The president of Columbia University in New York defended Wednesday before parliamentarians the fight against anti-Semitism on her campus, shaken like many others in the United States by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
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Since the start of this conflict on October 7, Republicans have accused the leaders of prestigious American universities of not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism, in the wake of demonstrations by pro-Palestinian students.
This lively controversy led to the resignation of the president of the University of Pennsylvania Elizabeth Magill in December and of her Harvard counterpart Claudine Gay in January, notably following a stormy hearing in Congress.
Republican parliamentarians renewed the exercise on Wednesday with the leaders of Columbia, a renowned university based in Manhattan and the scene in the fall of demonstrations, sanctions and petitions around the war in Gaza, hit by a major humanitarian catastrophe.
Columbia is “a cradle for anti-Semitism and hatred,” attacked Republican elected official Virginia Foxx, president of the Education Committee, who initiated the parliamentary hearing on Wednesday. “Anti-Semitism must find no refuge in American universities,” she added.
“Anti-Semitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything possible to confront it,” responded Nemat Shafik, the president of the university.
AFP
“Columbia strives to be a space free of hatred and discrimination in all their forms, and we condemn anti-Semitism that has become omnipresent today,” she added.
Some 15 out of 37,000 have been suspended and several teachers are subject to disciplinary procedures, she said, “very small numbers” according to her.
The debates that agitate the American academic world have not subsided: on Monday, the public speech of a pro-Palestinian student was canceled by the University of Southern California (USC), which cited “security” reasons.
Accusations of anti-Semitism from Republicans have gained momentum in the context of a tense presidential campaign: Joe Biden is caught between his “unwavering” support for Israel and the support for the Palestinian cause of part of the electorate Democrat.
