(Headline USA) Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called on the Biden administration this week to revoke federal funding from Columbia University over the school’s response to disruptive anti-Israel protests on campus.
In a letter to top Biden officials, including Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Stefanik argued the school—and specifically Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik—had repeatedly violated the Civil Rights Act by failing to shut down the anti-Israel protests and protect Jewish students.
“The ongoing situation that has unfolded is systemic of Columbia University leadership’s failures to address ongoing antisemitism, failure to enforce campus policies, and failure to fulfill her responsibilities under federal law,” she wrote.
“Due to her lack of action, President [Minouche] Shafik has ceded control of campus and is failing to provide the equal protections guaranteed for students under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Stefanik continued. “By knowingly allowing this to continue, Columbia University is complicit in this violation.”
There is “clear and convincing” evidence that Jewish students attending Columbia have been targeted and discriminated against by anti-Israel protesters, the congresswoman argued.
She cited an announcement from last November that the Education Department would be investigating Columbia, along with seven other schools, over alleged incidents of anti-Semitism.
“It is past time for the Department of Education to publish the findings,” Stefanik said. “Furthermore, the Department must take action to revoke any federal funding flowing to Columbia and similar institutions so taxpayers are not funding the ongoing discrimination.”
Stefanik was one of several congressional Republicans who grilled Shafik over her handling of anti-Semitism on campus during a congressional hearing last week. She accused Shafik of giving into student-orchestrated “anarchy” instead of punishing the disruptive protesters.
The protests on Columbia’s campus have resulted in more than 100 arrests in the past week.
