An anti-semitism report led by a North Carolina congresswoman lands on four distinctive conclusions, determining that college administrators put “the wants of terrorist sympathizers over the safety of Jewish students, faculty and staff.”
Concessions were made for illegal encampments, support was withheld from Jewish students, discipline was absent for those engaged in antisemitic conduct, and congressional oversight was rejected as a nuisance with hostility. The findings released Thursday are from Republican staff on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education & The Workforce.
Of note, Demoratic congressional lawmakers remain critical of America’s financial and military support for Israel. Many believe that the Israeli government bears the responsibility to negotiate a ceasefire to save the lives of thousands of Palestinian civilians caught in the middle of the war.
“For over a year, the American people have watched antisemitic mobs rule over so-called elite universities, but what was happening behind the scenes is arguably worse,” said U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the committee. “While Jewish students displayed incredible courage and a refusal to cave to the harassment, university administrators, faculty, and staff were cowards who fully capitulated to the mob and failed the students they were supposed to serve.
“Our investigation has shown that these ‘leaders’ bear the responsibility for the chaos likely violating Title VI and threatening public safety. It is time for the executive branch to enforce the laws and ensure colleges and universities restore order and guarantee that all students have a safe learning environment.”
More than 400,000 documents are in the 365-page report, gathered from 11 universities. It includes images, text messages and correspondences between administrators.
The report says at Northwestern, President Michael Schill had anti-Israel faculty negotiate with protestors. He was open to the Evanston, Ill., campus being free of Sabra hummus, a longtime target of more than a decade of Israel boycott, and of hiring an “anti-Zionist” rabbi.
Boycotting any Israeli company, in a serious manner, has been denied by the university. Schill, in May, told Congress he defused the situation without giving ground to protestors.
At Harvard, the report says, a public statement after the Oct. 7 attack was intentionally without the word “violent” so as to not assign blame.
And Dr. Claudine Gay, the disgraced Harvard president who resigned amid additional accusations of plagiarism, requested “from the river to the sea” not be called antisemitic by the university.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a battle cry. By consensus, Jews say it is a call for destruction of Israel; if Hamas were to gain the land it craves from the Jordan River to the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, there would be no Israel. Palestinian activists say it calls for peace, an end to Israel’s military rule of Palestinians.
At Columbia, site of one of the biggest escalations, the report says one concession considered was a partnership with a university in Palestine “where Hamas is active on campus.”
At both Harvard and Columbia, the report says the Ivy League schools had faculty “derailing discipline.” The report says Rutgers University disciplined Jewish students speaking out against harassment.
UCLA, Cal Berkeley, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are also chastised for actions involving encampments.
The report says Gay, the former Harvard president, “disparaged” the character of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to the university’s Board of Overseers. At the University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League school, the report says administrators tried to generate negative coverage in the media for the members of Congress critical of the university.
Foxx has led the committee’s charge for oversight since campus problems arose. The first hearing was Dec. 5, and included Gay, Penn’s Dr. Liz Magill, American University’s Dr. Pamela Nadell and MIT’s Dr. Sally Kornbluth. The day didn’t go well for the campus leaders. Formal probes of Harvard, Penn and MIT were announced two days later, Magill announced her resignation Dec. 9, and Gay was out of Harvard by Jan. 2.
Cornell President Dr. Martha Pollack resigned June 30, though she said her deliberation was prior to the protests on her campus; and Columbia President Dr. Minouche Shafik resigned Aug. 14.
Rutgers President Dr. Jonathan Holloway tendered resignation on Sept. 17.
