House Education and Workforce Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) issued a subpoena to interim Columbia University president Katrina Armstrong on Wednesday, demanding answers on the university’s handling of campus antisemitism that Armstrong’s predecessor failed to provide.
The subpoena comes two days after the committee published a report showing that Columbia has failed to discipline student activists who broke into and occupied a building on campus, with 18 of the 22 students arrested inside Hamilton Hall after forcing their way in remain in good standing with the university — despite the Columbia administration’s pledge to expel those involved. Twenty-seven of the students arrested outside the building have had their disciplinary cases closed despite their arrests.
“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.”
Among the documents Foxx ordered Armstrong to turn over by September 4 are communications since October 7 dealing with antisemitism on Columbia’s campus, including those having to do with the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” board of trustees meeting minutes, and all records of alleged antisemitic incidents and violations of the university’s code of conduct since October 7.
Columbia has not complied with previous requests for those documents in a timely manner, Foxx maintained.
“The Committee repeatedly requested specific priority items, including text and electronic messages from specified identified custodians; Board of Trustees meeting notes, summaries and recordings; and information on disciplinary/conduct cases,” she wrote, and “despite having months to comply, Columbia has not provided responsive materials that are satisfactory.”
Armstrong became Columbia’s interim president upon Minouche Shafik’s resignation from the position last week, and Foxx wrote that she hopes the university’s new leadership will be more responsive to the committee’s requests as it continues its investigation. She also included in her letter to Armstrong that the university must “preserve all existing and future records and materials created by or int he possession of former President Shafik relating to the Committee’s requests.”
Controversy surrounding the university’s response to campus antisemitism extended beyond the presence of the encampment on its main lawn and included allegations of anti-Jewish harassment, discrimination, and assault. Four Columbia administrators exchanged a series of text messages mocking Jewish panelists describing their experiences on campus during an event focused on Jewish life at the school. Those administrators suggested that the university’s critics were using the issue of antisemitism for its “fundraising potential” and disparaged the director of Columbia’s Hillel chapter.
The university suspended three of the four administrators, though one — Columbia College dean Josef Sorrett — faced no punishment.
Columbia University disputed Foxx’s claim that it has not cooperated with the investigation through a spokesperson.
“Columbia is committed to combating antisemitism and all forms of discrimination,” the spokesperson told National Review in a statement. “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.”