E&W Blog

In Case You Missed It, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and House Republican Leadership Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) sent a letter to Columbia University Acting President Claire Shipman requesting clarification on a variety of texts and emails sent by Shipman appearing to drown out Pro-Israel voices on campus and downplay fears of Jewish students. The letter also addresses Columbia’s potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which requires schools to end any harassment, eliminate any hostile environment and its effects, and prevent any harassment from recurring. The Washington Free Beacon covers the congressional letter and several key exchanges with Shipman in its recent article

Columbia President Claire Shipman Privately Said School Needed To Add an 'Arab' Board Member—and Remove a Jewish One
Aaron Sibarium
July 1, 2025
 
Before she became the acting president of Columbia University, Claire Shipman argued that the school needed to get an "Arab on our board" and suggested that a Jewish trustee should be removed over her pro-Israel advocacy, according to text messages obtained by the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

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A week later, Shipman told a colleague that Shoshana Shendelman, one of the board’s most outspoken critics of campus anti-Semitism, had been "extraordinarily unhelpful," adding, "I just don’t think she should be on the board."

The messages were included in a letter sent to Columbia on Tuesday by committee chair Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., NY). Addressing Shipman by name, the committee requested "clarifications on the attached correspondence," arguing that it appeared to downplay anti-Semitism on Columbia's campus and could even violate civil rights law.

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The release of the messages comes as Columbia enters its fourth month of negotiations with the Trump administration, which cut $400 million to the school in March over campus anti-Semitism. The road to restoring those funds has been rocky: At a disastrous deposition in April, former Columbia president Katrina Armstrong told the government that she could not recall a single incident from the university’s own anti-Semitism report. Two months later, the Education Department notified Columbia’s accreditor that the school was out of compliance with its accreditation standards, prompting the university to issue a statement on its commitment to "combating anti-Semitism."

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Some of the most revealing messages concern Shendelman, the trustee Shipman said should be removed from the board. At the height of the anti-Israel encampment last year, Shipman told vice-chair Wanda Greene to keep Shendelman in the dark about the school’s plans to negotiate with the protesters, claiming that she was "fishing for information" that could force the school’s hand as it resisted calling the police.

Read the full article here.