Columbia University student detained by Homeland Security agents in dorm, school says
Columbia University. (Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A Columbia University student was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents Thursday morning, after they allegedly made “misrepresentations” to enter a dorm, the school said.
Claire Shipman, the school’s acting president, sent a letter to the school community informing them that the DHS agents entered an unspecified dorm on the campus around 6:30 and detained the student.
“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details,” she said.
DHS did not immediately return messages from ABC News for comment.
The school was “working to reach the family, and providing legal support,” the letter further said.
“It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access,” the letter said.
“If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University’s response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement condemning the federal agents’ alleged actions.
“Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence,” she said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this booking photo released by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Michael McKee is shown. (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The doctor who is accused of gunning down his ex-wife and her husband had allegedly told his ex “he could kill her at any time,” according to court documents.
McKee and Monique Tepe married in 2015 and divorced in 2017. According to court documents, Monique Tepe’s friends and family said Monique Tepe told them McKee “had been abusive, and had made numerous threats on her life during and after their marriage.”
One witness told detectives that Monique Tepe alleged McKee strangled her and “forced unwanted sex,” court documents said.
Another witness told detectives that “McKee had told Monique that he could kill her at any time and would find her and buy the house right next to her, that she will always be his wife,” documents said.
During the Dec. 30 homicides, McKee’s phone was left at his workplace — an Illinois hospital — and “showed no activity for approximately 17 hours,” according to court documents.
Police — who zeroed in on McKee after linking him to a car seen on surveillance video — said they also recovered video “of the same suspect” by the Tepes’ house weeks before the murders, on Dec. 6, according to court documents.
On Dec. 6, the Tepes were in Indiana at the Big Ten Championship game, and during that trip Monique Tepe allegedly told friends “she was upset about something involving her ex-husband,” according to court documents.
McKee is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. His defense attorney, Diane Menashe, entered not guilty pleas to all counts on his behalf during a court appearance last week. Menashe declined to comment to ABC News on Tuesday about the new allegations revealed in the court documents, saying she doesn’t comment on pending matters.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., presents documents related to Rep. Cory Mills,R-Fla., as she participates in a House Armed Services Committee hearing with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Rayburn House Office Building on April 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace says she has obtained records through a congressional subpoena that reveal the value of several confidential sexual misconduct and harassment settlements struck on behalf of members of Congress and paid at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer totaling more than $338,000 over a 10-year run — while a letter to the House Oversight Committee shows that many additional records on the subject have been destroyed.
Mace shared the names of eight former members and the office of one former member shortly after obtaining the documents on Monday.
None of the former members shared by Mace still hold public office anywhere, but the underlying disclosure offers a glimpse into the legislative branch’s recent history addressing sexual harassment.
In a post on X, Mace — a member of the House Oversight Committee — first posted a picture of a binder she says contained more than 1,000 pages of records from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights beginning in 2007 and stretching into 2017.
The settlements are paid by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights Section 415 fund, which is authorized by the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995.
Among those named by Mace are former Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., and former Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., and former Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who both passed away shortly after leaving Congress.
Mace listed a settlement of $8,000 in 2009 for the office of McCarthy, who is alleged to have been aware of and conducted mistreatment related to a consensual sexual relationship between an aide and a senior staffer. She also faced allegations of discrimination based on sex and disability, and reprisal.
For Conyers, a $50,000 payment was made in 2010. He’s alleged to have made advances on a staffer. Four years later, Conyers faced a hostile workplace, sexual harassment, age discrimination, and reprisal allegations, resulting in improper termination, resulting in a $27,111.75 payout.
Meehan is listed to have two cases involving alleged sexual harassment by a senior staffer that the member was aware of and alleged sexual harassment by the member. The severance pay period for the complainant is listed at $39,250.
Meehan confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that he paid back the settlement after resigning.
“There is no comment. There is nothing [Mace] puts out that wasn’t already public 8 years ago,” Meehan wrote. “Yes, I personally repaid the full settlement amount within 30 days of leaving as I said I would.”
