Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Columbia University's acting president apologizes after leaked texts over Jewish board member
The Post Millennial ^ | 7/3/25 | Ari Hoffman

Posted on 07/03/2025 2:39:26 PM PDT by CFW

Claire Shipman, the acting president of Columbia University, issued a private apology this week after leaked messages revealed she suggested removing a Jewish trustee over her pro-Israel advocacy, sparking a firestorm amid ongoing federal scrutiny of the university’s handling of antisemitism on campus.

“The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel,” Shipman wrote Wednesday in an email obtained by Jewish Insider, which she sent to “trusted groups of friends and colleagues.”

The messages, sent in 2023 and 2024 while Shipman was co-chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees, were uncovered by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce as part of its investigation into possible Title VI violations under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The committee is probing whether Columbia has failed to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination.

In one January 2024 message to the board’s vice chair, Shipman wrote, “We need to get somebody from the middle east [sic] or who is Arab on our board.” She went on to single out Jewish trustee Shoshana Shendelman—who has been a vocal critic of antisemitism on campus—as “extraordinarily unhelpful,” later stating, “I just don’t think she should be on the board.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thepostmillennial.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: antisemitism; claireshipman; columbiau; culture; democrats
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-40 next last
The "that's not who I am" defense.

I hope enough parents and students see what is going on at these universities so that they all close down due to lack of funding and student interest.

1 posted on 07/03/2025 2:39:26 PM PDT by CFW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: CFW

Claire Shipman? Why does that name sound familiar?🤔


2 posted on 07/03/2025 2:40:38 PM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle

“...Claire Shipman? Why does that name sound familiar...?”

Well, there was that British serial killer doctor Harold Shipman a few years back...


3 posted on 07/03/2025 2:42:15 PM PDT by Kriggerel ("All great truths are hard and bitter, but lies... are sweeter than wild honey" (Ragnar Redbeard))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: CFW

She needs to resign.
Conduct grossly unbecoming of a university leader.


4 posted on 07/03/2025 2:42:58 PM PDT by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

“I’m sorry I got caught.”


5 posted on 07/03/2025 2:45:14 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lee martell

That fits the definition of a “fire able” offense.


6 posted on 07/03/2025 2:46:00 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle

been around forever. CNN,ABC. married to Jay Carney.


7 posted on 07/03/2025 2:46:25 PM PDT by abb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle

I’m clueless.


8 posted on 07/03/2025 2:48:35 PM PDT by Pocketdoor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: abb

Okay. That sounds right. Used to be a “reporter”?


9 posted on 07/03/2025 2:51:13 PM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: abb

Yep.

Claire Shipman is the current acting president of Columbia University, a position she assumed in March 2025. Prior to this, she was a senior national correspondent for ABC News’ Good Morning America. She also has a background in journalism, having worked for CNN and NBC News. Before becoming acting president, she was co-chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees. Shipman is married to Jay Carney, who served as President Barack Obama’s press secretary from 2011 to 2014.


10 posted on 07/03/2025 2:51:29 PM PDT by CFW
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Probable first draft: “
I am truly and sincerely filled with sorrow and regret that I got caught. I am usually operating at a higher level of deceit. Now it boomeranged and a Jewish person hasn’t been replaced by an Islamic extremist. I am sorry.”

Aide: “Let’s work together on a little rewording.”


11 posted on 07/03/2025 2:51:57 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

The messages, sent in 2023 and 2024 while Shipman was co-chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees, were uncovered by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce as part of its investigation into possible Title VI violations under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.


Folks, a lot of small things being done behind the curtain.

many small things win wars..........................


12 posted on 07/03/2025 2:54:16 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW
They do not reflect how I feel

Liar, liar, set her on fire! Fire the B!

13 posted on 07/03/2025 3:00:18 PM PDT by roadcat ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

Colombia’s private they can be as stupid as the market will bear!


14 posted on 07/03/2025 3:03:12 PM PDT by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Apologize this...🖕. She should be tossed.


15 posted on 07/03/2025 3:05:28 PM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW
“The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel,” Shipman wrote Wednesday….

BS. You’re a freaking NAZI.

16 posted on 07/03/2025 3:06:07 PM PDT by Ditto
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ditto
The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel,

That's exactly when what you says reflects what you feel. Why do you think every good qualification process - SEALS, Ranger School, Navy submarines/nuke power school puts you through maximum stress - to find out exactly what you are made of. You flunked.

17 posted on 07/03/2025 3:14:09 PM PDT by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: CFW

Note that she didn’t resign.


18 posted on 07/03/2025 3:17:13 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Trump has arrived and it is awesome to have a real President.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

I am a Christian and a graduate of Columbia’s Graduate School of Business many years ago. One thing that is near unbelievable is that then and now Columbia has had a large percentage of Jewish students. Yet somehow in the past 15 or so years, the university has been hiring a significant number of Middle Eastern Muslim instructors and professors. Over that time these teachers have worked hard to infiltrate all aspects with their pro Muslim, antisemitic beliefs. Then, the university hires an Egyptian woman, presumably Muslim, as president of the university a couple of years ago. What happened is exactly what they should have anticipated happening. She was completely ineffective in preventing the anti-Israel riots on campus to the point that she resigned nearly a year ago. Now, the school has Clair Shipman, a former left leaning TV news reader as interim president. Well, based upon her antisemitic correspondence we know where she stands. She simply is one more gutless wonder who is either incapable or unwilling to bring Columbia back to being the kind of university that it used to be. It is time for Shipman to follow her predecessor out the door.


19 posted on 07/03/2025 3:18:21 PM PDT by CdMGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CFW

I seem to recall examples where people have been held responsible and cancelled for comments written decades earlier as teenagers.


20 posted on 07/03/2025 3:25:51 PM PDT by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." — M. O'Neal, USMC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-40 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson