A private apology was issued by Claire Shipman, the interim president of Columbia University, following the exposure of confidential messages in which she proposed the removal of a Jewish trustee due to her pro-Israel advocacy.
This revelation has ignited a controversy amidst the ongoing federal investigation into the university's handling of antisemitism on its campus.
According to The Post Millennial, Shipman expressed regret over her comments in an email she sent to a select group of friends and colleagues. "The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel," she wrote. The contentious messages, sent between 2023 and 2024 while Shipman served as co-chair of Columbia's Board of Trustees, were discovered by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The committee is investigating potential Title VI violations under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically whether Columbia has failed to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination.
In one of the messages, dated January 2024, Shipman wrote to the board's vice-chair, "We need to get somebody from the middle east [sic] or who is Arab on our board." She singled out Jewish trustee Shoshana Shendelman, a vocal critic of antisemitism on campus, as being "extraordinarily unhelpful," and later stated, "I just don't think she should be on the board."
By April 2024, Shipman had suggested that Shendelman might be a "mole," and advised the board's vice-chair, Wanda Greene, to exclude her from meetings with student activists, alleging she was "fishing for information." When asked by Greene whether she believed Shendelman was a "mole," Shipman affirmed, "I do."
Shendelman, whose family escaped Iran during the Islamic Revolution, had been advocating for stronger measures to address the escalating campus unrest. Columbia did not involve law enforcement until pro-Hamas demonstrators occupied a campus building and allegedly held janitors hostage. In one exchange, Greene expressed her exhaustion with Shendelman, to which Shipman responded, "So so tired."
In her apology, Shipman wrote, "I have apologized directly to the person named in my texts, and I am apologizing now to you I should not have written those things, and I am sorry. It was a moment of immense pressure, over a year and a half ago But that doesn't change the fact that I made a mistake. I promise to do better."
Shipman also emphasized her commitment to the Jewish community, stating, "One thing I hope salacious headlines will not obscuremy deep commitment to fighting antisemitism and protecting our Jewish students and faculty." She outlined the steps the university has pledged to take to combat antisemitism and reaffirmed her intention to mend Columbia's relationship with the federal government. This comes after the Trump administration cut approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts with the university in March, citing its failure to address antisemitic harassment. Columbia is currently negotiating with federal authorities to restore these funds.
The House committee, led by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), sent a letter to Columbia's leadership demanding answers about the leaked texts and the university's handling of antisemitism complaints. The lawmakers expressed concern over Shipman's comments, particularly her suggestion to appoint an Arab trustee shortly after a massacre in Israel by Hamas in October 2023, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and over 200 hostages. The committee pointed out that making board appointments based on national origin could potentially violate Title VI.
The letter also criticized Shipman's alleged marginalization of Shendelman, asking why she seemed to favor removing one of the board's most outspoken Jewish advocates at a time when Columbia students were experiencing a high level of fear and hostility. The committee further condemned Shipman for describing Jewish students' fears as "not necessarily a rational feeling" in a message to then-president Minouche Shafik.
Shafik resigned in August 2024 amid growing controversy, after admitting she could not recall a single example from the university's own antisemitism report. In June, the Department of Education informed Columbia's accreditor that the school was out of compliance with accreditation standards, leading to subsequent layoffs.
The committee also criticized Shipman's dismissal of the federal probe as "capital [sic] hill nonsense and threat," calling the remark "disturbing" and emphasizing that congressional oversight is not nonsense but a necessary safeguard.
In response to the controversy, a Columbia University spokesperson stated, "These communications were provided to the Committee in the fall of 2024 and reflect communications from more than a year ago. They are now being published out of context and reflect a particularly difficult moment in time for the University when leaders across Columbia were intensely focused on addressing significant challenges." The spokesperson affirmed the university's commitment to combating antisemitism and working with the federal government on this serious issue.
They also noted that the university continues to work with the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and is committed to creating a "safe and welcoming environment for all community members."
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