The three university presidents apologised at a House committee hearing Wednesday for not taking any more aggressive action to curb anti-Semitism on campus.
Wendy Raymond, president of Haverford University, a Quaker University outskirts of Philadelphia, said she wanted her Jewish students to know, “I'm sorry my actions and my leadership have disappointed you.” “I promise to get this right.”
The House Education Committee and the Workforce have held numerous hearings at schools since Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. In many respects, the hearing reflected their first and most dramatic ones in December 2023, leading to the resignation of the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.
During the hearing Wednesday, the Republican majority threatened to withhold federal funds from uncooperative schools. Democrat minorities accused Republicans of tolerating anti-Semitism in their party, and used it as a political weapon against others. And university leaders tried to walk the tiny line between showing abstinence and not hostile to the committee, without undermining academic freedom.
But it was also a very different moment for higher education and the federal government relationship.
The hearing reflected on an event a year ago when campuses around the country were mostly upset by protest camps and mass arrests. The war continues, but the protests have largely declined, with a few notable exceptions.
One protest at Washington University attracted widespread attention this week, but the university quickly cleared protesters to praise it from the government. And in Colombia on Wednesday, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters wearing masks and caffiers occupied the main room of the Butler Library.
Meanwhile, the Republican onslaught on the university is ramping up.
The Trump administration has launched investigations at dozens of universities over anti-Semitism accusations, stripping hundreds of millions of dollars from others who say they haven't done enough for the issues raised by the protests. President Trump and his officials have focused in particular on Ivy League schools.
Wednesday's Congressional hearing was entitled “Beyond Ivies.” “In conclusion, we are trying to emphasize that this is an issue that affects schools across the United States, not just Ivy League,” said Audra McGeorge, a spokesman for the committee.
The hearing focused on schools that received F grades from the Prevention Prevention League. This time, at three presidents, DePaul University in Chicago and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, they knew what questions to expect, and were able to protect them for the majority. (Cal Poly recently upgraded its grade to D)
But after refusing to provide statistics on disciplinary cases against protesters, Haverford President Dr. Raymond asked a particularly incredible question from Rep. Ellis Stefanik, a New York Republican. Her harsh interrogation was the main cause of the damage that helped force other university presidents to resign.
Stefanik asked Dr. Raymond about a group of students who called for the removal of Israel “by the necessary means” and said, “What does “all means” mean? “I asked.
“To call that kind of terminology is disgusting because of what it means,” Dr. Raymond replied, emphasizing the word “can.”
“Is that context dependent?” Stephanik interrupted.
Dr. Raymond paid tribute to the experiences of Harvard University and President Penn. Both gave Committle's answers to questions about whether to discipline students who sought the massacre of Jews. Both said that doing so would be context-dependent.
Dr. Raymond avoided the “context” question and said he would not talk about individual cases.
Stefanik threatened:
A year and a half after the December 2023 hearing, many university leaders apparently paid attention to complaints from students, faculty and lawmakers, as well as the fates of their peers.
Many schools have tightened rules related to the protest, locked campus gates with outsiders, and issued harsh penalties for participants. The move may help explain why protests are not very frequent and widespread this spring. Many universities have also banned or suspended the most extremist pro-Palestinian activist groups.
“As a university president and human being, this is an issue I take particularly seriously,” Jeffrey D. Armstrong, president of Cal Poly, told the committee. “We need to do better.”
He has engraved plans to award the Chair of Jewish Studies and establish an anti-Semitic Task Force to raise awareness of anti-Semiticism.
On Wednesday, Republicans urged schools to respond to complaints by threatening to withhold federal funds, following what became a favourite playbook.
Pennsylvania Republican Ryan McKenzie demanded that Dr. Raymond gather information on the punishment of Haverford students and professors and deliver it to the committee or risk losing federal funds.
“Would you take federal money?” he said.
“We have a great partnership with the federal government,” replied Dr. Raymond.
“Well, that partnership may be at risk,” McKenzie said.
When she began questioning the president, Oregon Democrat Suzanne Bonamichi rejected the hearing as a performance.
As a Jewishman heading for the synagogue, Bonamichi said, “I can no longer pretend that this is a sincere effort to eradicate anti-Semitism, especially when the Trump administration and the majority party regularly undermine Jewish values.”
David Cole, former national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, testified with the president. He compared the committee's activities to the Communist hunt of the 1950s. “They're not trying to find out what happened, they're trying to cool off their protected speech,” he said.
Cole also said the Trump administration has hampered the government's ability to investigate discrimination complaints by cutting staff from the Department of Education's Civil Rights Office.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has pledged more than 60 investigations into schools into complaints that allowed them to thwart anti-Semitism on campus.
The anti-Semitism task force formed by President Trump on Tuesday night began a review of the University of Washington, saying demonstrators temporarily occupying the engineering building on Monday, and the chaos unfolded on the streets outside.
According to the university, “Percent face coverings blocked access to two streets outside the building, blocked the entrance and exit to the building, and lit the fire with two trash on the street outside.”
About 30 people have been arrested, according to the University of Washington.
The task force praised the university's response as a “good first step,” but warned that the university “must do more to stop future violence.”
And the task force shows that federal funding flows to universities could be at risk.
A university spokesman did not respond to requests for comment regarding the task force's announcement. In the university's recent fiscal year, approximately 18% of its revenues came from grants and contracts, and most of those dollars came from the federal government.
