Johnson calls for Columbia president to resign ahead of university visit

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for Columbia University’s president to resign Wednesday, ahead of his visit to the school.

“This President Shafik has shown to be a very weak, inept leader. They cannot even guarantee the safety of Jewish students? They are expected to run for their lives and stay home from class? It’s maddening,” Johnson said in a radio interview with Fox News’s Hugh Hewitt. 

Numerous lawmakers have visited Columbia after pro-Palestine protesters set up an encampment a week ago and have refused to leave until the school agrees to divest from Israel or companies associated with its war effort. 

Johnson will tour the school and have lunch with Jewish students, who have said they felt fear on their campus the past few months. 

Columbia announced this week classes would be hybrid the rest of the semester because of the unrest and safety concerns.

“What we are seeing on these college campuses across the country is disgusting and unacceptable and every leader in this country, every political official, every citizen of good conscience has to speak out and say that, ‘This is not who we are in America,'” Johnson said. He added there must be “accountability, and that is what my colleagues and I will be working on.”

All 10 Republican lawmakers from New York, along with Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), have called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign.

Shafik would be the third major university president to fall, if she resigns, due to antisemitism on campus. 

“President Shafik is focused on deescalating the rancor on Columbia’s campus. She is working across campus with members of the faculty, administration, and Board of Trustees, and with state, city and community leaders, and appreciates their support,” a university spokesperson said when asked about calls for Shafik to resign.