About 300 protesters from Columbia University and City College of New York were arrested, NYPD says

House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia University’s campus as “common criminals” on Tuesday, reiterating calls for the Ivy League institution’s president to step down. 

“The first responsibility of a university administrator obviously is to protect the safety and security of their students,” the Republican from Louisiana said of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik in an interview on Fox News. “And she was unwilling or able to do it.”

Johnson visited Columbia earlier this month to meet with Jewish students as pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses coast to coast have been met with accusations of antisemitism and led to hundreds of student arrests.

The Republican, standing alongside fellow GOP lawmakers after his April 28 meeting with Shafik, called for her resignation should she be unable to reign in campus demonstrations amid loud boos from the crowd who listened.

“This is wrong – this is not protected free speech at all,” Johnson said of protesters who breached and occupied a campus building. “They are inciting violence.”

Johnson claimed the tensions on Columbia’s campus were “100% preventable,” arguing: “None of this should have happened.” He recalled telling Shafik to “get control of this situation” while meeting with her during his visit, calling on her to resign “if she could not do so.” 

He called on higher education administrators to “step up right now and stop the madness” and for US President Joe Biden to “speak right now with moral clarity.” Johnson slammed the commander in chief as “MIA as usual” and “afraid to speak to the issue.”

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on bipartisan legislation targeting the rise in antisemitism that supporters say will confront vitriol on college campuses.