Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha slammed acting Columbia University President Claire Shipman over her leaked texts, arguing that she cannot simply “walk away” from her statements against a Jewish university board member.

Shipman has apologized for text messages she sent last year in which she said she did not believe Shoshana Shendelman, a Jewish member of the school’s board of trustees, ought to be on the board and agreed with someone who asked if the Jewish member was “a fox in the henhouse.”

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While Shipman has said her comments were made “in a moment of frustration and distress,” Concha pushed back against the idea that an apology would suffice, suggesting that she either be suspended without pay or outright fired.

“This cannot be tolerated on college campuses anymore, especially by their leaders, and firing Claire Shipman would clearly send a stern message to all university presidents, all trustees, anybody who thinks they can get away with this rhetoric: It will not happen anymore,” Concha said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom, guest-hosted by Aishah Hasine and Mike Emanuel.

Concha argued that Jewish college students have “suffered enough” at institutions such as Columbia and Harvard University in the wake of mass protests across campuses and that students should not live in fear because of their religion. He said these protests are why he plans to keep his children away from Ivy League schools in the Northeast and instead send them to schools such as Clemson University in the South.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) unveiled Shipman’s texts in a letter to the House Committee on Education and Workforce on Tuesday. She argued that the texts show the acting president’s “complicity” in failing to protect the school’s Jewish students. The congresswoman has since encouraged Shipman to resign from her role.

Concha also addressed the New York mayoral race and how many Democratic leaders “will not speak out” against party nominee Zohran Mamdani. He argued that there is “plenty to criticize” on Mamdani’s “communist proposals,” but most Democrats are not doing so.

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The mayoral candidate’s platform promises include free child care, free bus transportation, and government-run grocery stores.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has said Mamdani is “probably the most radical left” candidate he has seen from a major party “in a big jurisdiction.”