Columbia University hit with congressional subpoena in antisemitism investigation

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, sent a subpoena to Columbia University on Wednesday, tightening the screws in its antisemitism investigation.

The subpoena, sent to acting Columbia University President Katrina Armstrong, comes exactly one week after Minouche Shafik resigned from her post as the school’s president amid months of tension from pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on campus. Foxx’s committee has been investigating the school’s response to those protests and alleged antisemitism since February and ramped up the investigation in the spring.

“Columbia should be a partner in our efforts to ensure Jewish students have a safe learning environment on its campus, but instead, university administrators have slow rolled the investigation, repeatedly failing to turn over necessary documents,” Foxx said in a statement. “The information we have obtained points to a continued pattern of negligence towards antisemitism and a refusal to stand up to the radical students and faculty responsible for it. The goal of this investigation has always been to protect Jewish students and faculty, and if compulsory measures are necessary to obtain the documents the Committee requires, so be it.”

Columbia was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that spread to campuses across the country. The occupation of parts of campus was put down somewhat violently by police after pressure was placed on the school’s administration, which many critics say was slow to act.

According to the letter, Columbia has displayed a “repeated failure” to respond to committee requests for information since the Feb. 16 launch of the investigation. Foxx wrote that she is hopeful the school’s new leadership will be more responsive than Shafik’s administration. The committee warned the school on Aug. 1 that a lack of responsiveness would result in a subpoena.

The letter walked through a chronology of the committee requesting specific information from the school and the school not being responsive to those requests.

“On April 26, following the establishment of the so-called Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which by Columbia’s own admission created a hostile environment in violation of Title VI, the Committee sent Columbia an updated set of priority requests,” the letter stated. “The Committee identified three categories of materials as its top priorities: communications from specified custodians; Board of Trustees meeting minutes, notes, and summaries; and information on disciplinary cases relating to the encampment or from the period since the establishment of the encampment. … Despite the Committee’s numerous efforts to identify its priorities, Columbia has failed to satisfy these requests.”

Requests from the committee included texts and other messages regarding antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023, including among officials and contact with the encampment. The committee also requested information regarding student disciplinary action, which Foxx’s letter says the school has only included since April 17.

The committee is asking for the same information, to include the messages, Board of Trustees minutes, notes, summaries, and recordings regarding antisemitism or Israel, and other documents regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict by students, faculty, and staff since Oct. 7.

Now, however, the school will be legally compelled to respond to the requests by Sept. 4 at noon.

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a Columbia spokesperson said, “Columbia is committed to combating antisemitism and all forms of discrimination. We have provided thousands of documents over the past seven months in response to the committee’s dozens of ongoing requests, and we remain committed to cooperating with the committee.”

According to the school, administrators have responded with thousands of documents in response to the committee’s requests.