House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), backed by a small group of fellow Republican House members, had a simple message Wednesday for Columbia University students who have staged a protest in the university’s main plaza.
“Go back to class and stop that nonsense,” Johnson said at a news conference on the steps of the university library, as he and his fellow lawmakers were vigorously booed by some students.
“If we want to have a debate on campus about the merits of these things, let’s do it. But you cannot intimidate your fellow students and make them stay home from class,” he said.
Columbia was one of several elite colleges to see its campus roiled in recent weeks by activists angry at Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which the country launched after a bloody Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7.
In Columbia, protesters have set up the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ to demand that the school divest itself of financial interests in Israel, amid the military campaign in Gaza, which has so far killed some 34,000 Palestinians and caused famine led. The ongoing protests have prompted university president Nemat Shafik to announce that students can take virtual classes until the end of the semester.
The demonstrations have attracted both defenders and critics: Demonstrators have been accused of anti-Semitism and harassment of Jewish students, with some saying they feel unsafe. However, some demonstrators are Jews protesting in solidarity with Palestine, a sign of the divisions of the American Jewish community on the issue of Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
The Columbia government has tried to negotiate with the protesters to demolish the encampment. New York police arrested him on Thursday more than a hundred activists in a clearing of the encampment.
As he spoke in full view of protesters, Johnson was audibly heckled by students shouting, “We can’t hear you!” And “Mike, you’re evil!”
Johnson said the protests were part of a larger wave of anti-Semitism that he said is overtaking America’s campuses. He urged Shafik to resign “if she cannot immediately bring order to this chaos.”
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and former president of Mayland Community College in North Carolina, urged Shafik to take stronger action to quell the protests.
“If not, the committee will pursue all possible avenues to create a safe learning environment for Jewish students,” she said.
Practically speaking, there is little that Foxx’s committee or Congress could do immediately. Johnson said the House of Representatives has already passed bills on anti-Semitism, but they have not yet been brought up in the Senate.
Johnson’s appearance, where he was also endorsed by New York GOP Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, Anthony D’Esposito and Mike Lawler, comes at a dangerous time for the speaker. Johnson relied on Democratic votes to pass a proposal relief package for Ukraine Saturday, which President Joe Biden signed on Wednesday. The move was the latest in what some ultra-conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives see as a series of policy betrayals by Johnson.
In addition to potentially boosting his reputation for a willingness to publicly combat progressives, Johnson’s visit could also boost the political profiles of the New York members who appeared with him.
Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York, urged Johnson earlier in the day not to inflame the situation with a visit.
“I think politicizing this and inciting the entourage to spotlight this only deepens the division,” she told reporters in Albany. according to Politico.
“A speaker worthy of this title should actually be trying to heal people and not divide them, so I don’t think it adds anything.”
