• 8 months ago
At a House Education Committee hearing last week, Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) spoke to Columbia University officials about antisemitism on campus.

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Transcript
00:00 Thank you, Mr. Wahlberg.
00:01 Dr. Adams, you are recognized for five minutes.
00:06 Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank the witnesses for being here today.
00:11 Many of us here never would have imagined that we would be concerned about the safety
00:17 of Jewish Americans in New York.
00:19 Of all places, Jewish Americans have faced some of the highest levels of anti-Semitic
00:26 incidents since the FBI began monitoring.
00:30 Anti-Semitic incidents at U.S. college campuses have increased in both number and intensity
00:37 since October 7th, and as a former professor myself of 40 years, I'll tell you on a campus
00:43 that is unacceptable.
00:46 Seventy-three percent of Jewish college students have experienced or witnessed some form of
00:53 anti-Semitism since the beginning of the school year, and only one-third of Jewish students
00:59 felt safe on campuses.
01:01 I think every student should feel safe on any campus that they're studying on.
01:06 But Mr. Scheiser, let me ask you, you are co-chair of the Task Force on Anti-Semitism
01:12 on your campus.
01:14 How has the task force recognized the unique challenges that Columbia faces in dealing
01:20 with protests and demonstrations, harassment, allegations, and overall threats to segments
01:27 of the student population while being an urban and open campus in one of the largest cities
01:32 in the world?
01:34 It's a critical responsibility, Congresswoman, for exactly the reasons that you described.
01:39 This is not an acceptable situation.
01:41 I do want to say there are wonderful things happening at Columbia too, and part of what
01:46 moves me is how many people have pitched in to make sure that we deal with this problem.
01:51 But the problem is there, and it is not yet fixed.
01:54 And I will say that our first step was to look at rules for protests, and I am very
01:58 grateful that our responses have been taken so seriously.
02:02 And as I said, the university is implementing all of our recommendations, but we're only
02:06 just getting started.
02:07 We have another report coming out next month.
02:09 We've got to look at student orientations.
02:11 We've got to look at the way we train people who deal with students.
02:15 We've got to look at the policies for student groups to make sure that people don't get
02:19 excluded.
02:20 And then we have more reports that we have in mind for next year, including careful research
02:25 to get detailed insights into the people who've been victims of this discrimination, because
02:30 we need to understand it and we need to stop it.
02:33 Thank you, sir.
02:34 So you're expecting recommendations from this?
02:38 Okay.
02:39 So Columbia is over 270 years old.
02:43 That's almost three decades, or three centuries, actually.
02:48 It wasn't until 1873 that Columbia became an integrated institution by allowing its
02:54 first black student by the name of James R. Priest to enroll, who was also the son of
03:00 a former slave.
03:01 Over history, your missions and role have evolved as an institution of higher education.
03:07 My question to you is, how do the trustees work to ensure that Columbia remains true
03:14 to its practice of progress while making sure that it is welcoming and responsive to demographic
03:21 groups that it was not originally designed to serve?
03:25 Yes, it is.
03:30 So one of the great privileges of being at a university is a diverse student body.
03:36 People who come from very different backgrounds who then meet each other, learn from each
03:40 other, learn with each other, and we need to be sure that that continues to happen in
03:45 all the ways that universities do well.
03:48 And one of the challenges of the recent months is that I think we've fallen short in various
03:53 ways, but the aspiration is there, and our commitment to be welcoming and also open has
03:59 to apply to everyone.
04:01 Thank you.
04:02 Ms. Shipman or Mr. Greenwald, would you like to respond?
04:06 You've got 57 seconds.
04:10 I agree with Professor Schisser.
04:13 Bringing diverse people to campus, coming from different backgrounds, different places
04:18 in the country, different places around the world, is enriching to their educational experience.
04:24 Okay.
04:25 Ms. Shipman?
04:26 I agree with that.
04:28 Congresswoman, I would also say that fundamentally our institution has got to be about respect,
04:36 and that is sorely lacking on our campus right now, and we can have diversity and different
04:41 points of view, but if people are not listening and they're weaponizing their sentiments,
04:46 nobody's learning.
04:47 Yes, ma'am.
04:48 Well, certainly the goal should be to ensure that every member of a campus community can
04:53 reach their full potential without additional burdens of stereotypes and biases and systemic
04:58 barriers, and I hope that Columbia can take, and our universities can take some steps to
05:07 support students on the ground.
05:09 With that, Madam Chair, I'm going to yield back.
05:10 I only have about six seconds.
05:14 Thank you, Dr. Adams.

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