Lawmakers Grill Columbia’s Shipman Over Texts Targeting Jewish Trustee

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Updated Jul 2, 2025, 05:44 PM

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has demanded formal clarification from Columbia University after obtaining private messages in which acting president Claire Shipman advocated replacing a Jewish trustee with an Arab board member and appeared to downplay concerns about antisemitism on campus.

In a 17 January 2024 text, Shipman wrote that Columbia needed “somebody from the Middle East or who is Arab on our board—quickly.” A week later she described trustee Shoshana Shendelman, a prominent critic of campus antisemitism, as “extraordinarily unhelpful” and said, “I just don’t think she should be on the board.” In an April exchange with board vice chair Wanda Greene, Shipman agreed that Shendelman was “a fox in the henhouse.”

Committee chair Tim Walberg and Rep. Elise Stefanik said the messages raise possible violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on national origin, and questioned why Shipman sought to marginalise one of the board’s most outspoken Jewish advocates during a period of heightened hostility toward Jewish students. The lawmakers also cited a 30 October 2023 WhatsApp note in which Shipman called student fears of antisemitism “not necessarily a rational feeling” and referred to congressional oversight as “Capital Hill nonsense.”

Columbia said the texts, which it supplied to the committee last year, were taken out of context and reflected a difficult moment for campus leadership. The university has been under intense federal scrutiny since the Trump administration suspended roughly US$400 million in grants and contracts in March and the Department of Education warned in June that the school was out of compliance with accreditation standards. The committee’s investigation remains open, with a broader hearing on antisemitism in higher education set for 9 July.

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#Columbia University #Claire Shipman #Jewish #Arab #Shipman #Columbia #Middle East #Shoshana Shendelman #Wanda Greene #Shendelman #Tim Walberg #Elise Stefanik #Title VI #the Civil Rights Act #WhatsApp #Capital Hill #Trump #Department of Education

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Sources

freebeacon.com(4)assemblee-nationale.fr(2)thepostmillennial.com edworkforce.house.gov

The Post Millennial

@TPostMillennial

Columbia’s acting president suggested ousting Jewish trustee, urged Arab replacement: Rep Elise Stefanik

House Committee on Education & Workforce

@EdWorkforceCmte

In text exchanges, @Columbia President Shipman referred to a Jewish member of the Board of Trustees as "A fox in the henhouse... I am tired of her." All while Jewish students face a shocking level of hostility.

Bo Snerdley

@BoSnerdley

Columbia President Claire Shipman Privately Said School Needed To Add an 'Arab' Board Member—and Remove a Jewish One