Alexander, who left Congress in 2013 and went on to become the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, faced an allegation of a consensual sexual relationship with a staffer prior to her employment, resulting in her alleged mistreatment and firing, according to a source familiar with the document production. The payout was listed at $15,000.
Alexander told ABC News in a statement that the $15,000 settlement tied to his name was the result of “the behavior of two staffers” in his office.
“Nineteen years ago, during my tenure in Congress, there were two separate and unrelated incidents involving the behavior of two staffers in my office. The allegations were referred to the proper authorities and settlement payments were made by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights,” Alexander wrote. “After an immediate investigation, both offending staffers’ employment with my office were terminated immediately. At no time during my tenure in Congress was any allegation made against me.”
An attorney for Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., who faced allegations of hostile workplace, sexual harassment and inappropriate touching, told ABC News in 2017 that the former congressman had no knowledge of the payments. There were three Massa cases listed and three settlements totaling to $115,000.
Former Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, told ABC News in 2018 that he had no intention of repaying the $84,000 sexual harassment settlement stemming from a 2014 complaint by a former congressional aide alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation. He resigned in 2018 and died last year.
The records surrounding nine cases were provided Monday to Mace and the House Oversight Committee by the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights as part of an initial document production pursuant to a committee subpoena, according to a letter signed by John N. Ohlweiler, general counsel at the OCWR, that was sent to the committee on April 24.
The letter presents “relevant statistical information” regarding OCWR cases from Jan. 1, 1996, through Dec. 12, 2018. The OCWR says it “approved a total of 349 awards or settlements to resolve complaints against legislative branch offices.”
“Some of these awards or settlements may have resolved more than one complaint filed by the same individual against the same office. Of these 349 awards or settlements, there were 80 that were settled by the Office of a Member of the House of Representatives or the Office of a Senator,” the letter states.
ABC News has reviewed an April 24 letter to the committee, which does not name any of the lawmakers whose cases are detailed in the 1,000-page document production to the Oversight Committee, meeting an April 30 deadline imposed by a committee subpoena. A source familiar with the document production confirmed to ABC News that the names listed by Mace do appear in the 1,000-page response from OCWR, though ABC News has not yet independently reviewed the complete document production.
Mace says she will release the documents after carefully reviewing them to ensure that any sensitive information about victims is fully redacted.
In his letter to the committee, Ohlweiler explained how the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights determined which documents met the committee’s objective to investigate sexual misconduct or harassment involving a member of Congress.
Ohlweiler’s letter notes that the CAA Reform Act of 2018 requires OCR to establish a program for the permanent retention of records and OCR’s current Record Retention Policy requires the digital preservation of records from all filed cases.
“We prioritized our efforts on identifying those cases involving allegations of actual Member misconduct — particularly sexual misconduct or sexual harassment — that resulted in awards or settlements, and locating the documents associated with those cases,” Ohlweiler wrote Oversight Chairman James Comer and ranking Democrat Robert Garcia.
The letter from Ohlweiler explains that from the 80 total settlements, at least 20 case files “were destroyed pursuant to an ‘OCWR Record Retention Policy’ that required case records to be destroyed ten years after the case was fully closed” in accordance with a retention policy “put in place in 2013 to align OCWR with regular government-wide record retention practices.”
The OCWR says it maintained a retention policy that requiredcase records to be destroyed ten years after the case was fully closed — a policy it put in place in 2013 to align OCWR with “regular government-wide record retention practices.”
Ohlweiler’s letter notes that the CAA Reform Act of 2018 requires OCR to establish a program for the permanent retention of records and OCR’s current Record Retention Policy requires the digital preservation of records from all filed cases.
“These 20 destroyed physical case files dated to the time period between 1996 and 2003. There are 3 additional physical case files from 2003 and 2004 for which the ‘OCWR Record Retention Policy — Destruction Schedule’ indicates the physical case files were destroyed, but we have not yet physically confirmed that destruction took place because the relevant boxes from long-term storage have not been examined.”
