This is a time when university officials would normally take a breather. Campuses are deserted as the end of the academic year approaches. The tent cities that student activists set up as symbols of opposition to Israel's war on Gaza have all but disappeared.
But this summer may feel longer than usual.
Republican lawmakers pledged to pursue investigations into anti-Semitism at universities even as they wrapped up their latest hearings, which they sought to use as a platform to publicly blast leaders at Rutgers University, Northwestern University and the University of California, Los Angeles for their handling of campus encampments.
Protesters have similarly vowed not to give up, with hundreds of people walking out of Harvard University's graduation ceremony on Thursday and UCLA students setting up new tents and temporarily occupying a building.
In the coming months, colleges and universities must navigate a complex set of challenges: Dozens of universities and school districts are facing ongoing federal investigations into their handling of allegations of anti-Semitism; hundreds of disciplinary cases await decisions; and they must plan for the fall, just months before the presidential election, when protests may increase and college campuses will once again be packed.
Here are the questions that may keep college presidents up at night.
Suspension, expulsion, reprimand
One of the major takeaways from Thursday's hearing was that the three universities have yet to resolve numerous disciplinary cases involving student protesters.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said Thursday that the school is conducting more than 100 investigations into student behavior that involves both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Northwestern University President Michael Schill and Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway said their schools were also continuing to investigate the harassment reports. At Rutgers, four students were suspended and 19 others received other disciplinary action.
Republicans have been pressuring leaders on whether to suspend students who violate the code of conduct, and schools will have to make disciplinary decisions knowing that Republicans want to know the results.
During the hearing, Cyr declined to give a timeline for Northwestern's investigation. “We believe that due process is being followed at Northwestern,” he said.
Congressional and Federal Investigations
Republicans have threatened to cut off billions of dollars in financial aid and research funding to schools and universities for failing to protect Jewish students, and numerous congressional committees are investigating whether universities have violated certain aspects of the law, from tax code to anti-discrimination laws.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the Committee on Education and Labor, has launched an investigation looking into the “learning environments” at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as disciplinary procedures at those schools.
Additionally, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has launched discrimination investigations into a number of universities, colleges and school districts, including Rutgers University, Northwestern University, University of California, Los Angeles, Harvard University and Columbia University, based on complaints of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim harassment following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
Autumn is just around the corner
In three House hearings, college presidents repeatedly spoke about how surprised and unprepared they were by the protests on their campuses, and that they will have no excuses come fall.
Students are set to return to campus about two months before the presidential election, and student activists have vowed to continue protesting.
Throughout the demonstration, students maintained a defiant attitude, refusing orders to disperse and resisting pleas from university authorities for compromise as a means to break up the encampment.
UCLA announced its upcoming moves Thursday afternoon.
While the university president was attending a congressional hearing, protesters set up a new, smaller encampment on campus.
And that morning, the university's chapter of Students for Justice for Palestine posted the message, “We're back.”
Jonathan Wolf and Maya Shweder Contributed report.