Columbia University President Minouche Shafik tried to avoid the firestorm of controversy that pushed out two of the three university presidents who testified on Capitol Hill in December. While the other university presidents provided lawyerly answers that went viral, Shafik and her three Columbia colleagues all unequivocally stated that such calls would violate the code of conduct at Columbia. For instance, the Columbia president was asked by Rep. Lisa McClain whether mobs shouting “from the river to the sea” or “long live the intifada” qualify as antisemitic comments. Some people don’t.”Only after David Schizer, the co-chair of Columbia’s task force on antisemitism, indicated it would qualify as antisemitism did Shafik agree. Davidai called Shafik a “coward” in a fiery speech last year criticizing the university president for failing to quiet “pro-terror” voices at the school.

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Persons: Minouche Shafik, Shafik, Shafik waffled, Lisa McClain, McClain, “, David Schizer, ” Shafik, Joseph Massad, Tim Walberg, Massad, Mohamed Abdou, Shai Davidai, Davidai, ”, Abdou, Eden Yadegar, CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald Organizations: New, New York CNN, Ivy League, Columbia University, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, ”, CNN, Columbia Business School Locations: New York, Columbia