House Speaker Mike Johnson faces angry protesters at Columbia University, calls for ‘the madness’ to stop

Amid boos and heckling, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., during a Wednesday press conference at Columbia University said, “The madness has to stop. The madness has to stop.”

His visit comes amid rising tensions from the more than a weeklong pro-Palestinian protest at the university, which has fueled picketing efforts at other schools across the country — from Harvard to the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California.

These educational institutions are attempting to balance the safety of students with their right to free speech. Some schools have changed their policy to disallow protesting on college campuses, or pose restrictions at entrances, while others have leaned on law enforcement agencies to crack down on the demonstrators. At Yale, more than 40 students were arrested, and at New York University, police took 133 protesters into custody.

Johnson criticized the “hatred and antisemitism” flourishing in American colleges. He called for individuals perpetrating this violence to be arrested and for Columbia University President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik to resign.

“We met briefly with the (Columbia) president and her top officials right before we came out on the steps here. We encourage her to take immediate action and stamp this out. And our feeling is that they have not acted to restore order on the campus,” said Johnson, joined by the New York Republican delegation.

At a House hearing last week, Shafik said her university is up against “an extreme pressure test” but pointed out Columbia’s move to create a task force to address antisemitism and update the school’s process for holding demonstrations on campus. Still, Columbia retains a central role in the unrest on campuses.

“My intention is to call President Biden after we leave here and share with him what we have seen with our own two eyes and demand that he take action, there is executive authority that would be appropriate. If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.”

Around the time of the press conference, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in a post said, “Ivy League antisemitism is still bigotry. Elite universities don’t get a pass.”

Shafik had set a deadline of midnight Tuesday for the protesters to reach an agreement with the school but the negotiations were derailed when the school made “threats of an imminent sweep by the NYPD or the National Guard,” the students said in a press release.

“Without assurances of good faith bargaining and protections for nonviolent protesters against police and military violence, we will not be returning to the table,” said Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student.

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also chimed in, saying, “Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act,” in a post on X Tuesday. “It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

Since Tuesday, the Ivy League university has made a written concession not to call the police, which the students consider “an important victory.” The negotiation deadline was extended to 48 hours after the compromise.

The White House is paying attention to this “painful moment for many communities,” said deputy press secretary Andrew Bates. “We support every American’s right to peacefully protest. ... But as I said, when we witness calls for violence; physical intimidation; hateful, antisemitic rhetoric, those are unacceptable.”

“The president knows that silence is complicity, and that’s why he uses the platforms he has to try and ensure that our fellow Americans are safe,” Bates added at a press gaggle Tuesday. He didn’t signal President Joe Biden’s intentions to visit Columbia or the other schools. Biden signed a foreign aid supplemental bill earlier Wednesday, providing $26 billion for Israel as well as tens of billions to other countries, as students call for the divestment of “all economic and academic stakes in Israel,” per Politico.

As these protests continue to spread, the Secure Community Network, a Jewish security organization, said it is “monitoring the safety and security conditions for potential escalation” and asked campuses to “restore calm and order.”

“Schools must restore calm and order,” said SCN national director and CEO Michael Masters, according to CNN. “The best way to do this is to enact and enforce strict anti-tent, anti-encampment policies, and have zero tolerance for assaults on either students or police. Schools must also ensure collaboration with law enforcement and students to create an environment of safety. Failure to enforce these rules will lead to escalating protests.”