Columbia University president to testify in Congress on college conflicts over Israel-Hamas war

Four months after a contentious congressional hearing led to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia University’s president is set to appear before the same committee over questions of antisemitism and the school’s response to escalating conflicts on campus. Nemat Shafik, Columbia’s president, was originally asked to testify at the House Education and Workforce Committee’s hearing in December, but she declined, citing scheduling conflicts. The December hearing instead featured the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose lawyerly responses drew a fierce backlash. The presidents of Harvard and Penn have since resigned.