Three takeaways from the Columbia University president’s testimony on antisemitism

Shafik said tenured professor Joseph Massad, who a day after the October 7 attack penned a piece online that labeled it “awesome,” had been “spoken to” by members of his department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies. Shafik walked back her on answer on his removal at committee chair, but then later confirmed he was under investigation for discriminatory remarks.

For nearly four hours, another Ivy League school president faced a Congressional grilling over antisemitism on campus. Columbia University President Minouche Shafik tried to avoid the firestorm of controversy that pushed out two of the three university presidents who testified on Capitol Hill in December. Shafik, who was traveling during that last hearing, had the advantage of time to avoid some, though not all, of the landmines. Here are three takeaways from today’s hearing. Shafik was better prepared for the question that tripped up the leaders of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania in December: whether calls for the genocide of Jews violate university rules. While the other university presidents provided lawyerly answers that went viral, Shafik and her three Columbia colleagues all unequivocally stated that such calls would violate the code of conduct at Columbia.