United States: For the fourth time in six months, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, dominated by Republicans, is summoning school leaders to Washington to question them over alleged antisemitism at their institutions.
This session will be on Thursday, focusing on how three universities responded when pro-Palestinian protesters set up tents on campus lawns as part of a global student protest against the war in Gaza, as reported by the New York Times.
More about the news
Among the schools whose leaders are to testify are Northwestern and Rutgers, both of which reached nonviolent agreements with the protesters. In contrast, at the University of California, Los Angeles, police were called to dismantle the encampment after counter-protesters attacked it the previous night.
Representative and committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx criticized Rutgers and Northwestern for negotiating with the demonstrators, describing their views as antisemitic and supportive of terrorism, according to the New York Times.
However, she also criticized U.C.L.A.’s chancellor for informing the police on call too late and said that he allowed his campus to become a “severe and pervasive hostile environment for Jewish students.”
Ms. Foxx said, “The committee has a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students,” as the New York Times reported.
“No stone must go unturned while buildings are being defaced, campus greens are being captured, or graduations are being ruined,” she continued.
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, chair of religious studies at Northwestern, defended the school’s decision to negotiate as a model of constructive conflict resolution.
She added, “We can be proud of our administration, and we can be proud of our students,” and it made her upset to perceive Northwestern’s president “dragged up there and subjected to this inquisitorial process that is so reminiscent of McCarthyism.”
More about Thursday’s hearing
Thursday’s hearing is the first time university chiefs from public institutions, U.C.L.A. and Rutgers, have been called to be questioned over campus antisemitism since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
This changes the hearing dynamics slightly, as public universities are restricted by the First Amendment, while private universities have more freedom to restrict speech.
It is also the first time university leaders have been questioned since Columbia’s president, Nemat Shafik, requested police intervention to disperse a pro-Palestinian encampment on April 18, shortly after her congressional testimony.
Arrest of pro-Palestinian students
Since then, at least 65 university leaders across the country have disciplined or arrested pro-Palestinian students, and 3,000 people have been arrested, according to the New York Times tracker. However, more than a dozen colleges have reached agreements with demonstrators, often agreeing to discuss their key demand: cutting off funding to companies benefiting from aggression in Gaza and the West Bank.
The university leaders testifying before the committee on Thursday come from institutions with varied circumstances.