April 25, 2024

Dear President Shafik,

Thank you for attending the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s April 17 th
hearing on antisemitism at Columbia University. I am writing to request you clarify some of your
testimony.
At the hearing, I asked you about a “DEI Glossary of Terms” 1 that incoming Columbia
University School of Social Work (CSSW) students received as part of their orientation in 2022
and 2023. The glossary includes the term “Ashkenormativity,” which it defines as “a system of
oppression that favors white Jewish folx, based on the assumption that all Jewish folx are
Ashkenazi, or from Western Europe.”
This definition is, of course, antisemitic. You said that you “do not condone it,” and the co-chairs
of Columbia’s Board of Trustees agreed that the glossary was “shockingly offensive” and
“outrageous.”2
At the same time, you distanced Columbia University from the DEI glossary, claiming that it “is
not a product of the faculty or the administration,” and that you “don't think it's a product of the
School of Social Work.” Instead, you testified that the glossary “is something that a group of
students produced.”
However, multiple pieces of evidence contradict your suggestion that Columbia University had
no relation to the DEI glossary. As viewable on internet archive tools, CSSW hosted a PDF of the
glossary on its official website as late as December 7, 2023. 3 CSSW only deleted the webpage
after the New York Times published an opinion piece criticizing the glossary’s extreme, far-left
contents in December 2023.4

1
https://banks.house.gov/UploadedFiles/DEI_Glossary_of_Terms.pdf
2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Eu-xEZKzQ
3
https://web.archive.org/web/20231207221103/https://socialwork.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/DEI-
Glossary-of-Terms-2022.pdf
4
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/opinion/social-work-columbia-ideology.html
Furthermore, after the hearing, a former CSSW student emailed my office a copy of CSSW’s
“Fall 2022 PDSA [Professional Development and Self Awareness] Pre-Orientation Material.” 5
This document, which mirrors a similar June 2023 notice, appears to have been sent to all
incoming CSSW students and clearly directs them to “Review the DEI Glossary of Terms…
before your first session on Wednesday, August 31.” According to the former student:
“The student who emailed me [these pre-orientation materials] was paid to be in this
position as a PDSA orientation leader. The glossary is clearly not some student made
term book. It was sanctioned by CSSW.”
As I stated at last week’s hearing, the DEI glossary perfectly expresses the radical, left-wing
sentiments and worldview that have fostered antisemitism on your campus. Antisemitism at
Columbia is now so pervasive, and anti-Israel protestors have made the campus so dangerous for
Jewish students, that, for the rest of this semester, Columbia is offering a remote option for all its
courses. This is a complete failure by Columbia to fulfill its basic obligations as a publicly
funded university.
No later than May 16, 2024, please provide my office with a copy of CSSW’s 2024 orientation
program, as well as answers to the following questions:
1. Do you dispute the former Columbia student’s statement that the DEI glossary “was
sanctioned by CSSW”?
a. If so, on what grounds?
2. What group of students prepared the DEI glossary?
a. Were these students compensated by Columbia’s administration for their work?
3. Does Columbia’s administration pay PDSA orientation leaders?
4. Did any CSSW faculty participate in the 2022 or 2023 orientations?
a. If so, in what capacity?
5. Was reviewing the DEI glossary mandatory for all incoming CSSW students ahead of
their 2022 and 2023 orientations?
Sincerely,

_________________
Jim Banks
Member of Congress

5
https://banks.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Fall_2022_PreOrientation_Materials.pdf