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:
Foxx condemns higher education, university leaders in closing statement
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
Stefanik goes into sixth round of questions, calls for Gay to resign
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
Burlison asks university presidents about banning Students for Justice in Palestine
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
Chavez-DeRemer: ‘It’s no wonder so many of your students see Jews as having less humanity than the rest of us
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
Recess ends
Lawmakers are back to finish the hearing after voting on a resolution to condemn antisemitism.
Hearing called into recess
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
Professor says social media, pop stars like Kanye West spread antisemitism
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
Stefanik gets third round of questions after others yield
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
Letlow says university response is a ‘step backwards’ in defending sexual violence against women
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
UPenn president says Trump would be welcome to speak on campus
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
UPenn questioned about Biden’s time there
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
Democrat calls out Florida, West Virginia for DEI intervention
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
University presidents deny foreign influence on their campuses
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
Hayes draws attention to ‘not so-called Islamophobia, but Islamophobia’
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
Good says antisemitism, Islamophobia are not ‘equivalent’ problems
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
Penn president says she condemned but could not cancel Roger Waters event
Penn President Liz Magill said the university issued a statement calling out the antisemitic ideas espoused by Roger Waters, the famed Pink Floyd musician, but she was unable to stop him from speaking on campus.
“I did call [out] the antisemitism of some of the speakers at conference that have more than 100 people in the aftermath of the Palestinian rights festival,” Magill said.
“I think canceling that conference would have been very inconsistent with academic freedom and free expression, despite the fact that the views of some of the people who came to that conference I find very, very objectionable,” she added
—Lauren Irwin
Norcross, Magill argue about speaker policy at Penn
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) argued with Penn President Liz Magill after the university allowed a festival to continue where students invited multiple antisemitic speakers.
“Our approach is not to censor based on the content, but to worry about things like the safety and security and the time, place and manner the event would occur,” Magill said.
When Norcross asked if the school would allow speakers who are racist on campus, Magill responded the school would “follow our policies.”
—Lexi Lonas
Penn president says it’s difficult to define ‘incitement to violence’
Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) gave a speech about the difficulty distinguishing between speech that incites violence and speech that is abhorrent but legal, asking Penn President Liz Magill what she thought about chants in her city for “intifada” — an Arabic term for the Palestinian uprising against Israel — and what that would fall under.
“The chanting, I think, calling for Intifada, global revolution, very, very disturbing,” Magill said, adding “at a minimum, that is hateful speech.”
But “whether it rises to the level of incitement to violence,” she said is a “much more difficult question.”
—Lexi Lonas
Harvard head acknowledges ‘thoughtless, reckless’ speech has been heard on campus
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Harvard President Claudine Gay argued heatedly over the type of speech that has been allowed on campus, including “intifada” chants at protests.
“I’ve heard that thoughtless, reckless and hateful language on our campus,” Gay said.
Stefanik continued to press why students have not faced disciplinary action for repeating “this call for intifada” that advocates “to commit genocide against the Jewish people,” she said.
Gay said while she personally finds these calls “offensive” that Harvard must balance free speech and speech that “violates our policies against bullying.”
—Lexi Lonas
Gay, Grothman go back and forth on intellectual diversity, support of Trump
Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) grilled Harvard head Claudine Gay over her lack of faculty who supported President Trump in 2016 and 2020.
“Does it concern you at all that you apparently have a great deal of lack of ideological diversity at Harvard?” Grothman asked.
“We strive to have as diverse a faculty as we as we can because we want to make sure that we are sampling from the broadest pool of talent available in the world. That’s how we ensure academic excellence,” Gay responded.
—Lexi Lonas
Harvard head says she backs federal civil rights probe
Harvard President Claudine Gay said she can’t comment on the ongoing probe into antisemitism and discrimination opened by the Biden administration but that she fully supports the work done by the office investigating.
“I will say that the work of the office is vitally important for ensuring students have access to educational opportunities,” she said.
Gay said Harvard is “deeply committed” to free expression on campus, but the university takes action when the speech “crosses over into conduct that violates our policies” with “robust” disciplinary actions.
