WASHINGTON – Long Island GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito is demanding that the embattled president of Columbia University pay back at least $200,000 in costs to the NYPD for having to twice shut down the “absurd” and “illegal” anti-Israel tent encampment on campus last spring.
A former NYPD detective, D’Esposito ripped Columbia president Minouche Shafik in a Friday letter for having imposed the higher costs “to end the troubling and disgraceful pro-terror protests that unfolded” at the Morningside Heights campus in April.
“The University, under your leadership, is at fault for allowing chaos to spread to the point where pro-terror students disrupted the functioning of the University, instilled fear in Jewish and Israeli students, held custodians hostage, and inflicted violence, and the NYPD and taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for your failure,” D’Esposito wrote, lashing out at Shafik.
“After all the damage these pro-terror riots and encampments have caused under your watch, to students, faculty, surrounding communities, and public servants, it is time you do the right thing by making amends to all those affected,” he added.
Student demonstrators — whose actions were endorsed by Hamas — set up the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on April 17, which was briefly disrupted by police but immediately rebuilt and “allowed to fester for weeks,” according to D’Esposito.
During that time, Shafik “turned a blind eye” to the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students — prompting a campus rabbi to urge them to remain at home due to “ extreme antisemitism.”
One outspoken Jewish professor was even barred from campus because administrators admitted they couldn’t ensure his safety.
Video footage and photos of protesters showed them chanting antisemitic slogans and holding up signs that called for the eradication of Israel — with one widely circulated image showing a demonstrator declaring Israeli flag-waving Columbia undergrads as Hamas’ “next target.”
NYPD officers stormed Columbia University’s campus the evening of April 30 and arrested 112 protesters — 32 of whom were not even students at the Ivy League school.
Some had also occupied Hamilton Hall before the crackdown and barricaded themselves inside before police dragged them out.
D’Esposito said New York’s Finest “allocated $200,000 in overtime pay to cover this operation,” which was “no small number and has negative implications to the operations of the Department.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, had said on May 2 that Columbia “ should contribute to the cost.”
The same day that the tent city was first pitched at Columbia, Shafik floundered when giving testimony before Congress about her handling of antisemitism on campus.
The Columbia president said that chanting “From the river to the sea” and “Intifada” — which are used as calls for the destruction of Israel — was “ hurtful” but declined to say whether it violated the school’s code of conduct.
D’Esposito joined a group of House Republicans who visited the Ivy League campus in April to denounce the terror-sympathizing student protesters.
“If you are a protester on this campus, and you are proud that you’ve been endorsed by Hamas, you are part of the problem,” D’Esposito said during a press conference alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republicans on the steps of the Low Library.
“When you cheer on the fact that you enjoy Hamas and Hezbollah, you are yourself part of the problem,” he shouted. “We see on this campus the hate-filled speech that is carrying through this country.”
Reps for Columbia University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
