House Republicans have doubled down on investigating disciplinary actions at colleges where they say anti-Israel “agitators” have run wild.
The House Education and Workforce Committee asked five U.S. colleges on Thursday about their responses to antisemitism since October 2023, according to letters obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Republican Reps. Tim Walberg of Michigan and Burgess Owens of Utah detailed their concerns and various “antisemitic” incidents such as protest encampments at Barnard College, Northwestern University, Pomona College, Bowdoin College and Sarah Lawrence College.
“Unfortunately, incidents of campus antisemitism continue in the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023,” reads one letter to Barnard, a Columbia University affiliate. Columbia has been at the center of controversies surrounding campus antisemitism, with President Donald Trump stripping taxpayer funding over the issue.
Anti-Israel activists have sued Columbia University and Barnard to try to stop colleges from handing over student disciplinary records to Congress since the Trump administration began targeting foreign students for deportation. That isn’t stopping the House’s investigations.
“As the Chairman of the Committee on Education and Workforce (Committee) and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, we write to express our concerns about two recent incidents on the campus of Barnard College,” the committee, chaired by Walberg, wrote.
The lawmakers pointed to protests at Barnard in February and March when anti-Israel mobs forcefully occupied a building, allegedly assaulted an employee, and “disrupted library operations and scattered pro-Hamas pamphlets” in another campus facility.
The letters ask the schools to provide documents and information on disciplinary actions against student activists and any agreements made between school officials and protesters to resolve disputes.
Letters to the other four schools pressed them on their response to several “antisemitic incidents,” including disruptive anti-Israel encampment protests that occurred on all four campuses after Oct. 7. They highlighted antisemitic messages protesters have reportedly expressed at the colleges, such as “long live the Intifada” and “have you no shame, you bloodthirsty baby killers.”
The committee also chided Northwestern University for providing legal representation via its law school to “organizers of an anti-Israel blockade of highway traffic to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport” in 2024, citing public reports.
Lawmakers said one of the defendants “is a vocal antisemite and supporter of terrorism who has called for ‘many more October 7ths until full Liberation,’” referencing a social media post.
“This blockade resulted in the arrest of 40 participants,” the committee wrote. “The fact that Northwestern, a university supported by billions in federal funds, would dedicate its resources to support this illegal, antisemitic conduct raises serious questions.”
Northwestern told the DCNF in a statement: “There is no place for antisemitism or any form of identity-based discrimination or hate at Northwestern University.”
“Free expression and academic freedom are among our core values, but we have made clear that these values provide no excuse for behavior that threatens the well-being of others,” the school said. “We are confident in the actions we have taken to address antisemitism on our campus, including updating our Student Code of Conduct, our disciplinary procedures and making investments in public safety.”
“We continue to work tirelessly to make our university a safe and non-discriminatory educational institution,” the university told the DCNF.
The other colleges did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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