Politics

House GOP calls Northwestern, Rutgers and UCLA leaders to testify on college protests, alleged antisemitism

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on May 23, 2024

(WASHINGTON) — The GOP-led House Education Committee on Thursday called on more university leaders to defend their handling of pro-Palestinian protests and respond to allegations of antisemitism on campus.

Leaders from Northwestern, Rutgers and UCLA testified as the committee’s main witnesses, joining the presidents of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University amid a monthslong committee probe it says is aimed at rooting out antisemitism.

Before the first two committee hearings and at other House events, Jewish students from the aforementioned schools have participated in press conferences and roundtables detailing their fears and frustrations with campus leadership.

Last month, as college protests over the Israel-Hamas war boiled over, House Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx said her panel had a “clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students.”

She has complained that UCLA did not act quickly enough to remove protesters and that Rutgers and Northwestern officials negotiate with them.

During the same news conference, Speaker Mike Johnson expanded the Education Committee’s antisemitism probe into a House-wide investigation after weeks of college campus protests, which included encampments at schools like Columbia University.

Thursday’s hearing comes after the cancellation of Columbia’s main graduation ceremony and the clearing of several pro-Palestinian demonstrations at universities around the country.

UCLA became a flashpoint of the nationwide campus protests when violent clashes broke out between protesters and counterprotesters as police allegedly stood by.

Earlier this week, former UCLA Police Chief John Thomas was reassigned temporarily, pending an examination of the school’s security processes, the school said in a statement to ABC News.

Foxx has insisted to ABC News that the Education Committee is not out to get [college] presidents, saying it has been the committee’s goal to hold them accountable and maintain safe learning environments for students at school.