Palm Beach, FL — House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik joined Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany to discuss the House-wide probe into campus antisemitism which will not stop until Jewish students can feel safe on campus and the leadership of these universities are held accountable for failing to protect Jewish students.
Watch her full interview here.
View highlights from her interview below.
On House Republicans Probe into Antisemitic Mobs on University Campuses:
“Absolutely, and that’s going to be part of this House Republican wide probe, Kayleigh. That’s why it’s so important that we’ve expanded this investigation because it’s not just oversight of U.S. taxpayer dollars to these institutions. It’s student visas for foreign students who are harassing Jewish students, who are attacking Jewish students on campus. The outside agitators piece, absolutely, we need to work with our law enforcement to get to the bottom of it. And we are committed to doing so. Take Columbia: NYPD put out data that over 40 percent of the individuals were outside and unaffiliated with Columbia. Now, you still have Columbia professors and Columbia students, and they need to be expelled. But that’s why these investigations are so important. And as we saw, the hearing where my questions went viral, and the answers, the morally bankrupt answers from the presidents of Penn and Harvard that set off a real crisis across higher education that has been brewing for a very long time. And it’s House Republicans that are going to lead to protect Jewish students and specifically condemn antisemitism and get rid of this woke radicalization. And you know who has been so silent? Joe Biden.”
On Columbia University President Shafik Lying to Congress:
“What’s worse, Kayleigh, is that she testified that he was under investigation. There were two professors that are pro-Hamas professors that I asked about and she said that both were under investigation. It turns out that those professors then said to the New York Times, the day after the hearing, that there was no investigation, that they were not removed from the classroom, that they were not removed as academic chairs. So this is a real legal issue for Minouche Shafik who is president of Columbia. You can’t lie to Congress. That’s a federal offense and that’s why the document requests are so incredibly important to make sure we subpoena all the documents and lack thereof if there were no investigations which we now know there were not. So there was a lot more here. I think the Columbia strategy was to say whatever they had to say in the hearing to try to avoid the fate of presidents–former presidents–of Penn and Harvard. But the problem with that, Kayleigh, is there was no action to back it up. Columbia had not taken adequate action to hold those pro-Hamas professors accountable by suspending them and expelling them from campus, to hold the students accountable by expelling them from campus, and to protect Jewish students. They failed on all those counts.”
On Calling for Columbia University President Shafik’s Resignation:
“Of course. I was the first Member to call for her resignation. It’s clear that it’s out of control at Columbia. Just look at the fact that they are negotiating. She negotiated. She set these deadlines for when the pro-Hamas encampment needed to leave, and then she allowed these agitators to go beyond that deadline. There has been no enforcement. And what’s most important here is Jewish students have not been protected on Columbia’s campus, and it is required by Title VI, the Executive Order that you remember that President Trump put into place that protects Jewish students. They have failed at Columbia to follow the law, and Joe Biden’s Department of Education has failed to hold them accountable. That’s why it’s been so incredibly important that House Republicans have stepped in in our oversight capacity as good stewards of taxpayer dollars but also making sure that we are reining in these out of control, woke higher-ed institutions. And I will continue to lead this fight.”
