Columbia University's new pres said congressional antisemitism hearings led by Elise Stefanik were 'Capitol Hill nonsense'

Columbia University’s newly appointed president previously dismissed the congressional hearings on antisemitism on college campuses as “Capitol Hill nonsense,” according to leaked messages.

Claire Shipman who was named Columbia’s president on Friday, had been serving as co-chair of the university’s board of trustees. Shipman is a former CNN White House correspondent who was previously married to Jay Carney, the former Obama administration press secretary.

In December 2023, Shopman wrote in a text message to then-President Minouche Shafik that she thought Columbia would be spared from the “Capitol Hill nonsense.” The remark was in reference to the Rep. Elise Stefanik-led Congressional hearings that focused on antisemitic campus protests following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The hearings notably led to the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay and the University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill after refusing to directly state whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ harassment policies. 

Shipman’s text messages about the hearings were revealed in an October report from the Republican House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which included leaked messages from university officials. Shipman also suggested in the same message that student groups who participated in protests should be reinstated.

“I do think we should think about unsuspending the groups before semester starts to take the wind out of that,” Shipman wrote in the message to Shafik.

Interim President Armstrong resigned just days after the university caved to the Trump administration’s list of demands required to keep $400 million in federal funding. Armstrong had also agreed to implement a mask ban during campus protests but privately promised faculty she would not impose such a ban, the New York Post reported.