The powerful chair of the House Education Committee accused Columbia University of “double dealing” on its promised mask crackdown Tuesday — after the school’s leader privately assured faculty there was no ban in place.
“Columbia University’s apparent double-dealing only hurts Jewish students and faculty – that is unacceptable,” said Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI).
“The Trump administration was clear that strong, decisive actions must be taken by the university to address the out-of-control antisemitism festering on Columbia’s campus.”
Columbia’s interim president Katrina Armstrong downplayed a slew of Trump-ordered policy changes during a tense meeting with faculty over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Armstrong assured staffers there was no mask ban in place, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by the newspaper.
It followed a highly-publicized statement from the Ivy League university capitulating on a sweeping list of reforms pitched by the Trump administration in the aims of reining in antisemitism on campus, including a total ban on masks at protests.
In a statement later Tuesday, Armstrong said she regretted “any confusion” about a mask ban and insisted the policy changes “are real.”
“I regret any confusion and inconsistent statements and want to make sure our position is clear as we go forward,” she said. “Let there be no confusion: I commit to seeing these changes implemented, with the full support of Columbia’s senior leadership team and the Board of Trustees.
“Any suggestion that these measures are illusory, or lack my personal support, is unequivocally false. These changes are real, and they are right for Columbia.”
Columbia, on Friday, said it would allow cops to “remove individuals from campus and/or arrest them when appropriate” and that “face masks or face coverings are not allowed for the purpose of concealing one’s identity in the commission of violations of University policies or state, municipal, or federal laws.”
The university caved to the Trump admin’s demands after it was given a month to bring its policies in line, under threat of losing some $400 million in federal grants.
However, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Tuesday that it wasn’t yet assured the elite NYC school’s actions were enough to ensure the funds would be restored.
“They have to abide and comply with the terms that we have set down and [we’ve] talked with them and they’ve agreed to,” McMahon told reporters at the Education Department’s headquarters near Capitol Hill.
“And that was kind of the basis to get them to the real first step of total negotiations to restore the funding — that, in and of itself, was not to reinstall, to reinstate the funding. So they’ll have to do that. And we certainly hope that, hope that they will, and I’ve had no indication from President Armstrong anything would be contrary to that.”
Jewish students and advocacy groups, however, were outraged by Armstrong’s remarks downplaying the crackdown to staff — and slammed the newly announced mask regulations as “a complete fraud.”
Just on Monday, dozens of masked protesters had flooded the Morningside Heights campus to flout the restrictions on face coverings, while some showed up to classes wearing surgical masks and pro-Palestinian keffiyehs.
“President Armstrong’s announcement is a complete fraud. It’s an effort to appease the Trump administration without implementing any substantive changes,” Matthew Schweber, a member of the Columbia University Jewish Alumni Association told The Post.
“She’s speaking out of both sides of her mouth — telling the public there’s a mask ban and telling the faculty there isn’t. That deceit should make her subject to removal.”
Elisha Baker, 22, a Columbia junior, also accused the university of doubletalk.
“It is certainly concerning to see that Columbia is sending different messages to faculty and to the public. Personally, I am focused on actions, not words. We must keep our focus on the effective implementation of crucial policy changes that could restore Columbia to its primary mission of teaching, learning, and research.”
Columbia PhD student Alon Levin said the school was more focused on playing “PR games” than enacting meaningful reforms.
“Admin needs to stop pretending to be slick and thinking they can outwit everyone – government, faculty, and students. We’re on the precipice of losing hundreds of millions of dollars due to the administration’s refusal to uphold federal anti-discrimination policy, but instead of taking meaningful action to finally address these issues, the administration prefers to play PR games.”
Big Apple Jewish leaders, like Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, also hit out at the elite school for its soft stance on mask wearing.
“Columbia should demand ‘no masks,’” he said. “Why do you have to hide your identity? For what purpose? I don’t remember demonstrators wearing masks — except for the Ku Klux Klan.”
In a statement to The Post, a university spokesperson clarified the new rules on masks are not in fact an outright ban, but impose stiff new requirements intended to strip rulebreakers of their anonymity.
“Individuals participating in demonstrations, including those who wear face masks or face coverings, must present their university ID when asked by a university official. Face coverings used to conceal one’s identity while violating university rules, policies or the law are not allowed on campus,” the spokesperson said.
Those who refuse to identify themselves are now subject to being trespassed from campus or other disciplinary measures.
The flurry of new campus reforms also included deputizing dozens of campus security officers, who are now empowered to arrest students who refuse to comply.
“Interim President Armstrong has been clear that she wants to constructively engage with our regulators. She is fully committed to the actions announced on Friday to combat antisemitism and all forms of discrimination which have no place in our community,” the spokesperson said, reemphasizing the school’s pledge to adhere to the new guidelines.
UnMaskHateNY, a group pushing for a state law on mask wearing in New York, said Columbia’s new restrictions are in line with what it’s proposing.
“Colleges and universities should set policy — on masks or any type of conduct — that they feel best keeps their community safe,” spokesman Will Miller said in a statement to The Post.
“The issue is not about a mask or covering itself – it’s if they’re used as a tool of violence to conceal identity and target and terrorize. That’s the issue at hand and always has been. New Yorkers are free to wear a mask for health or any other reason. It’s if they are used to menace and harass that is the issue.”
During the weekend talks, professors dramatically ripped the Ivy League school’s deal with the administration as the “biggest crisis since the founding of the republic,” the Journal reported.
Faculty ripped Columbia’s board of trustees for not rejecting suggestions that the school was a hotbed of antisemitism.
Armstrong responded that she “could not agree more” that the school was being portrayed in an unfair light, the report said.
“This impossible situation that we’ve been put through, I think has tested us all and certainly tested me in ways that I have never anticipated being tested,” she said at one point.
1 comment:
This she learned from Hamas - lying in the name of "virtue" is a mitzvah.
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