The most recent questions asked by the Education Workforce Committee included the head of California Polytechnic, Haverford College, DePaul.
On May 7, the House Education and Workforce Committee is taking a look at the presidents of California Polytechnic State University and DePaul University on how to deal with anti-Semitism on campus.
During the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.) asked Haverford University President Wendy Raymond that disciplinary action was taken against a group of students who were called “required to completely dismantle Israel’s apartheid Settler colonial state.”
Raymond said the alleged statement was “disgusting” and vulnerable, but she did not respond to whether disciplinary action was taken against the student making such statements.
“We won’t talk about individual cases here,” she said.
Stefanik replied, “Was there any action that Haverford took in relation to anti-Semitism? What?”
Raymond said disciplinary action was taken.
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Lisa McClane (R-Mich.), chairman of the House GOP meeting, asked DePaul University President Robert Manuel about the protection of the Palestinians of the Square Shikoku at Chicago School. This was one of many camps to protest Israel’s military response in Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
McLain asks Manuel why he allowed DePaul to stay for more than two weeks. McClain cited university policies prohibiting people from moving around campuses, carrying out violence, and putting students and faculty at risk. This policy also does not disrupt the school’s business.
“My immediate instinct was to work with students,” Manuel said.
McLain pushed Manuel why DePaul didn’t clear the camp right away. Manuel said the university will work with the Chicago Police Department to do so. However, McClain criticized Manuel for taking six days to coordinate plans to remove the camp with the police station. Manuel said it was unacceptable that it took so long.
McClain also repeatedly asked Manuel, asking if there were any consequences to the administrators who allowed the camp to remain. Manuel did not answer the questions directly, saying that the university reviewed the incident.
Rep. Greg Kassar (D-Texas) targeted the Trump administration during the hearing, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Covid-19 was ethnically targeted before his current role, with Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people being the most immune to Covid-19.
Kasar also said that Trump had been attacked on the US Capitol, where he was said to have “praved Hitler and encouraged more Jewish killings.”
The hearing was the latest held by the House Education and Workforce Committee on the Education and Workforce with the university president over campus anti-Semitism. He held hearings with Presidents of Harvard University, MIT, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers.
The Trump administration has taken a tough stance towards higher education institutions, saying it wasn’t doing enough or didn’t respond to anti-Semitism on campus.
This includes withholding federal funds from Columbia and Harvard. Trump also announced his intention to revoke Harvard’s tax-free status on May 2.
