The Colombian Senate is calling for an investigation into the university president over his response to the Gaza protests

The Columbia University Senate has called for an investigation into President Minouche Shafik and members of her government amid ongoing campus protests over the Israel-Gaza war.

The Senate voted Friday to adopt the resolution, accusing the administration of violating established protocols, undermining academic freedom and violating the due process rights of students and professors, according to the Senate current events resolution, viewed by The Independent.

Ms. Shafik was heavily criticized for her decision to allow the New York Police Department (NYPD) to disperse protesters on campus, which led to the arrests of more than 100 students.

The resolution was based in part on a damaging Senate Executive Committee report that accused Ms. Shafik’s government of “taking many actions and decisions that have harmed the institution.” The resolution was adopted with 62 votes to 14 and three abstentions.

The resolution also calls for the establishment of a Senate working group to examine universities’ decision-making in the future.

Part of the resolution states: “We unreservedly condemn external interference in the internal affairs of Columbia University, which undermines the traditions of academic freedom and shared governance.”

Dr. Jeanine D’Armiento, Chair of the Executive Committee of the University Senate, said: “Columbia University is an institution of teaching, research and learning. We are not a corporation, a media company or a branch of a political party.

“We have a shared governance structure, with the University Senate being the third branch of university governance, operating in a democratic manner alongside the President and Board of Trustees, as set forth in the university’s statutes,” she said in a shared statement The Independent following the Senate meeting on Friday.

“As in any democracy with its structures and institutions, there are moments of challenge, even crises, but these structures and institutions survive, adapt and ultimately thrive because we work together for the benefit of all members of our community.”

“We recognize the external challenges, but we are united in our goal to chart a course for the future and find productive ways to reunite our community.”

She continued, “Our goal today was, first and foremost, to tell our students that we support you. “We want the administration to turn around and realize that they are running a university. Our message to students is also that, like you, we care about what will happen when the media leaves our campus: we will continue to apply pressure until the administration gets it right.

“Ultimately, we wanted to show our students the value of collective decision-making, where all parties are heard and the group reaches consensus through discussion.”

A statement from Columbia University later acknowledged the vote but said the administration and Senate share “the same goal of restoring calm to the campus so that everyone can pursue their educational activities.”

“We are committed to ongoing dialogue and appreciate the Senate’s constructive engagement in finding a path forward,” the statement said.

Despite the decisive adoption of the decision to investigate Ms. Shafik and the government, the Senate of Colombia does not have the authority to remove the president. However, per The New York TimesSome said Friday that the outcome could further undermine the relationship between Ms. Shafik and the Columbia community.

It’s the latest blow to the embattled president, who has already faced criticism from Republican members of Congress over anti-Semitism on college campuses. Although Ms. Shafik struck a more conciliatory tone before the House Education and Workforce Committee than the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, she was later hit by a censure motion from the Colombian chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

The AAUP reacted angrily to Ms. Shafik’s testimony before Congress, accusing her of caving to the demands of lawmakers who it said were making “defamatory attacks” on faculty and students, and later filed a motion of censure against her.

On Monday, Republicans from New York’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter calling on Ms. Shafik to resign, saying she had failed to provide a safe learning environment in recent days as “anarchy has gripped the campus.” .

During a visit to Colombia on Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Shafik to resign “if she is unable to bring order to this chaos.” Mr Johnson was loudly booed during his speech.

The original Columbia camps were set up in protest after students asked the school to end its financial ties with Israel over the war in Gaza. Protests at universities in other states, including USC and the University of Texas at Austin, have expressed similar views.

Nearly two weeks after the NYPD clashed with protesters in Columbia, the protests have sparked an international movement. On Friday, police in Paris worked to disperse protesters who had occupied the Sciences Po campus in the French capital.