Earlier today we called your attention to Columbia University history professor Christopher Brown’s call for the resignation of president Minouche Shafik. He is not alone. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is also calling for Shafik’s resignation, albeit for very different reasons.
Here is Lexi Lonas at The Hill:
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for Columbia University’s president to resign, ahead of his visit to the school Wednesday.
“This President Shafik has shown to be a very weak, inept leader. They cannot even guarantee the safety of Jewish students? They are expected to run for their lives and stay home from class? It’s maddening,” Johnson said in a radio interview with Fox News’s Hugh Hewitt.
Numerous lawmakers have visited Columbia after pro-Palestine protesters set up an encampment a week ago and have refused to leave until the school agrees to divest from Israel or companies associated with its war effort.
Johnson will tour the school and have lunch with Jewish students who have said they felt fear on their campus the past few months.
Columbia announced this week classes would be hybrid the rest of the semester because of the unrest and safety concerns.
“What we are seeing on these college campuses across the country is disgusting and unacceptable and every leader in this country, every political official, every citizen of good conscience has to speak out and say that, ‘This is not who we are in America,’” Johnson said. He added there must be “accountability and that is what my colleagues and I will be working on.”
Read the rest here.