—Lauren Irwin
Harvard president: It’s ‘not OK’ for students to shout speakers down
Harvard chief Claudine Gay was asked by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) if she knew 70 percent of her students believed it was acceptable to shout down a speaker.
“That’s not OK,” Gay responded to the lawmaker as they got into a back-and-forth over the campus’s free speech policies.
—Lexi Lonas
Witness calls out Trump’s response to Charlottesville
Pamela Nadell, a professor of history and Jewish studies at American University, pointed a finger at former President Trump for the rise in U.S. antisemitism after she was asked to compare the responses to antisemitism between the Trump and Biden administrations.
She lamented the fear the Jewish community had after the Charlottesville, Va., riot, calling it a “major turning point” for Jewish Americans. It contributed to the “long history of antisemitism in the United States and that it was about to burst again,” she said.
“Although President Trump called the people who were the protesters and counter protesters and said there were very good people on both sides, I disagree. I do not think there were very good people on both sides in Charlottesville in August 2017,” Nadell said.
—Lexi Lonas
Courtney calls out GOP for proposed cuts to office that probes antisemitism
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) called out House Republicans for proposed cuts to the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office while also calling for stronger action against antisemitism.
“At the same time we’re holding this hearing and we’re also still trying to get a budget passed for fiscal year 2024,” Courtney said, pointing out that the office probes such discrimination.
Courtney concluded his remarks Tuesday by addressing the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vt., near a campus last week. The shooting, he said, shows the office “needs to get full funding.”
—Lauren Irwin
University presidents affirm Israel has the right to exist
Foxx asked all the university presidents if they thought Israel had the right to exist as a Jewish nation, a point of friction with many pro-Palestinian protesters.
All three agreed that Israel has the right to exist.
—Lexi Lonas
University heads focus on free speech, condemning antisemitism in opening statements
All three university presidents used their opening statements to unequivocally condemn antisemitism and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
They outlined efforts made on campus to protect Jewish students such as increasing security, offering mental health supports and launching commissions to investigate the issue.
All three also acknowledged their challenges in allowing free speech on campus while making sure it does not violate campus policies.
—Lexi Lonas
University of Pennsylvania head points to action plan
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill noted she has officially announced a university action plan to address antisemitism and other forms of hate on campus last month.
Magill said the plan, announced on Nov 1, builds upon UPenn’s “anti-hate efforts to date and it is anchored firmly in the United States National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.”
Magill said the plan has three elements: security, engagement and education. Part of the plan is creating a task force to “identify concrete actionable recommendations” and produce a report.
Magill said the university created a student advisory group “focused on antisemitism and a direct impact on the Jewish community.”
—Lauren Irwin
Penn president addresses antisemitic protest in Philadelphia
In University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill’s opening statement, she addressed an antisemitic incident when protesters targeted a Jewish- and Israeli-owned business in Philadelphia and how fearful this can make students.
Magill said her campus has worked with law enforcement any time actions have been in “violation of either policy or law” and she is “deeply troubled” that Jewish members of the community do not feel safe.
“I know that we need both safety and free expression for universities and ultimately democracy to thrive. In these times, these competing principles can be difficult to balance, but I am determined to get it right,” Magill said.
—Lexi Lonas
Harvard president says she has ‘not always gotten it right’
In her opening statement, Harvard President Claudine Gay admitted she has “not always gotten it right” in response to the rise in hate that has occurred on campus “while preserving free expression.”
She outlined responses Harvard has made, such as increasing security, providing mental health supports and reminding students of policies against harassment.
“Our community still mourns those brutally murdered during the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7. Words fail in the face of such depravity — the deadliest single day for the Jewish community since the horrors of the Holocaust,” Gay said.
—Lexi Lonas
Crowd noise spills into hearing
Members of the public can be heard shouting from inside the hearing room.
“What happened before Oct. 7?” someone yelled.
U.S. Capitol Police urged people to move backward and to quiet down.
—Lauren Irwin