The House Education Committee held a hearing Tuesday on “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism” amid a slew of antisemitic incidents at U.S. universities.
“Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of antisemitic demonstrators on college campuses,” Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said.
The leaders of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) testified in defense of their records.
Here is how the hearing unfolded:
In her closing statement, Foxx (R-N.C.) again condemned the actions taken by the university presidents sitting in the hearing Tuesday for not protecting Jewish students on their respective campuses.
“Indeed, I do not refer to colleges and universities any longer as higher education, because it’s my opinion that higher order skills are not being taught and learned. And I think today’s hearing indicates that,” Foxx said.
She read excerpts from a letter written by a Jewish MIT graduate student and a Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Lance Morrow. She concluded the hearing by addressing the presidents by saying they have a practical and moral challenge to protect students.
“You must also do the rhetorical work of changing hearts and minds, that’s your job as a campus president. That means being willing to risk your job to speak truth clearly, consistently and unapologetically,” Foxx said.
“We’ll now be watching and I genuinely hope for the sake of our nation, you will rise to the challenge,” she concluded.
— Lauren Irwin
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) had a fifth and sixth round of questioning the college heads following recess.
Stefanik pressed the presidents on if calls for the genocide of Jewish people are considered harassment.
“It can be depending on the context,” Gay said, adding it has to cross into conduct.
“This is why you should resign,” Stefanik said. “These are unacceptable answers across the board.”
— Lexi Lonas
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Miss.) asked each university head if they will ban Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), whose national group celebrated the Oct. 7 attack.
Multiple universities have banned SJP from their campuses for various reasons. Harvard and UPenn said they would not ban the group and MIT does not have a SJP club on campus.
Burlison suggested they won’t kick these “hate groups” out of their schools because of foreign donations.
— Lexi Lonas
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) pointed out the few classes offered at the three schools about Jewish people and their history compared to other minority groups.
“It’s no wonder so many of your students see Jews as having less humanity than the rest of us,” she said.
“In denying the Jewish voice a seat at the table, in denying your student body equitable access to Jewish history, you have created a hostile environment for Jewish students,” Chavez-DeRemer added.
— Lexi Lonas
Lawmakers are back to finish the hearing after voting on a resolution to condemn antisemitism.
The hearing has been called to recess as members had to go to the floor for votes.
Lawmakers were urged to come back to the hearing as quickly as they could after the last vote is made.
—Lexi Lonas
American University professor Pamela Nadell said she thinks social media and the internet has been “probably the most destructive force for spreading antisemitism,” certainly within her lifetime.
“When pop stars like Kanye West can put put a few messages that are antisemitic and has has millions and millions of followers and in the wake of that Jewish students were feeling terrible, unsafe and insecure,” Nadell said.
“We’ve seen this over and over,” she said, adding that both the left and the right harness social media and online platforms.
Nadell pointed to videos of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia and the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pennsylvania being widely shared online.
—Lauren Irwin
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was given another chance to question the university presidents, the third time she sent questions their way Tuesday after other Republicans yielder her their time.
Stefanik asked Harvard President Claudine Gay about the university’s decision to fly an American flag on campus and the Ukrainian flag when the Russia-Ukraine war began, but not an Israeli flag.
Gay said the decision to fly a Ukrainian flag was an exception made by her predecessor.
—Lauren Irwin
Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) gave an impassioned speech about how the responses from universities to the violence Hamas perpetrated against Israeli women on Oct. 7 is “a major step backwards” for “all that we have done to stand up against sexual violence towards women.”
“I can only imagine how terrifying it is to be a Jewish woman on any of your campuses,” Letlow said after recounting civilians who were raped and killed on Oct. 7.
“Now, I am grateful for your condemning of antisemitism and statements to your students and to this committee. It’s not enough. There has to be real action to hold antisemitic students accountable. For their behavior, they should be expelled,” she added.
—Lexi Lonas
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) asked UPenn President Liz Magill if she would allow former President Trump to speak at her campus if a student group invited him.
Magill said he would be welcomed to speak at UPenn, with Miller responding that she is sure Trump “will be happy to hear it.”
—Lexi Lonas
Pennsylvania was questioned about Biden’s two year job as a professor at UPenn, giving him a salary of $400,000 a year.
“President Biden had a wide variety of obligations,” President Liz Magill said, including his classes, interacted with students and inviting speakers.
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said it appeared he had a “no show job” and suggested it would be part of House Republicans’ impeachment probe.
“The House Oversight Committee is gonna get to the bottom of this,” Miller said.
—Lexi Lonas
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) raised a question about government intervention on college campuses in reference to efforts to limit academic diversity, equity and inclusion, in addition to discrimination and hate.
“What happens when we … allow for government [to] dictate what is going on on college campuses, similar to what we’re seeing in Florida and in West Virginia?” she asked. “What risks does that pose particularly when we talk about the proper teaching of history?”
—Lauren Irwin
The presidents were asked by Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) about “unreported money from Middle Eastern donors.”
Each college head denied that any donations influences their campus and said they do not accept gifts with any conditions on them.
“At Penn, we of course follow every law and regulation about donations from individuals in other countries. Beyond that, we do not accept any gifts that would compromise our mission or create any sort of conflict of interest,” Liz Magill said.
—Updated by Lexi Lonas
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) said she wanted to address “not so-called Islamophobia, but Islamophobia” during the hearing.
“Palestinian students on and off college campuses have been targeted,” she said.
Hayes said she wanted the president of Harvard to detail steps the school has taken to support these students, but she ran out of time for an answer.
—Lexi Lonas
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) said in the hearing that antisemitism and Islamophobia are not “equivalent” issues in the U.S.
“It’s wrong to suggest antisemitism and Islamophobia are equivalent problems in this country. As noted already in this hearing, Jewish hate crime is dominant hate crime in this country today,” he said.
Good is referring to criticisms the university presidents received for not condemning antisemitism on its own in previous statements and including other forms of discrimination.
—Lexi Lonas