Washington, D.C. – House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik joined her colleagues to highlight their efforts to ensure the safety of Jewish students and community members at America’s universities and crack down on the antisemitic mobs that have overrun several campuses.
View the transcript of her remarks below:
“I want to thank the Speaker as well Chairwoman Foxx for visiting Columbia University’s campus last week to highlight moral leadership that is sorely needed and lacking when it comes to these university presidents. I also want to thank the Speaker for making this a priority for all of House Republicans. It is clear that Jewish families across this country, Americans across this country, are looking for moral clarity, and we are going to deliver where these higher education institutions have failed.
As the Speaker said last night at Columbia, America watched in disgust as President Shafik allowed an antisemitic, pro-terrorist mob to storm and seize an academic building holding faculty inside, flying pro-Hamas signs, and damaging property. Joe Biden, Far Left Democrat governors, like my homestate in New York, and morally bankrupt university leaders have allowed this moral rot of antisemitism to fester, refusing to enforce the laws and refusing to ensure the safety of Jewish students.
And it’s not just Columbia. This is a moral rot that has taken root across American higher education institutions. At Yale University, a Jewish student was stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag. At the University of Southern California, graduation was canceled due to the university being unable to guarantee the safety of students. Jewish students were barricaded in the library at Cooper Union. At my alma-mater, Harvard University, a Palestinian flag was hoisted at University Hall where the American flag always flies in clear violation of university policies.
There are dozens of these antisemitic encampments across the country. These mobs are breaking university rules leading to the targeting and harassment of Jewish students and faculty.
In December, at a hearing chaired by our Education and Workforce Chairwoman Viriginia Foxx, we exposed just how ingrained antisemitism has become at America’s so-called “elite” institutions and higher education. When I questioned the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn ‘Does calling for the genocide of jews violate your university’s code of conduct?’ one after the other, after the other, said ‘It depends on the context’. And the world heard. It is now the most viewed congressional testimony in history.
Eight days ago, I was the first Member of Congress to demand that Columbia President Shafik resign for her failure to disband the antisemitic mob consuming Columbia’s campus and her failure to ensure the safety of Columbia’s Jewish students. Instead, she negotiated with these self-proclaimed terrorists allowing their antisemitic mob to grow.
Enough is enough. It is time to restore law and order, academic integrity, and moral decency to America’s higher education institutions.
Joe Biden has been deafeningly silent. So I want to thank, again, the Speaker, as well as all of our Chairs, who will ensure this is a top priority for House Republicans. There can be NO moral equivalency. It is time to send a clear message to the world that antisemitism has no place in America. The world is indeed watching.”
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