A Columbia University spokesperson criticized “false and baseless” claims that the Ivy League institution has called the National Guard to pro-Palestinian camps on campus.
It comes as protesters claim school officials threatened to call the National Guard to the campus, which has been besieged by demonstrations since last Wednesday.
Ben Chang, the school’s vice president of communications, told reporters Wednesday about rumors that the National Guard had been contacted: “Let me be clear: That is false and a baseless claim.”
The university reaffirmed that protesters last night will continue talks for the next 48 hours after the group ignored a midnight deadline to vacate West Lawns.
However, he said protests as things stand violate university rules and that in the future only people with a university ID will be allowed on campus.
A Columbia University spokesperson criticized “false and baseless” claims that the Ivy League institution has called in the National Guard to pro-Palestinian camps on campus.
“The safety of our community is our number one priority,” Chang added. “That includes the security of the Camp, which continues to grow.”
“Our goal is to restore order and if we can achieve it through dialogue, we will achieve it,” he continued. The pro-Palestinian mob has held the school and its Jewish classmates hostage in fear since they began setting up open-air tents on campus.
He also confirmed that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of Congress on Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson ran into hostile scenes at Columbia University when the Republican confronted a mass of anti-Israel protesters on Wednesday.
He ignored the students’ boos and jeers and instead condemned the protest, the latest of the “virus of anti-Semitism.”
He criticized the crowds at Columbia as “lawless agitators and radicals” and questioned their ability to become “America’s leaders,” while praising Jewish students who remain committed to their education.
“We will not stand by silently while Jewish students are expected to run for their lives,” Johnson warned.
The crowd shouted and booed in an attempt to get on Johnson’s nerves, but Johnson was unfazed.
A spokesperson confirmed that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of Congress on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Enjoy your freedom of expression!’ she replied as she left before giving him one last slap, “Stop wasting your parents’ money.”
The Louisiana lawmaker arrived at the New York campus Wednesday afternoon, hours after calling for Columbia’s president to resign on a morning radio show.
“What we’re seeing on these college campuses across the country is disgusting and unacceptable,” Johnson told The Hugh Hewitt Show.
“Every leader in this country, every political official, every citizen of good conscience has to speak up and say this is not who we are in America and we have to be held accountable.”
So far, more than 100 activists have been arrested and protesters have been ordered to disperse.
On Tuesday night, NYPD counterterrorism officers were reported to be moving near the protest.
At least two Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton, have called on President Joe Biden to bring the National Guard to campuses across the country where Jewish students say they feel threatened by the growing number of protests.
Missouri Senator Hawley told the president that he must act on his Easter statement in which he said: ‘We have seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. “This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous.”
“They must immediately mobilize the National Guard and any other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of American Jewish students and citizens,” Hawley wrote.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said authorities will continue to detain protesters.
“Arrests are being made right now and will continue until the crowd disperses,” he wrote on social media.
‘These protesters should be in jail. Anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students who join anti-Semitic and hateful protests at any Texas public college or university should be expelled.’
This is breaking news.