Many Anti-Israel Protesters Remain In ‘Good Standing’ At Columbia
Few students at Columbia University have faced discipline over the violent anti-Israel protests that plagued the campus throughout the spring semester, according to a report released Monday.
The report released by Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce details 138 cases involving students from eight separate incidents, in which only a handful are labeled “not in good standing.” The incidents include several unauthorized encampments and one instance of students overtaking a campus building during which a university employee was reportedly held hostage.
In one incident, 40 students were arrested during an encampment and were immediately placed on interim suspension, according to the report. The New York Police Department has since dropped the charges and 38 of the students remain in “good standing,” with the remaining two on disciplinary probation from prior hearings.
Another incident in which students allowed unauthorized individuals access to a university building and “endangered other University students” resulted in no disciplinary action due to “insufficient evidence to hold student accountable,” the report stated. The report often cites “insufficient evidence” as the reason behind the lack of discipline.
“Following the disruptions of the last academic year, Columbia immediately began disciplinary processes, including with immediate suspensions,” a Columbia spokesperson said, according to Inside Higher Ed. “The disciplinary process is ongoing for many students involved in these disruptions, including some of those who were arrested, and we have been working to expedite the process for this large volume of violations.”
The committee started its investigation of the university in February but claims Columbia has not been fully compliant in sending over the required documents, according to a letter sent to the university in August.
“By allowing its own disciplinary process to be thwarted by radical students and faculty, Columbia has waved the white flag in surrender while offering up a get-out-of-jail-free card to those who participated in these unlawful actions,” Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, who chairs the House committee, said in a statement. “Breaking into campus buildings or creating antisemitic hostile environments like the encampment should never be given a single degree of latitude—the university’s willingness to do just that is reprehensible.”
Hundreds of students were arrested in April from Columbia and other New York universities when protesters clashed with police and multiple reports of safety concerns and destruction of property were made. The university’s president, Minouche Shafik, stepped down in August following the controversial incidents.
Columbia University did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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