Republicans press leaders of Georgetown, Berkeley and CUNY on antisemitism complaints

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Tuesday grilled the leaders of Georgetown University, the City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley in the latest hearing on antisemitism in higher education, accusing the schools of failing to respond adequately to allegations of bias or discrimination.

In their appearance before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the three university leaders said that they had taken disciplinary action where appropriate and stressed the importance of protecting free speech.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons pushed back on the suggestion that antisemitism was more present on college campuses than anywhere else.

“If somebody is expressing pro-Palestinian beliefs, that’s not necessarily antisemitic,” he said.

The hearing was the ninth in a series Republicans have held to scrutinize university leadership over allegations of antisemitism on campuses after a wave of protests following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Widely criticized testimony before the committee by the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University in 2023 contributed to their resignations.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Democrats blasted Republican committee members for their focus on antisemitism while not speaking out on the dismantling of the Education Department, which is tasked with investigating antisemitism and other civil rights violations in schools.

“They have turned this hearing room into a kangaroo court, where they spend our time litigating a predetermined outcome to do nothing, actually, to help Jewish students, just make public theater out of legitimate pain,” Rep. Mark Takano, D-CA.

Republicans said the university leaders have allowed campus antisemitism to run unchecked.

“Universities can choose to hire antisemitic faculty, welcome students with a history of antisemitism, accept certain foreign funding, and let the behavior of antisemitic unions go unchecked,” Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg, committee chair, said in his opening statements. “But we will see today they do so at their own risk.”

The hearing was periodically interrupted by protesters, who shouted pro-Palestinian slogans before being removed by Capitol police. Rep. Randy Fine, R-FL, berated the college presidents and said they were responsible because of the attitudes they had permitted on their campuses.

Republicans pressed the three college leaders on whether they had disciplined or fired faculty and employees for behavior they said was antisemitic. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., pressed CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez on the employment of a law professor who worked on the legal defense of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist the Trump administration attempted to deport over his role in protests at Columbia University.

Stefanik pushed Matos Rodríguez to answer whether the professor should be fired. Without responding directly, Matos Rodríguez defended CUNY and said antisemitism had no place at the school. He said any student or employee who broke CUNY rules would be investigated.

University leaders also emphasized the importance of free speech on campuses for students and faculty.

Interim Georgetown President Richard Groves said that as a Jesuit university, fostering interfaith dialogue and understanding was a key part of the school’s mission. He said the university has not experienced any encampments or physical violence since the Hamas attack in October 2023.

“Given our Jesuit values, we expose students to different viewpoints on the Middle East,” Groves said. “In addition to speakers on Gaza, we’ve hosted IDF soldiers, families of Israeli and Palestinians who’ve lost their lives. U.S. families of U.S. hostages in Gaza. Georgetown is not perfect, and as events evolve, we’ve had to clarify rules of student behavior.”

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