Ohlweiler says that OCWR does still possess and has reviewed the original Settlement Agreements for these 23 cases — including the terms of the settlements. But Ohlweiler says the documents “do not specify any details about the underlying allegations, including who was accused of committing the alleged misconduct.”
There were six additional cases scheduled for destruction between 1997 and 2001 for which OCWR does not have the Settlement Agreement or the case file, according to Ohlweiler’s letter. Ohlweiler says that information within the office’s retired content management system confirms that these six cases were filed against member offices and were ultimately settled.
“For these 6 cases, the CMS does not provide any information regarding the terms of the settlement (except that only one of the six required a payment from the 416 Fund) or the details of the underlying allegations,” Ohlweiler wrote.
“The results of my subpoena of Congress’s sexual harassment slush fund are in. Nine members. One thousand pages,” Mace posted on X on Monday. “All records prior to 2004 were destroyed — which tells you everything you need to know about how long this has been buried. We are reviewing every page. We will name all nine. We will release the full 1,000 pages — once we confirm that personally identifiable information of victims and witnesses has been properly redacted. Accountability is not a threat. It is a promise.”
“Read that again: they destroyed all the evidence prior to 2004,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, reacted on X.
A view of Hunter College of The City University of New York, April 10, 2017, in New York. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A New York City college professor has been placed on leave amid backlash over what the school called her “abhorrent remarks” during a public school district meeting.
Hunter College associate professor Allyson Friedman made the remarks during a NYC District 3 Community Education Council (CEC3) meeting earlier this month that she was virtually attending as a parent in the Manhattan district, the university confirmed.
While an unidentified eighth grade student spoke against the potential closing of her school, Friedman can be heard saying in a video of the meeting, “They’re just too dumb to know they’re in a bad school. … Apparently Martin Luther King said it. Like if you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back, you don’t have to tell them anymore.”
Friedman appeared to be referencing remarks made earlier in the meeting by District 3 interim acting superintendent Reginald Higgins, who had quoted the Black scholar Carter G. Woodson: “When you can control a man’s thinking, you do not have to send him to the back door, he will go without being told.”
During Friedman’s remarks, other attendees could be seen reacting in shock and someone interrupts her to say, “What you’re saying is absolutely hearable here, you’ve got to stop.”
riedman has apologized for her remarks, which she said were taken out of context during an accidental unmute and did not truly reflect her own views.
“During a recent online CEC3 meeting, I was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism to my child by referencing an example of an obviously racist trope,” Friedman said in a statement to ABC News. “Due to an inadvertent unmute, only part of that conversation was captured. My complete comments make clear these abhorrent views are not my own, nor were they directed at any student or group. I fully support these courageous students in their efforts to stop school closures. However, I recognize these comments caused harm and pain, while that was not my intent I do truly apologize.”
Hunter College said earlier this week that it is “reviewing the situation under the university’s applicable conduct and nondiscrimination policies.” On Wednesday, Hunter College President Nancy Cantor updated that Friedman, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been placed on leave while the school investigates the incident.
“This painful incident unfolded at a meeting where Black History Month was being celebrated and the pernicious and enduring effects of anti-Black systemic racism were being discussed, especially with regard to the role of educational institutions in addressing them,” Cantor said in a statement. “Hunter has long embraced such a role, which requires constant vigilance to remain attentive and responsive to the ways in which we continually draw and redraw discriminatory social lines.”
ABC News has reached out to Friedman for comment on Thursday, following the update from Hunter.
CEC3 has condemned Friedman’s remarks as “racially offensive.”
“Regardless of intent, these comments were deeply harmful and wholly unacceptable,” CEC3 said in a draft statement. “That such remarks were made while a student was courageously offering public comment makes this incident even more troubling.”
New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has also condemned her remarks, saying at an unrelated press briefing on Tuesday, “It was abhorrent to listen to. And our students deserve so much better.”
