House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has called on Columbia University's president Nemat Shafik, to resign for failing to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampments on campus grounds amid Israel's war against Hamas.
Johnson was met with bellowing boos when he visited the university earlier this afternoon to meet with Jewish students during heightening concerns centered around the safety of the CU community as Gaza protests and the building of encampments continue.
"Where's your Columbia ID, Mike Johnson," protestors yelled between boos.
I visited Columbia’s campus today to interview student activists and hear Speaker Mike Johnson address the school
— madeline fitzgerald (@madelineanele) April 24, 2024
Johnson didn’t seem to have much in the way of amplification— I couldn’t hear him, but the students made their feelings about his visit clear pic.twitter.com/swknqO6b5P
Many can be heard chanting, "Mike, you suck" as he attempted to deliver his opening remarks.
Pro-Palestinian activists have set up encampments on at least eight college campuses across the U.S. in the wake of last week's police crackdown on protesters at Columbia University in New York City.
Columbia ordered all classes to be held virtually after a campus rabbi urged Jewish students to go home and stay there for their own safety from the "extreme antisemitism" of pro-Palestinian activists.
Thousands of students and staff at the University of Minnesota have walked out of their classes and onto campus a day after nine people were arrested attempting to build a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.
Roughly 50 people were arrested Monday morning when Yale police officers broke up an encampment on the Ivy League campus in New Haven, Connecticut.
An encampment was also set up Sunday night on Kresge Lawn at MIT's Boston campus and the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition set up an encampment in front of the university's Stern School of Business in Manhattan's Greenwich Village on Monday morning.
As the momentum spreads, protests have erupted on campuses including Emerson, The University of Michigan, The New School, Tufts University, and Rutgers.
