Republicans push college presidents to protect Jewish students

WASHINGTON (TNND) — House Republicans continued their effort to root out antisemitism on campus by bringing more college presidents to speak in front of lawmakers to question school leaders to detail how they are handling the issue after a year of heated protests and encampments spread on college campuses across the country.

Antisemitism on campus has been front and center over the last year after Ivy League presidents were brought to testify in front of lawmakers in a pressure campaign that ultimately led to resignations. The Trump administration has also threatened schools with investigations and billions of dollars in federal funding being revoked over failures to address the problem.

Much of the attention on the matter has been focused on the nation’s high-profile schools like Harvard and Columbia but lawmakers are expanding their probes to include schools outside the Ivy League. The House Education Committee held a hearing on Tuesday with the presidents of Haverford College, DePaul University and California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, the second event with presidents at non-Ivy League schools.

Hillel International, a Jewish student organization, said antisemitic incidents on college campuses increased by 700% after the start of the war in 2023.

Other organizations have reported incidents of antisemitism on the campuses of the schools represented in the committee hearing on Wednesday. The list of accusations includes incidents ranging from students being assaulted to antisemitic chants.

“We’ve held and will continue to hold these universities accountable as they choose to stand idly by rather than meaningfully address the harassment of and discrimination against Jewish students on their campuses,” committee chair Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said. “What does antisemitism look like? It manifests in faculty who create a hostile environment on campus by expressing support for known terrorist groups, verbally harass Jewish students, and call for the destruction of Israel.”

Tensions on campus have significantly cooled since last year when encampments and heated protests over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ran rampant across the country. Many schools have cracked down on encampments and what conduct is allowed on campus amid pressure from lawmakers and others about ensuring a safe environment for its Jewish students to learn amid a rise in antisemitism.

There have been fewer incidents in the current academic yea,r but there are still occasional incidents in some places and the debate over free speech rights of protesters remains a pressing issue. The University of Washington had an issue with protesters clashing with police during an occupation of a building, which has resulted in an investigation by the Department of Justice.

During Wednesday’s hearing, each of the presidents laid out their schools’ steps to address the problems and changes to policies that popped up in response to the initial wave of protests in 2023. But all are still facing investigations from the committee about their conduct during the widespread protests and failures to adequately respond to them.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who conducted high-profile grillings of Ivy League administrators last year that led to firings, pressured Haverford College President Wendy Raymond about disciplinary actions taken against student groups accused of antisemitism. In a back-and-forth where Raymond refused to directly answer some of Stefanik’s questions, Stefanik recalled the resignations of former Harvard President Claudine Gay and UPenn President Liz Magill.

“Many people have sat in this position who are no longer in the positions as president universities for their failure to answer straightforward questions,” Stefanik said.

Democrats at the hearing expressed concerns about the rise in antisemitism that has been observed over the last several years, but also questioned congressional Republicans’ and the White House’s motives and actions to correct the issue. The Trump administration has withdrawn billions in federal research funding from a handful of schools and has threatened to go after others that it says have not done enough to combat Jewish discrimination.

The cuts in funding have already led to staffing cuts and hiring freezes in some places, such as Columbia, which has been a high-profile target of complaints about antisemitism on campus and laid off 180 people earlier this week.

“The actions taken by President Trump and House Republicans seem to be motivated more by going viral on social media than rooting out antisemitism and other forms of hatred on campus and in our society,” said Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga. “The actions taken and supported by the majority will not improve this situation. They will only foster distrust between ethnic and religious groups on and both off campus.

“Instead of taking real steps to address antisemitism, the majority has chosen to cut the funding. and fire the federal employees that are tasked with responding to these incidents on our school grounds.”