The presidents of Georgetown, The City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley faced tough questioning by Republicans Tuesday while testifying about antisemitism on their campuses in front of a U.S. House of Representatives’ panel.
While Democrats pointed fingers at the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education, Republicans accused the college presidents of being complicit in allowing “heinous” acts of antisemitism to occur in their schools.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., questioned the president of The City University of New York (CUNY) about an alleged incident in which a swastika symbol displayed outside a main university building was not removed for hours. CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez said the delay occurred because the school referred the incident to the New York Police Department.
Stefanik then showed the panel an internal email from a CUNY administrator who responded to a request to remove the swastika by saying, “Apologies but it’s not that simple.” When asked by Stefanik if the administrator was disciplined for this comment, Matos Rodríguez called the incident “entirely unacceptable” but evaded Stefanik’s question.
“You have failed Jewish students in New York state, and it is a disgrace,” Stefanik said.
The hearing was laden with interruptions from protesters yelling “free Palestine” and telling Republicans “you have blood on your hands.” Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., responded to one of these interruptions by blaming the witnesses for fostering an environment where the protestors’ views are tolerated.
“I hold you all responsible for this,” Fine said. “It is the attitude that you have allowed on your college campuses that make people think that this is okay.”
Democrats fired back at Republicans by attributing the recent rise in antisemitism on college campuses to the Trump administration’s disbanding of the Department of Education and its civil rights division.
Top Democrat on the panel Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., suggested Republicans have been selective in their fight against hate crimes. Scott pointed out that while Republicans have called nine hearings in the last 18 months to address antisemitism, no similar hearings have taken place to examine instances of racism, xenophobia or Islamophobia.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., accused multiple Trump aides of having ties to antisemitic extremists, including the Department of Defense’s press secretary and the Office of Management and Budget’s communications director.
“If the majority wanted to fight antisemitism and protect Jewish students, they should condemn antisemitism in their own party,” Bonamici said.
