https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-05-24/ty-article/.premium/university-leaders-get-bullied-by-republican-lawmakers-for-caving-in-to-pro-hamas-groups/0000018f-a735-dfc6-a3ef-b77d24480000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=author-alert&utm_campaign=Judy+Maltz&utm_term=20240524-00:11'Embarrassment
to Your School': University Leaders Get Bullied by Republican Lawmakers
for Caving in to 'pro-Hamas' Groups Judy Maltz May 24, 2024
Three
university leaders were accused on Thursday, during a congressional
hearing, of turning a blind eye to antisemitism on their campuses, while
capitulating to "pro-Hamas" and "pro-terror" student groups.
During
more than three hours of grueling questioning, Northwestern University
President Michael Schill, Rutgers University Jonathan Holloway and UCLA
Chancellor Gene Block were often bullied and taunted by members of the
House Committee on Education & the Workforce for not cracking down
more forcefully on anti-Israel protesters who had set up unauthorized
encampments on their campuses.
"Each of you should be ashamed of
your decisions that allowed antisemitic encampments to endanger Jewish
students," said Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North
Carolina.
Schill and Holloway bore the brunt of the wrath of the
Republican-controlled committee for also cutting deals with the
protesters rather than calling in police to clear the encampments. Seven
Jewish members of a committee tasked with fighting antisemitism at
Northwestern resigned in protest at the concessions made by their
university president to the protesters.
Neither university
agreed to an academic boycott of Israel, but they promised to hold
discussions in the future on the possibility of divesting from companies
with ties to Israel. As part of its agreement, Northwestern also
promised to take in students from Gaza displaced by the war, while
Rutgers agreed to form a partnership with Birzeit University in the West
Bank.
"I think your performance here has been very embarrassing
to your school," U.S. Representative Jim Banks, a Republican from
Indiana, told Schill after the president of Northwestern refused to
answer questions about a journalism professor at his university who had
participated in the protests and scuffled with police.
When asked
by Banks whether he allows professors at Northwestern to praise Hamas,
Schill, who is Jewish, responded: "They have all the rights of free
speech."
Banks retorted: "Four billion dollars have gone to your
university. We should not give you another taxpayers' dollar for the
joke your university has become."
Elise Stefanik, the Republican
congresswoman from New York, was especially hostile, accusing Schill of
"unilateral capitulation to the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, antisemitic
encampment."
When he tried to clarify a point, Stefanik – who has
been fashioning herself as a leading voice against the pro-Palestinian
student protests – cut him off. "I'm asking the questions here," she
said angrily.
When asked by Stefanik if it was true that he had
asked the director of the Hillel chapter at Northwestern whether it was
possible to hire an ant-Zionist rabbi as university chaplain, Schill
responded emphatically that he had never made such an inquiry.
"That's not true according to the whistleblowers who've come forth to this committee," retorted Stefanik.
Holloway
was interrogated by Congressman Bob Good, a Republican from Virginia,
about a think tank at Rutgers that has referred to Israel's government
as genocidal, among other anti-Israel statements it has issued in recent
months. When asked, Holloway said he had no intention of closing down
this Center for Security, Race and Rights.
Good: "Do you think Israel's government is genocidal?"
Holloway: "Sir, I don't have an opinion about Israel in terms of that phrase."
Good: "You do not have an opinion as to whether or not Israel's government is genocidal?"
Holloway: "No, sir. I think Israel has a right to exist and protect itself."
Good: "Do you think Israel's government is genocidal?"
Holloway: "I think Israel has a right to exist and protect itself, sir."
Good: "But you will not say that Israel's government is not genocidal? You can't say that?"
Holloway: "Sir, I believe the government . . . "
Good: "Are you in a position to answer any questions? Do you have an opinion on anything?
Later
on in the hearing, Holloway was given a second chance to address the
question, phrased somewhat differently. When asked by Congressman Eric
Burlison, a Republican from Missouri, whether they believed Israel was
genocidal, all three university leaders responded that they did not.
Congressman
Roger Williams, a Republican from Texas, asked each of them if they
knew what faculty department, student groups or other organizations were
behind the anti-Israel encampments that had been set up on their
campuses. All three said they were not sure.
"This is absolutely
shocking," he responded. "You allowed these encampments to persist on
your campuses but you don't know who was behind them, you don't know
what was there, but they're occupying and causing violence and chaos on
your campuses. That's an astonishing admission to me, and I think
disingenuous."
Foxx asked each of the university leaders how many
students and faculty had been suspended or expelled since October 7
over actions related to the anti-Israel protests. At Northwestern,
Schill said, no students had yet been suspended or expelled, but a
number he would not reveal were under investigation. He said staff
members had been terminated but could provide no precise number on that
score either.
At Rutgers, Holloway said, four students had been
suspended and 19 had experienced "other levels of disciplinary action."
At UCLA, Block said, more than 100 students were under investigation for
antisemitism or Islamophobia.
Among the few Democrats to
question the witnesses was Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, known as a fierce
critic of Israel. She focused her questioning on Block and his decision
to wait before summoning police following a violent assault on the UCLA
encampment by a group of outside agitators.
"You should be
ashamed for the fact that you failed your students," she said. "You
should be ashamed for letting a peaceful protest gathering get hijacked
by an angry move and for allowing such violence on your campus, which
will be weaponized by Republicans on this committee. You played right
into their hands."
Four university presidents have already
testified about antisemitism on their campuses at two previous hearings
of the congressional committee. Following their disastrous testimony in
December, pressure mounted on the leaders of Harvard, Penn and MIT to
resign. Liz Magill, the former Penn president, stepped down almost
immediately. Claudine Gay, the former Harvard president, resigned a
month later – only after allegations against her of plagiarism had
surfaced. MIT President Sally Kornbluth has thus far withstood calls to
resign.
Last month, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik
also testified before the committee. On that same day, a group of
anti-Israel protesters set up an encampment on campus. Shafik called in
the police the following day, sparking a wave of encampments across the
country.