House committee grills university leaders on campus Gaza protests

May 23 (UPI) -- A House committee is holding a hearing Thursday to discuss the ongoing protests advocating for Palestinians in Gaza and anti-Semitism on college campuses.

House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., decried the encampments of protesters in her opening statement, calling them "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Jewish" as a whole. She also criticized universities for "allowing" the encampments.

"Suddenly, over the course of weeks -- days even -- universities burst into anti-Semitic chaos," Foxx said. "Oct. 7 ignited a powder keg of pro-terror campus fervor, a shocking spectacle for the American public."

Foxx has consistently referred to the encampments as "pro-terror encampments."

Administrators from Northwestern, Rutgers and UCLA, as well as the CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa society are giving testimony to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Foxx, along with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., directed much of the questioning from their side of the aisle. Other Republican committee members yielded time to one of them at multiple points.

Stefanik had especially pointed comments for Michael Schill, president of Northwestern. Schill was the subject of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats during the early portion of the hearing.

The New York congresswoman grilled Schill over alleged incidents of anti-Semitic hate on Northwestern's campus. Schill acknowledged that these incidents have been reported and are under investigation, urging that the university must follow due process.

Stefanik was also critical of a program the university is part of that assists students from war-torn countries that includes five Palestinian undergraduates. There are also students from Ukraine and Afghanistan who are part of the program. Schill explained that the program has been in place for years and its purpose is to help students from war-torn countries throughout the world.

Schill was also asked to detail the agreement between the university and protesters -- the Deering Meadow agreement -- to allow protests to continue through June 1. It also required tents to be removed, aside from an aid tent, and barred unauthorized use of sound amplification devices.

Schill said it would not have been wise to get law enforcement involved based on what happened at other universities.

Dozens of universities have called on law enforcement to tear down encampments or arrest protesters. Forty-seven campuses have had more than 45 arrests, according to CNN.

Police arrested 112 people on Columbia University's campus. More than 150 students were pepper-sprayed or beaten in a clash between protesters and counter protesters at UCLA last month.

The "No. 1" demand by protesters at Northwestern, according to Schill, was divestment from Israel.

"We said, 'No,'" Schill said. "We said, 'Absolutely not. Nothing that singles out Israel.'"

Schill said Thursday that no students have been suspended due to protesting but members of the university staff have been terminated. Jonathan Holloway, president of Rutgers said four people have been suspended and 19 others have been disciplined. Gene Block, chancellor at UCLA, said his college has more than 100 ongoing investigations into anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

"The fact that we have not suspended or expelled students does not mean that students have not received discipline," Schill said after Foxx admonished the administrators for "very few students" receiving disciplinary actions.

Democrats expressed their skepticism over the hearing, with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., saying Republican colleagues were using the hearing for "political bullying." She added that she appreciates the difficult situation university leaders face consistently in attempting to protect free speech while policing possible hate speech.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., also questioned the motivations of Republicans in the House, emphasizing that Thursday's was the fifth hearing in seven months the committee has held on anti-Semitism on college campuses.

"But sadly we've not had a single hearing to actually consider the legislation to address this epidemic of hate," she said. "And we have bills that we could hear."

Leger Fernandez is a co-sponsor of one such bill, the Countering Anti-Semitism Act. The bill would require the Department of Education and Secretary of Defense to work together to counter anti-Semitism on college campuses, among other measures to curb anti-Semitism.