Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik joined Fox News’ Martha MacCallum to discuss the pro-Hamas, antisemitic mob that took over an academic building at Columbia last night. Stefanik reiterated her commitment to protect Jewish students and hold these colleges and universities accountable for fostering an environment that allowed antisemitism to grow.
Watch her full interview here.
View highlights from her interview below.
On The Morally Bankrupt Testimony of University Presidents:
“The hope in those hearings was to highlight the importance of our universities to protect Jewish students and to strongly and clearly condemn antisemitism. We have seen the exact opposite in the case of both Harvard and Penn while their university presidents were forced out because of their morally bankrupt answers to my question in that historic hearing. We have not seen those schools step up to protect Jewish students. Then, of course, we have the Columbia University hearing with President Shafik where clearly their strategy was: Say whatever you have to get through the hearing to try to avoid the fate of the Penn and Harvard President, but yet, they weren't taking actions any action on campus to protect Jewish Students, to address the rise of antisemitism. And now you see President Shafik just failing instead of standing up for safety and security on campus. Instead of showing moral leadership, they have allowed the pro-Hamas mob to violently take over the historic Hamilton hall named after Alexander Hamilton. So our schools are in a crisis across America, not just at the elite schools, but you're seeing at higher ed institutions across America, which is why House Republicans, under Speaker Johnson's leadership, have announced a congressional wide investigation and probe on this, looking at federal dollars, looking at the foreign student visa, looking at foreign funding, making sure that we're standing up for U.S. taxpayers who fund many of these institutions. There is so much work to do, Martha.”
On If Student Protestors Attending College On A Student Visa Should Be Deported:
“Yes, absolutely. They should be deported. Just take a step back, Martha. These are, I don't call them protesters, they are pro-Hamas members of a mob who are calling for the eradication of Israel. They are calling for genocide against Jews, around the world, and in America. It is unthinkable that we are allowing this to happen at U.S. universities. We're supposed to be the moral leader, and our university presidents have absolutely failed. And you know who else has failed? The professors who instead of standing up for academic integrity and moral leadership are supporting these university presidents who become apologists for this antisemitic, not only verbal harassment, but behavior. So yes, they absolutely should be deported.”
On Universities Failing To Support Jewish Students:
“People around the world are watching. There is a reason why the testimony of the Harvard, Penn, and MIT Presidents was the most viewed testimony in the history of the United States Congress with over one billion views in a week. And that wasn't just views within America. That was views around the world. So these universities need to step up, and they are failing to do so. So Congress is going to step in because remember, Martha, billions of dollars of hard earned taxpayer dollars go to support these universities, and American taxpayers don't want to support antisemitism. They oppose antisemitism. And we know that we're going to continue to stand up for what's morally right. And the other double standard that we're seeing for these universities, in the case of Columbia, Harvard, Penn, they ranked the lowest of the low when it comes to standing up for freedom of speech. They only vociferously defend freedom of speech when it comes to calling for the genocide of Jews. And that hypocrisy has been so clear.”
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