House Speaker Johnson Holds Press Conference on Columbia's Steps as Encampment Enters Its Second Week
One week after the first mass arrests on Columbia’s campus, the protest had drawn the attention of the most powerful figure in the House of Representatives. On April 24, Speaker Mike Johnson traveled to Morningside Heights and held a press conference on the steps of Low Library — just yards from the encampment he came to condemn. Johnson, flanked by Republican members of Congress, called on President Shafik to resign and suggested that the National Guard could be called in to restore order if the university could not....