FIRST ON FOX: House Republican lawmakers are urging main Columbia College donors who’re outraged on the anti-Israel protests on campus to talk out with their wallets.
“As Members of Congress, we urge donors and individuals affiliated with Columbia University to condemn the antisemitic incidents occurring on the university’s campus by pulling donations and support for the university until there are demonstrable changes in leadership, including the resignation of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik,” Home Republicans, led by Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., wrote in an open letter to the Ivy League’s huge and influential alumni and donor community.
For days, college students at Columbia and its sister college, Barnard School, have camped out on the Higher Manhattan campus whereas holding demonstrations in protest of Columbia’s investments in corporations with ties to Israel. It is a part of a wider progressive backlash towards Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror assaults towards the Jewish state.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MOVES TO HYBRID LEARNING ON MAIN CAMPUS AMID ANTISEMITIC PROTESTS
Home Republicans, led by Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., inset, are urging Columbia College’s prime donors to tug their {dollars} from the college over its anti-Israel protests. (Getty Pictures)
However that protest and comparable ones cropping up at faculties across the nation at the moment are going through bipartisan backlash and accusations of getting waded into antisemitic territory.
Social media movies from the anti-Israel tent encampment on Columbia’s campus present activists cheering on the deaths of Israeli troopers and exhibiting assist for Hamas. Jewish college students have reported feeling unsafe on campus and shared tales of being verbally and bodily assaulted.
“They were pushing and shoving me… They threw rocks at my face. At that moment, my life was totally threatened. And there was no safety authority on campus,” one scholar told NY1 over the weekend.
Columbia College, the place college students have arrange what’s being known as a Gaza Solidarity Encampment, is seen in New York on Wednesday. (Getty Pictures)
Of their open letter, the Home GOP lawmakers urged donors to comply with the instance of Robert Kraft, the billionaire proprietor of the New England Patriots, who pulled his assist earlier this week in response to the protests.
“We encourage all supporters of the university to do the same and call for the resignation of President [Minouche] Shafik,” they wrote.
“The university should also provide a thorough review of all school funding and investigate the outside forces influencing students and agitators to participate in these disruptive and violent incidents that target and intimidate Jewish students on campus,” they continued.
“Additionally, we urge all individuals affiliated with the university to call for a transparent and thorough audit of all university funding concerning the anti-Israel movement on campus, and what outside groups are contributing and influencing students and agitators to participate. ”
New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft just lately introduced he would cease his donations over the protests. (Michael Reaves/Getty Pictures)
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It comes a day after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., traveled to Columbia with Home Training and Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and three New York Republicans, the place he denounced the protests and reiterated his earlier name for Shafik to resign.
“I’m here today joining my colleagues in calling on President Shafik to resign if she can not immediately bring order to this chaos,” Johnson stated as college students heckled. “As Speaker of the Home, I’ve dedicated at present that the Congress won’t be silent as Jewish students are anticipated to run for his or her lives and keep residence from their lessons hiding in worry.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Columbia College for remark.
