What happened?

  • A congressional committee is investigating allegations that the leadership of Ivy League schools, including Columbia University, has failed to protect students and staff from rising antisemitism on their campuses.

  • The House investigation has already led to the resignations of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) President Elizabeth Magill and her Harvard counterpart Claudine Gay amid similar allegations against them.

  • Nemat Shafik, the president of Columbia University, will testify before the congressional committee that previously questioned the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania about antisemitism on their campuses.

  • The congressional committee has accused Columbia University of allowing a pervasive pattern of antisemitic assaults, harassment, and vandalism on campus since the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.

What is Arab media saying:

  • A congressional committee is investigating allegations that the leadership of the Ivy League school has failed to protect students and staff from rising anti-Semitism on its New York City campus. [aljazeera.com]

  • Pro-Palestinian protesters have alleged that they have been victimized by university authorities and that they have faced physical attacks in some instances. [aljazeera.com]

  • Others have accused university authorities of not doing enough to counter anti-Semitism on campus. [aljazeera.com]

  • The House investigation has been seen as a triumph for House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, a confessed “ultra-MAGA”, who ambushed the trio of university presidents at the tail end of a five-hour grilling. [aljazeera.com]

  • The House committee is trying to punish chants for legitimate Palestinian protest and dreams of freedom from occupation, which rights activists say is showing that it is less concerned about rights and the safety of people on campus and is focused more on partisan politics. [aljazeera.com]

What is International media saying:

  • Experts expect Shafik to forcefully and unequivocally state that calling for the genocide of the Jewish people has no place in a university and to adopt all recommendations issued by Columbia’s Task Force on Antisemitism. [washingtonexaminer.com]

  • The congressional committee has received roughly 4,000 pages of internal information from Columbia related to the antisemitism investigation. [nytimes.com]

  • Elise Stefanik, the No. 4 Republican in the House and a potential vice-presidential pick for Donald J. Trump, is expected to question Dr. Shafik aggressively. [nytimes.com]

  • Dr. Shafik has decades of experience dealing with complex situations, but she has not before faced a highly partisan congressional committee. [nytimes.com]

What is Israeli media saying:

  • Tensions and accusations of hate and bias have roiled Columbia, like at its sibling colleges, but Shafik has the benefit of hindsight in preparing her remarks. [timesofisrael.com]

  • In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, Shafik emphasized the delicate balance between protecting free speech and fostering a safe environment for students on campus. [timesofisrael.com]

  • “Calling for the genocide of a people — whether they are Israelis or Palestinians, Jews, Muslims or anyone else — has no place in a university community,” Shafik wrote. [timesofisrael.com]

Sources: