{"id":2232810,"date":"2024-04-29T15:25:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T19:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-civil-rights-chief-to-speak-at-columbia-law-commencement-amid-anti-semitism-scandal\/"},"modified":"2024-04-29T15:28:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T19:28:14","slug":"biden-civil-rights-chief-to-speak-at-columbia-law-commencement-amid-anti-semitism-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-civil-rights-chief-to-speak-at-columbia-law-commencement-amid-anti-semitism-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s Civil Rights Leader to Address Columbia Law Graduation Amid Anti-Semitism Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-civil-rights-chief-to-speak-at-columbia-law-commencement-amid-anti-semitism-scandal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2232810&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Kristen Clarke, the Biden administration&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-justice-department-pick-opposed-enforcing-civil-rights-laws-against-blacks\/\" title=\"Biden Justice Department Pick Opposed Enforcing Civil Rights Laws Against Blacks\">civil rights chief<\/a>, will address Columbia Law School&#8217;s graduation amidst controversy over anti-Semitism. The university faces escalating incidents, including assaults on Jewish\u2062 students. Clarke&#8217;s role \u2062in overseeing \u2063civil\u200c rights investigations at \u200buniversities raises questions about \u200cthe administration&#8217;s response to anti-Jewish sentiment on campuses. Her past involvement in anti-Semitic controversies adds a layer of scrutiny\u200c to her upcoming speech.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Kristen Clarke at center of her own controversy in which she invited author of anti-Semitic conspiracy theory book to speak at Harvard<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tKristen Clarke (Arturo Holmes\/Getty Images for National Urban League)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Biden administration&#8217;s civil rights chief Kristen Clarke is slated to give the commencement address at Columbia Law School, amid a scandal over surging anti-Semitism at the university.<\/p>\n<p>Clarke, the head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, will speak at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yale-law-students-said-a-top-journal-was-racist-admissions-data-suggest-otherwise\/\" title=\"Yale Law Students Said a Top Journal Was Racist. Admissions Data Suggest Otherwise.\">law school&#8217;<\/a>s graduation ceremony on May 13.<\/p>\n<p>Her address comes as Columbia moved classes online for the rest of the semester after a string of anti-Semitic incidents at the university. Anti-Israel protesters on campus have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/26\/nyregion\/columbia-student-protest-zionism.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">called<\/a> for killing supporters of the Jewish state, <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2024\/04\/for-the-first-time-people-were-truly-afraid-antisemitism-hits-boiling-point-at-columbia-university\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">assaulted<\/a> Jewish students, burned Israeli flags, and\u00a0chanted\u00a0at Jews to &#8220;go back to Poland.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Clarke&#8217;s office did not respond to a request for comment. But her speech to the university could raise questions about the Biden administration&#8217;s response to the rising anti-Jewish sentiment on college campuses. Clarke is responsible for overseeing Department of Justice investigations into civil rights violations at universities, and pro-Israel leaders have been asking her office to prosecute anti-Semitic incidents at Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>Avi Gordon, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/just-in-floyd-county-georgia-terminates-election-director-after-statewide-audit-discovers-uncounted-votes\/\" title=\"JUST IN: Floyd County, Georgia Terminates Election Director After Statewide Audit Discovers Uncounted Votes\">executive director<\/a> of Alums for Campus Fairness, told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> that he is concerned Clarke&#8217;s appearance would &#8220;tacitly endorse&#8221; the anti-Semitism on campus, given Clarke&#8217;s role as the Biden administration&#8217;s chief civil rights prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re hopeful that she&#8217;ll be able to address [the campus discrimination] directly and not kind of gloss over it,&#8221; said Gordon. &#8220;It would be a dereliction of duty to not address it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Clarke was at the center of another anti-Semitism controversy during her confirmation process in 2021, when news emerged that she had invited the author of <em>The Jewish Onslaught<\/em>, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory book, to speak at Harvard University in 1994. The book accused Jews of orchestrating the slave trade and of colluding to suppress black progress.<\/p>\n<p>Clarke, who served as head of Harvard&#8217;s Black Students Association in the 1990s, defended the invitation at the time of the event, calling the book&#8217;s author, Tony Martin, an &#8220;intelligent, well-versed Black intellectual who bases his information on indisputable fact.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Years later, during her confirmation hearings, she apologized for the invitation and said it was a &#8220;mistake to accept [Martin&#8217;s] offer to come and to defend him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pro-Israel and Jewish leaders have asked Clarke&#8217;s office to investigate and prosecute anti-Jewish incidents at Columbia and other universities, but she has yet to pursue the cases.<\/p>\n<p>In February, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) asked Clarke to prosecute student activists who shut down a pro-Israel speaker at the University of California, Berkeley. &#8220;What happened at Berkeley was a direct assault on American democracy and cannot go unchallenged and uninvestigated,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.org\/news\/a-letter-from-ajc-chief-legal-office-marc-stern-to-doj-assistant-attorney-general-for-civil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> the AJC in a letter to Clarke. &#8220;We urge you to deploy the full resources of the Department of Justice to identify and prosecute those responsible for this outrage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden has walked a careful line between condemning the anti-Semitism at Columbia and appeasing anti-Israel progressives in his voting base.<\/p>\n<p>The president called the incidents at Columbia &#8220;reprehensible and dangerous&#8221; and said they have &#8220;absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.&#8221; But Biden said he &#8220;also condemn[s] those who don&#8217;t understand what&#8217;s going on with the Palestinians.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Biden&#8217;s response drew comparisons to former president Donald Trump&#8217;s infamous statement about a 2017 anti-Semitic rally and counterprotest in Charlottesville, Va., in which Trump denounced bigotry but said there were also &#8220;very fine people on both sides&#8221; of the protest.\t<\/p>\n<p>Clarke&#8217;s appointment as the head of the DOJ&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-choice-to-lead-dojs-civil-rights-division-melanin-endows-blacks-with-greater-mental-physical-and-spiritual-abilities-video\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Choice to Lead DOJ\u2019s Civil Rights Division: \u201cMelanin Endows Blacks with Greater Mental, Physical and Spiritual Abilities\u201d (VIDEO)\">civil rights division<\/a> was politically polarizing. In 2021, Republican lawmakers questioned her nomination, noting that Clarke, as an attorney for the NAACP, had <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/biden-doj-enlists-kristen-clarke-who-defended-black-nationalists-charged-with-voter-intimidation-to-combat-voter-intimidation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lobbied<\/a> the DOJ to drop a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>Columbia&#8217;s main commencement address is being given by Minouche Shafik, the president of the university. But its individual schools will have <a href=\"https:\/\/news.columbia.edu\/news\/heres-every-columbia-2024-class-day-speaker-we-know-so-far\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">separate<\/a> speakers. Columbia Business School&#8217;s speaker will be Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, Columbia School of Public Health&#8217;s speaker will be National Institutes of Health director Monica Bertagnolli, and Columbia College&#8217;s speaker will be CNN anchor Poppy Harlow.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Published under:<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/anti-semitism\/\" title=\"View all posts in Anti-Semitism\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnti-Semitism\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/biden-administration\/\" title=\"View all posts in Biden Administration\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBiden Administration\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/charlottesville\/\" title=\"View all posts in Charlottesville\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharlottesville\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/civil-rights-act\/\" title=\"View all posts in Civil Rights Act\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCivil Rights Act\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/columbia-university\/\" title=\"View all posts in Columbia University\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tColumbia University\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/doj\/\" title=\"View all posts in Department of Justice\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDepartment of Justice\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/jewish-community\/\" title=\"View all posts in Jewish Community\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJewish Community\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/justice-department\/\" title=\"View all posts in Justice Department\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJustice Department\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/kristen-clarke\/\" title=\"View all posts in Kristen Clarke\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKristen Clarke\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/law-schools\/\" title=\"View all posts in Law schools\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLaw schools\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/protests\/\" title=\"View all posts in Protests\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProtests\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/universities\/\" title=\"View all posts in Universities\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversities\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amid Controversy, Kristen Clarke, the Biden administration&#8217;s civil rights chief, will speak at Columbia Law School&#8217;s commencement. Clarke faced scrutiny for inviting the author of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory book to Harvard. (55 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":2232811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/women-of-power-awards-luncheon-scaled-e1714412435480.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2232810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/women-of-power-awards-luncheon-scaled-e1714412435480.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2232811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}