US Congress Grills University Leaders on Campus Antisemitism

In a recent House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing, Republican members grilled leaders from Georgetown University, City University of New York (CUNY), and UC Berkeley over allegations of antisemitism and inadequate responses to pro-Palestinian rhetoric on their campuses following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. Committee Chairman Tim Walberg criticized universities for tolerating antisemitic faculty and controversial funding, warning that institutions do so at their own risk, while university leaders condemned violent rhetoric and emphasized their efforts to protect Jewish students. CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez highlighted a zero-tolerance policy on encampments and increased security, while Georgetown’s interim president Robert Groves expressed regret over a professor’s inflammatory comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany and reaffirmed condemnation of Hamas' attack. UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons stressed that faculty hiring is based on academic standards, not ideology, and emphasized free speech protections. The hearing, marked by protests and interruptions, also featured Democratic criticism of the committee's narrow focus on antisemitism to the exclusion of other forms of campus discrimination. This session follows a series of congressional hearings scrutinizing campus antisemitism, some of which resulted in resignations of university leaders in 2023.