'THEY'RE LATE TO THE PARTY': Columbia hearing left Rep. Burgess Owens 'concerned' about 'accountability' for pro-Hamas profs
Owens told Campus Reform that while he was 'impressed' with what members of the Board of Trustees said, he wants to wait and see what Columbia University actually does.
Republican Utah Rep. Burgess Owens says he’s still “concerned” that there’s no accountability for the Columbia University professors who have praised Hamas after Wednesday’s Congressional hearing.
During Wednesday’s Congressional hearing with Columbia University leaders, Columbia University President Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said that Professor Joseph Massad and Visiting Professor Mohamed Abdou, who are both still employed at the institution.
Both professors praised the actions of Hamas during the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel.
”I’m very concerned that accountability is not still there,” Owens said. “How are we getting accountability?”
[RELATED: Columbia University leaders speak before Congress to discuss rampant anti-Semitism on campus: LIVE BLOG]
Owens told Campus Reform that while he was “impressed” with what members of the Board of Trustees said, he wants to wait and see what Columbia University actually does.
”I think they’re late to the party,” Owens said, referring to Columbia’s response to campus anti-Semitism.
As Campus Reform previously reported, Abdou praised Hamas and the tactics it used during an interview in November 2023.
“The warriors, the resistance fighters that were in Hamas, numbered less than 1,500 and look how they flipped the table—not only on an entire settler colonial state with no definable borders, but rather on the whole world,” Abdou said, referring to the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
“You don’t need mass movements to change the world,” he continued. “You need a dedicated thousand, 1,500, a few thousand, that really are organized and know what it is that they’re doing, what they’re fighting for.”
Campus Reform also previously reported that Massad called the Oct. 7 attack “awesome” and “stunning.”
”No less astonishing was the Palestinian resistance’s takeover of several Israeli settler-colonies near the Gaza boundary and even as far away as 22 kms, as in the case of Ofakim,” Massad wrote in The Electronic Intifada, characterizing in positive terms the murder, rape, beheading, and burning of civilians.
During the hearing, Shafik said that Massad would no longer lead an academic review committee, adding that he’s under investigation.
Shafik also said that Abdou wouldn’t be returning to Columbia after this semester.
