Speaker Johnson tells Columbia protesters to 'go back to class, stop wasting your parents' money'

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gave a press conference at Columbia University on Wednesday before a booing crowd, addressing the explosion of anti-Semitism on campus and telling pro-Palestinian protesters to "go back to class" and "stop wasting your parents' money."

Johnson, flanked by a number of other Republican lawmakers, had called for the resignation of Columbia President Minouche Shafik over the way she is handling the protesters.

Shafik chose to transition the institution to virtual classes instead of dispersing the encamped students who were making threats and yelling epithets at Jewish students.

Johnson also said he would ask President Joe Biden to call out the National Guard to quell the protests if they didn't end on their own.

“The madness has to stop,” Mr. Johnson said while the crowd murmured dissent. “We cannot allow such hatred and anti-Semitism to flourish on our campuses.”

More than 100 protesters were arrested by New York police on April 18, but the protests resumed the next day as if nothing had happened.