Columbia University’s new president once called Congress hearings on antisemitism ‘Capitol Hill nonsense’: Report

Columbia University’s newly-appointed president once called Congressional hearings on campus antisemitism “Capitol Hill nonsense.” Claire Shipman recently replaced Katrina A. Armstrong as Columbia University's acting president.

In a December 28, 2023, text message, Claire Shipman reportedly wrote to then university president Minouche Shafik, saying that she thought Columbia would be spared from the “capital hill nonsense," New York Post reported.

Campus protests against Gaza war

She had referred to December 2023 Congressional hearings in which the presidents of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and MIT testify about campus protests against the war in Gaza.

Following the tense hearings, Harvard’s Claudine Gay and Penn’s Liz Magill resigned. They were grilled on whether calling for the killing of Jews would violate their school’s bullying and harassment policies — and answered that it depended on the context, the report added.

‘Capital hill nonsense’

Shipman’s text messages about the hearings were revealed in a 325-page October report from the Republican House Committee on Education and the Workforce that included leaked messages between university officials.

The 325-page House Committee on Education and the Workforce Committee report stated that Columbia’s leaders expressed contempt for "Congressional oversight of campus antisemitism".

According to the report, "Shipman celebrated a complimentary New York Times story that suggested that Columbia and thenPresident Minouche Shafik had navigated tensions over the Israel-Hamas war more deftly than other Universities. In a text message to Shafik, Shipman wrote of the article, “most critically I think it heavily inoculates us for a while from the capital hill nonsense and threat.”

In the same text message, Shipman also suggested reinstating student groups that had participated in the protests.

“I do think we should think about unsuspending the groups before semester starts to take the wind out of that,” she reportedly told Shafik in the message.

New Columbia President

Shipman took over as the president after Armstrong resigned. Her resignation was the second in less than a year over the university’s handling of campus protests.

"Armstrong is returning to lead the University's Irving Medical Center," Columbia University said in a statement on Friday. It did not give a reason for the change.

"Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search," it added.

Assuming the role as the new Acting President of Columbia University, Claire Shipman said, “I assume this role with a clear understanding of the serious challenges before us and a steadfast commitment to act with urgency, integrity, and work with our faculty to advance our mission, implement needed reforms, protect our students, and uphold academic freedom and open inquiry."