House GOP urges additional university leaders to testify in Congress as part of crackdown on antisemitism

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) asked three additional university leaders to testify on Capitol Hill over the rise of antisemitism on college campuses as part of the House GOP’s crackdown on anti-Jewish demonstrations and protests.

Foxx said during a Tuesday press conference with several House committee chairs that she has sent notices to appear to Presidents Peter Salovey of Yale University and Santa Ono of the University of Michigan and Chancellor Gene Block of the University of California, Los Angeles for an Education committee hearing on May 23 “on their handling of the most recent outrages.”

“As Republican leaders we have a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students,” Foxx said. “American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back.”

Former presidents from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania and the current presidents of MIT and Columbia University have testified previously before the committee on the levels of antisemitism on their campuses. Following their testimonies on Capitol Hill, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in December last year, and Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned in January.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and several other House Republicans have called on Columbia President Minouche Shafik to resign “in disgrace,” while some House Democrats have warned Shafik to look to Gay and Magill’s departures as a warning for what will happen if Shafik cannot bring order to her campus.

Several other committees announced their approach to crack down on antisemitism, such as House Judiciary, Oversight, and Energy and Commerce committees.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said the committee will be increasing oversight of institutions that have received public funds and “cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Republicans on the committee sent letters to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking “three fundamental questions”: how many students on visas are engaging in pro-Palestinian demonstrations; if that number is known, has the State Department been asked to revoke the visas; and if that has been done, has the Homeland Security Department begun removal proceedings.

“The overriding question is real simple: Are individuals advocating for the destruction of our dearest and closest ally, the State of Israel, and engaged in this antisemitic behavior — is that a national security threat? We think it is, and we think we deserve — the American people deserve — the answers to those three fundamental questions,” Jordan said.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said the committee has written letters to universities asking them to disclose donations or funding they have received from foreign governments, as well as demanding whether any disciplinary action has been taken against those making death threats “while the university was telling folks they shouldn’t be worried.”

Johnson added that if universities do not allow police on their campuses to “bring order to the chaos” and do not adhere to policy demands, the House will act.

“You will see Congress respond in kind: you are going to see funding sources begin to dry up, you’re going to see every level of accountability that we can muster, and that’s what this work of these committees and these fine chairpersons are gonna be involved in,” Johnson said.

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“And we’ll say stay tuned, and you’ll see much more,” Johnson added.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Yale, UCLA, and the University of Michigan for comment.