Elise Stefanik threatens Haverford College president at latest hearing on campus antisemitism
(JTA) — Rep. Elise Stefanik is perhaps best known for grilling the leaders of three elite universities about campus antisemitism in December 2023, prompting two of them to step down.
On Wednesday, she warned the latest set of campus presidents sitting before her that they could meet the same fate.
The hearing on Wednesday was the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s eighth on campus antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023. It brought the presidents of Haverford College, DePaul University, and California Polytechnic State University to Capitol Hill to field a volley of questions regarding their response to antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests.
NYPD arrests more than 70 pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia library
(JTA) — Police arrested more than 70 pro-Palestinian protesters who crowded and occupied the main library of Columbia University, thrusting the New York City campus back into the center of campus tensions over Gaza.
Two Columbia public safety officers were injured in the incident, the school said.
The mass arrest, which was authorized by Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, comes about a year after Columbia was the epicenter of student anti-Israel protests. At the beginning of May 2024, police had stormed the campus to clear out and arrest protesters who had forcibly entered a campus building, alongside an encampment protest on the quad.
Trump administration condemns destructive pro-Palestinian protest at University of Washington
(JTA) — A pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Washington Monday night caused what school officials said was more than $1 million in damages to a new engineering building.
Around 30 protesters affiliated with a group that praised Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel were arrested in connection with the incident, according to local media reports.
The incident comes amid a flurry of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses aiming to channel the energy of last year’s national protest movement, which has spurred a backlash from the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would initiate a review of the incident in Seattle.
