University presidents have become 'apologists' for antisemites: Rep. Stefanik
House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., tells 'The Story' Congress is probing colleges and funding.
As anti-Israel demonstrations continue to heat up on campuses nationwide, one of the top Republicans in the House called for those protesters spewing antisemitic vitriol who happen to be attending U.S. universities on a foreign (F1) visa to be deported.
"Yes, absolutely. They should be deported," Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said Tuesday on "The Story." "They are pro-Hamas members of a mob who are calling for the eradication of Israel. They are calling for genocide against Jews around the world and in America. It is unthinkable that we are allowing this to happen at U.S. universities."
Stefanik, the House GOP Conference chairwoman, also told Fox News that university presidents who refuse to blunt antisemitism and pro-Hamas ideologies are acting as "apologists."
Stefanik, whose tough questioning of now-former University of Pennsylvania and Harvard presidents over their perceived condoning of antisemitism and threats against Jewish students on campus, said she sees some unfortunate parallels in the behavior of Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik.
Shafik earlier this week drew a proverbial red line and promised academic repercussions for students who continued to participate in the tent-filled, day-and-night protests on the quad, but little punishment has been doled out.
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Stefanik said she hoped the House Education & the Workforce Committee hearings featuring the other administrators would have served as a reminder to protect students of all faiths and condemn antisemitism.
"We have seen the exact opposite in the case of both Harvard and Penn. While their university presidents were forced out because of their morally bankrupt answers to my question in that historic hearing, we have not seen those schools step up to protect Jewish students," she said.
"Then, of course, we have the Columbia University hearing with President Shafik, where clearly their strategy was say whatever you have to to get through the hearing, to try to avoid the fate of the Penn and Harvard president, but yet their actions — they weren't taking any action on campus to protect Jewish students, to address the rise of antisemitism."
Stefanik said Shafik continues to fail students' safety and allowed a "pro-Hamas mob" to storm and occupy Hamilton Hall.
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She said the GOP caucus under Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is also probing whether the legislature has any strings to pull that could quell some of the unrest, whether it be through reexamining federal university funding appropriations, student visas or more.
"American taxpayers don't want to support antisemitism," she said. "They oppose antisemitism, and we know that we're going to continue to stand up for what's morally right."
While Stefanik joined other lawmakers in calling for Shafik's resignation in an April 22 letter, some of her fellow New York lawmakers closer to the chaos expressed themselves differently.
In a joint statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, D-Manhattan, and other Jewish Democrats in the Empire State pushed back on calls for Shafik to leave, saying the college president shares the same values of "academic freedom, free speech, and… ensuring that all students no matter their religion or beliefs at Columbia feel safe and are protected."
The statement instead condemned "cynical calls for President Shafik's resignation" that would "further Republican goals of attacking liberal institutions."
Nadler, whose district adjoins the Columbia campus, and Rep. Adriano Espaillat of Washington Heights, who represents most of the grounds, on Tuesday condemned "student unlawfulness" while calling for true protections against antisemitism they said would differ from "purely symbolic, empty gestures" offered by House Republicans.