes and demand that he take action. There is executive authority that would be appropriate,” Johnson said.
“If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.”
As New York Gov. Kathy Hochul blasted Johnson, saying he should be focusing on Washington, D.C., instead of “politicizing” the situation at Columbia, the university said it would extend all talks on dismantling the encampment of protesters opposing Israel’s war in Gaza for another 48 hours.
The university said in an update that “significant progress” had been made in negotiations with student protesters who it said had agreed to dismantle and remove “a significant number of tents” and ensure that “those not affiliated with Columbia” will leave the encampment and that “only Columbia students will be participating in the protest.”
Columbia added that the student protesters agreed to comply with Fire Department of New York requirements and to take steps to ensure that the encampment is “welcome to all” while prohibiting “discriminatory or harassing language.”
The announcement came after Columbia University President Shafik said in a Tuesday statement that she hoped negotiations with students would be successful, but added, “if they are not, we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus so that students can complete the term and graduate.”
“I fully support the importance of free speech, respect the right to demonstrate, and recognize that many of the protestors have gathered peacefully,” she said. “However, the encampment raises serious safety concerns, disrupts campus life, and has created a tense and at times hostile environment for many members of our community.”
Shafik’s statement did not specify what “alternative options” it would look to employ but student organizers Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said in a statement after midnight Wednesday that Columbia had threatened to use the National Guard and NYPD to break up the protest camp.
They said they would not return to talks without assurances they would be protected from police and military violence.
They also vowed not to be intimidated by “the University’s disturbing threat of an escalation of violence.”
“Throughout history, we have seen peaceful student protesters violently repressed and attacked by the National Guard: from Black Lives Matter protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, to students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State in Ohio, who were brutally beaten and murdered for peacefully speaking out against war and destruction,” the group said.
The protests are happening in a charged atmosphere of allegations of anti-Semitism on campus as House Republicans held hearings and called on Shafik to ensure students have a safe learning environment. The hearings have demanded universities condemn anti-Semitism on campus.
Student protesters say they are not anti-Semitic, but are instead opposed to the state of Israel’s war policies that have resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza.
Israel invaded Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed approximately 1,200 Israelis.
The university said “there have been acts of vandalism on our campus since the protests began, reports of harassment and discrimination,” and current protest violates university rules.
“The university claims they want to return to ‘business as usual,’ as though the murder of over 30,000 Palestinians — the majority of whom are women and children — and the systematic destruction of every single university in Gaza can be construed as ‘business as usual,'” Columbia Students For Justice in Palestine said in a statement.
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