At a congressional hearing, Columbia University’s president has condemned antisemitism, while defending her handling of Gaza war protests.
Asked if calls for genocide of Jews were against college policy, Dr Nemat Shafik unequivocally said they were.
But she hedged when asked about another slogan widely seen as antisemitic.
A similar hearing last year saw two other Ivy League university heads slammed for their responses on campus antisemitism. Both later resigned.
“Columbia strives to be a community free of discrimination and hate in all its forms, and we condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today,” Dr Shafik told the Republican-led House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday.
But when asked by Michigan Republican Lisa McClain whether phrases used by some pro-Palestinian activists, such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, were antisemitic, Dr Shafik was less clear.
“I hear them as such, some people don’t… it’s a difficult issue because some people hear it as antisemitic, other people do not,” she said.
Jewish groups say the slogan – which refers to the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea – is a call for the destruction of the state of Israel. Those who defend the phrase say it is a pro-Palestinian independence rallying cry.
Three other officials from the New York City college testified during Wednesday’s hearing.
“My thoughts are that you are right that we have a moral crisis on our campus,” co-chairwoman of the board of trustees, Claire Shipman, told the committee.
“You’re probably tired of hearing that I find the behaviour of some of our students, some of our faculty, unacceptable.”
Before the officials appeared, hundreds of Columbia students supporting Palestine set up tents on a campus lawn and pledged to occupy the space until the university divested from companies with ties to Israel, according to the student newspaper, Columbia Spectator, and Fox News.
Since the 7 October attack by Hamas that sparked the Israel-Gaza war, Republicans in Congress have accused elite US universities, such as Columbia, of being a haven for antisemitic hate.
While Dr Shafik said there had been a rise in such hatred on campus since October, she said the college was working to protect students.
She told the hearing that 15 students had been suspended and six were on probation for violating rules regarding campus protests.
Last year, the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were condemned by politicians and alumni for their appearance at a hearing before the same House committee.
The presidents of Harvard and UPenn resigned after facing backlash for declining to provide a clear answer to whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” was against their university policies.
On Wednesday, all four Columbia officials answered “yes” to the same question.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
