More than 100 students gathered at the bottom of the Low Library steps, chanting “we can’t hear you” and “Mike, you suck.”

The Speaker retorted: “Enjoy your free speech.”

Shafik, who testified before the Republican-led House education committee last week, has not indicated any plans to resign, with university officials saying she “is focused on de-escalating the rancor on Columbia’s campus.”

“The Speaker of the House will visit campus today, as have a number of public officials in recent days. It is our policy to support those visits, and we are working with his team to ensure the safety and security of his delegation,” Columbia spokesman Ben Chang said in a statement.

Gov. Hochul, who privately visited Columbia on Monday to discuss public safety, blasted Johnson for his visit.

“It seems to me there’s a lot more responsibilities and crises to be dealt with in Washington,” Hochul said at a Wednesday press conference.

“Politicizing this and bringing the entourage to put a spotlight on this is only adding to the division, and a speaker worth the title should really be trying to heal people and not divide them,” she added.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, accused Johnson of hypocrisy, after the speaker met last week with the head of the largest Christian Zionist organization, who he accused of being an extreme, far-right Christian nationalist. Nadler earlier this week condemned antisemitism on Columbia’s campus but stopped short of calling on Shafik to resign.

“Today, @SpeakerJohnson will visit @Columbia University under the guise of combatting antisemitism,” Nadler said on X. “If the Speaker wants to actually combat antisemitism and not just score cheap political points, he must stop ignoring the antisemitism in his own party.”

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