Schumer Denies Report That He Privately Dismissed Antisemitism Concerns at Columbia University, Blamed Scrutiny on GOP

Senator Schumer is denying that he advised Columbia University’s leaders to brush off criticism of their mishandling of campus antisemitism, telling them it’s just angry Republicans. A spokesman for the majority leader on Friday called the claims, made in a new House Committee report, “flat-out false.” Mr. Schumer “regularly and forcefully condemned antisemitic acts at Columbia and elsewhere saying ‘when protests shift to antisemitism, verbal abuse, intimidation, or glorification of Oct. 7 violence against Jewish people, that crosses the line.’ He conveyed this point publicly and to administrators privately,” a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Angelo Roefaro, told the New York Post on Thursday. “It’s worthy to note here that Republicans are citing words from someone who is not Chuck Schumer,” Mr. Roefaro. “That is called hearsay.”The 300-page report, drafted by the GOP-controlled House Committee on Education and the Workforce after a year-long investigation, draws evidence from emails and text messages from leaders of some of the country’s most elite higher education institutions — including those at Harvard, Columbia, and Yale. It offers a harrowing account of administrative neglect in the face of rising harassment, intimidation, and assault of Jewish students in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack. AP/J. Scott ApplewhiteIt also claims that Schumer quietly assured Columbia’s then-president, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, that everything would be fine.In text messages sent by Ms. Shafik to the co-chairs of Columbia’s board — obtained by subpoena by House investigators and published in the House report — the embattled Columbia president described private conversations she had with Mr. Schumer. The text messages were between Ms. Shafik and David Greenwald, a white shoe attorney, and Claire Shipman, the former NBC News White House correspondent who is married to Jay Carney, who was President Obama’s press secretary and now works for Amazon.Ms. Shafik told Mr. Greenwald and Ms. Shipman that during a January meeting, Mr. Schumer assured her that “universities [sic] political problems are really only among Republicans.” Ms. Shafik also wrote in the texts that an unnamed Schumer “staffer was of the view that best [sic] strategy is to keep heads down.” Ms. Shafik, a British baroness borned in Egypt who would later resign voluntarily from her post and return to England — also described Mr. Schumer as “very positive and supportive (and quite the storyteller).”Text messages between Columbia’s then-president and the co-chairs of Columbia’s board. House GOPThe House report paints a grim picture of Columbia’s Manhattan campus, which the committee identifies as “the site of some of the most disturbing and extreme antisemitic conduct violations in the country.” Though the committee also reports that those anti-Israel student agitators faced “shockingly few” disciplinary consequences for their infractions. They found that not one of the 22 students who were arrested in April for violently taking over Hamilton Hall were expelled, despite the administration promising to do so. Neither Columbia nor Ms. Shafik has publicly responded to the report. Soon after the report was published, Mr. Schumer — who currently stands as America’s highest ranking Jewish elected official — faced a barrage of criticism. A New York State assemblyman, Dov Hikind, lambasted Mr. Schumer — “The self-proclaimed protector of the Jewish People” — for being “nothing but a kapo, traitor.”(Kapo was a term for Jewish inmates at Nazi death camps who served in roles overseeing other inmates)Columbia University students at a rally on October 12, 2023 at New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images“He is a traitor to America, he is a traitor to the Jewish People,” Mr. Hikind said in a video posted to X on Thursday. “Shame on him! This is what the Democratic party has become.”Several Jewish students involved in high-profile lawsuits against their universities over its antisemitism voiced similar disapproval. A Harvard Divinity School graduate, Shabbos Kestenbaum, the only named plaintiff in the lawsuit against Harvard over its “pervasive” antisemitism, called Mr. Schumer’s actions “the greatest coverup of antisemitism in American history.” He added that “Jews will be voting accordingly on Tuesday.”A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Eyal Yakoby, who testified before the House in a hearing about campus antisemitism, called the allegations “a complete betrayal of American Jews.” In a follow up post on X, Mr. Yakoby offered to organize a panel of Jewish students for Mr. Schumer to meet with “if he is interested.” The fallout will likely place additional pressure on Mr. Schumer to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the Senate, after months of delay. The bill, which would require the Education Department to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, passed the House with bipartisan support back in May. On Thursday, Arkansas’s Senator, Tom Cotton, shared on X an ad that was launched over the summer by the Florence Avenue Initiative criticizing Mr. Schumer for squelching the bill and claiming that he “plays politics.” “An important video exposing Schumer for refusing to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act for a vote,” Mr. Cotton wrote on X. “If you’re concerned about the rampant violent antisemitism, vote Republican.”

Schumer Denies Report That He Privately Dismissed Antisemitism Concerns at Columbia University, Blamed Scrutiny on GOP

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