In six months, the Republican-controlled U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce has held three hearings about campus antisemitism, including one last week. Although there’s more testimony to come, the endeavor has already succeeded beyond the GOP’s wildest fever dreams.
Not only has the committee taken unprecedented steps to bring elite colleges and universities to heel, it has gleefully drawn attention to these institutions’ failures of leadership, fairness and vision. The Republicans have leaned into their oversight powers. Questions about intellectual diversity and foreign donor interference have been asked, and the answers often place these schools in an awful light.
Not only has the committee taken unprecedented steps to bring elite colleges and universities to heel, it has gleefully drawn attention to these institutions’ failures of leadership, fairness and vision.
It’s unclear whether the proceedings have reduced or will reduce antisemitism. One also wonders if Republicans are truly committed to this goal. As Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., observed at last week’s hearing, it’s hard to square the GOP’s professed concern for the well-being of Jewish Americans with its embrace of white supremacists, replacement theory and “unified Reich” rhetoric.
Nevertheless, a mere 10 hours of testimony have generated considerable havoc. The first hearing in December resulted in the resignations of Harvard University President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. Both used “university president speak” to suggest they were powerless to crack down on antisemitic speech on their campuses.
In the second hearing, held in April, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik rather skillfully placated hostile Republican questioners, but that likely reignited the resolve of pro-Palestinian protesters across the country. Hours after Shafik’s testimony, all hell broke loose. Protests erupted, the campus went on lockdown, a building was eventually occupied and the unrest spread to other schools.
Thursday’s session, with Northwestern University President Michael Schill, Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, was not without controversy. Schill testified that Northwestern’s protesters, with whom he’d just negotiated an “encampment deal,” were intimidating and antisemitic. He, thus, accomplished the difficult task of earning the condemnation of Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, the NU Divestment Coalition and the ADL and pro-Israel Republicans.
The chaos has been an added bonus for Republicans. Their true intention, I suspect, is to reset and recalibrate the relationship between higher education and the government. The party has successfully test-run this program in states with a Republican supermajority. In ruby red Florida and Texas they’ve commandeered entire schools, tried to ban tenure, DEI initiatives, etc. Now, on the federal level, they’re deploying the power of the government to intimidate and regulate even private educational institutions.
The message to university administrators, most of whom are risk-averse, is clear: Committee cha
