After being grilled and bombarded yesterday in Congress before the House Education Committee, today, Columbia University president Dr. Nemat Minouche Shafik went home to New York and summoned the police to remove anti-Israel protesters from Columbia’s campus. 

I think the two events are not unrelated. She was grilled in Washington yesterday, and today she had to call in the cops. 

Her message? These were “extraordinary” steps… because these are “extraordinary” circumstances. I’m sure that’s right, but she wanted to sound and look tough in order to keep her job, in contrast to Harvard University’s Claudine Gay, who got the ax because she neither looked nor acted tough on antisemitism. Antisemitism is the issue. 

So, Columbia’s Shafik had the New York cops clear the campus. Many were arrested, many others will be suspended. They probably won’t take exams. Some won’t graduate. I still see the problem for these elite Ivy League schools being that their presidents and boards of directors remain afraid to label antisemitism a hate crime.  

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These are clear hate crimes targeting Israel, Jewish people, and their very right to exist. Just imagine if student protesters were attacking Blacks or transgender people or any woke identity, how fast these Ivy presidents would’ve kicked everyone out. 

Probably would lock them up in jail. I guess Minouche Shafik comes out better than some of these elite schools, because at least she took action and did lay down the law, putting down a true red line of sorts… Better late than never, but Shafik admitted to Congress she’s got more work to do.

A key part of this sad tale: DEI — AKA, diversity, equity and inclusion — still rules on these college campuses and some of the biggest victims of these DEI policies end up being Jewish people and Israel. Until the DEI agenda is rooted out from these schools, these anti-Jewish hate crimes will continue. You had kids out there at Columbia today screaming “we are Hamas” and “from the river to the sea” and other nonsense. 

The school was not really prepared for these kinds of situations. In fairness, she did fire an antisemitic professor, a guy named Mohamed Abdou, but like most of these big-time schools, officials are still afraid to talk about Jewish history and experience going back to the Holocaust, back to Joseph Stalin, and back throughout history about the persecution of Jews. 

After all, isn’t a hate crime a hate crime? Isn’t antisemitism antisemitism? There should be no room for any of that in any of our schools. College presidents have a lot more work to do, but at least Shafik brought the cops in and cleared the protesters out. I will score this one for some appropriate sanity. Maybe there’s some progress, maybe I’m not right either. 

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the April 18, 2024, edition of “Kudlow.” 

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Wendy’s is offering fast-food eaters a popular side for free.

The fast-food chain revealed it will be debuting a Friday-specific promotion this week that will offer Wendy’s customers a free order of french fries.

“Kick off the weekend with a Hot & Crispy treat each week at Wendy’s,” the company said Wednesday.

With the Wendy’s app and an account, customers will have access to the free fries deal on Fridays when they buy something else, according to Wendy’s. All of Wendy’s fry sizes are eligible.

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Wendy’s said it will keep the promotion going the entire year.  

The deal “can be used in a mobile order or at a restaurant by loading the offer onto your card before scanning at the register” at participating locations in America, the fast-food chain said. More than 6,000 Wendy’s locations were doing business across the U.S. as of the end of 2023.

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The Ohio-based company has been working to expand the digital side of its business.

In October, competitor McDonald’s kicked off a similar deal for its customers. It offered free medium fries for $1 in spending on its mobile app for customers who took certain steps in 2023.

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The company known for its golden arches appeared to have extended the offer through 2024, according to its website.

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Workers at Mercedes-Benz’s plant in Vance, Alabama, outside Tuscaloosa will vote next month on whether to join the United Auto Workers labor union.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday said the 5,000 eligible workers at the factory will be able to cast their ballots from May 13-17.

The announcement comes as voting is underway at Volkswagen’s only plant in the U.S., where workers are also weighing representation from the UAW as the union makes a push for expansion following its successful strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers last year.

Voting began Wednesday for the 4,100 hourly employees at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and will extend through Friday.

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Winning either vote would be a significant milestone for the union.

The UAW has tried and failed for years to organize nonunion U.S. auto factories, most of them built by Asian and European automakers in Southern states. But after winning record contracts with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in the fall, the UAW is feeling a renewed momentum.

UAW President Shawn Fain vowed the union would “pull out all the stops” to organize workers at non-union automakers like Volkswagen, Tesla, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and others after securing the wins in Detroit.

The union is promising better wages and working conditions for future members, but is facing pushback from state leaders who warn that unionization threatens jobs.

The day before voting began at VW’s Chattanooga plant, the Republican governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas issued a joint statement in opposition to the UAW’s unionization push into the South.

“Unionization would certainly put our states’ jobs in jeopardy. In fact, in this year already, all of the UAW automakers have announced layoffs,” the governors’ statement said.

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“In America, we respect our workforce, and we do not need to pay a third party to tell us who can pick up a box or flip a switch. No one wants to hear this, but it’s the ugly reality,” the statement continued. “We’ve seen it play out this way every single time a foreign automaker plant has been unionized; not one of those plants remains in operation.”

FOX Business’ Eric Revell and Reuters contributed to this report.

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