[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ANTISEMITISM ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION AND LIMITED GOVERNMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024
__________
Serial No. 118-79
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
55-775 WASHINGTON : 2024
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Chair
DARRELL ISSA, California JERROLD NADLER, New York, Ranking
MATT GAETZ, Florida Member
ANDY BIGGS, Arizona ZOE LOFGREN, California
TOM McCLINTOCK, California SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
CHIP ROY, Texas Georgia
DAN BISHOP, North Carolina ADAM SCHIFF, California
VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana J. LUIS CORREA, California
SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin ERIC SWALWELL, California
CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon TED LIEU, California
BEN CLINE, Virginia PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington
KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania
LANCE GOODEN, Texas JOE NEGUSE, Colorado
JEFF VAN DREW, New Jersey LUCY McBATH, Georgia
TROY NEHLS, Texas MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania
BARRY MOORE, Alabama VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
KEVIN KILEY, California DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
HARRIET HAGEMAN, Wyoming CORI BUSH, Missouri
NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas GLENN IVEY, Maryland
LAUREL LEE, Florida BECCA BALINT, Vermont
WESLEY HUNT, Texas
RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina
Vacancy
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION AND LIMITED GOVERNMENT
CHIP ROY, Texas, Chair
TOM McCLINTOCK, California MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania,
DAN BISHOP, North Carolina Ranking Member
KEVIN KILEY, California STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
HARRIET HAGEMAN, Wyoming VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
WESLEY HUNT, Texas CORI BUSH, Missouri
RUSSELL FRY, South Carolina SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota BECCA BALINT, Vermont
CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Majority Staff Director
AARON HILLER, Minority Staff Director & Chief of Staff
C O N T E N T S
----------
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
The Honorable Chip Roy, Chair of the Subcommittee on the
Constitution and Limited Governmentfrom the State of Texas..... 1
The Honorable Mary Gay Scanlon, Ranking Member of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from
the State of Pennsylvania...................................... 3
The Honorable Jim Jordan, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary
from the State of Ohio......................................... 5
The Honorable Jerrold Nadler, Ranking Member of the Committee on
the Judiciary from the State of New York....................... 7
WITNESSES
Eyal Yakoby, Undergraduate Student, University of Pennsylvania
Oral Testimony................................................. 9
Prepared Testimony............................................. 12
Shabbos Kestenbaum, Graduate Student, Harvard University
Oral Testimony................................................. 15
Prepared Testimony............................................. 17
Dr. Mark Goldfeder, CEO, National Jewish Advocacy Center
Oral Testimony................................................. 32
Prepared Testimony............................................. 34
Kevin Rachlin, Washington Director, Nexus Leadership Project
Oral Testimony................................................. 43
Prepared Testimony............................................. 45
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
All materials submitted by the Subcommittee on the Constitution
and Limited Government, for the record......................... 65
An article entitled, ``National: Pro-Palestinian protesters are
backed by a surprising source: Biden's biggest donors,'' May 6,
2024, Politico, submitted by the Honorable Wesley Hunt, a
Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited
Government from the State of Texas, for the record
An article entitled, ``TIPSHEET: One Look at Biden's Top Advisor
Explains His Support for Hamas,'' May 13, 2024, Townhall,
submitted by the Honorable Harriet Hageman, a Member of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from
the State of Wyoming, for the record
A letter to Merrick Garland, Attorney General of the United
States, and Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education, May 7,
2024, from Advancing American Freedom, submitted by the
Honorable Chip Roy, Chair of the Subcommittee on the
Constitution and Limited Governmentfrom the State of Texas, for
the record
An article entitled, ``Antisemitism on College Campuses: Incident
Tracking from 2019-2024,'' May 13, 2024, Hillel International,
submitted by the Honorable Russell Fry, a Member of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from
the State of South Carolina, for the record
An article entitled, ``How Republicans Echo Antisemitic Tropes
Despite Declaring Support for Israel,'' May 9, 2024, The New
York Times, submitted by the Honorable Mary Gay Scanlon,
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and
Limited Government from the State of Pennsylvania, for the
record
APPENDIX
Materials submitted by the Honorable Kelly Armstrong, a Member of
the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government
from the State of North Dakota, for the record
A report entitled, ``The Hamas Networks in America: A Short
History,'' Oct. 2023, Program on Extremism, George
Washington University
A report entitled, ``Antisemitism, Violent Extremism and the
Threat to North American Universities,'' Oct. 2019,
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP)
A report entitled, ``Antisemitism, Anti-Americanism, Violent
Extremism and the Threat to North American
Universities,'' 2024, National Students for Justice in
Palestine (NSJP)
ANTISEMITISM ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
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Wednesday, May 15, 2024
House of Representatives
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government
Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, DC
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:33 p.m., in
Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Chip Roy
[Chair of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Members present: Representatives Roy, Jordan, Kiley,
Hageman, Hunt, Fry, Armstrong, Scanlon, Nadler, Cohen, Escobar,
and Balint.
Mr. Roy. The Committee will be in order. I would like to
remind the audience that there is no audience participation in
the hearing. All are welcome to spectate, but to follow the
rules of decorum here in the hearing room.
I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today. I
would--without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a
recess at any time. We welcome everyone to today's hearing on
Antisemitism on College Campuses, and I will now recognize
myself for an opening statement.
I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today.
Since Hamas' brutal attack on our friend and ally Israel on
October 7th, we have witnessed a disturbing spike in
antisemitic violence across our own country. This rampant
antisemitism is perhaps most prevalent on American college
campuses, often funded with billions in taxpayer dollars.
Let's be clear: Much of what we are seeing transpire on
college campuses is not First Amendment protected speech. We
are seeing pro-Hamas protesters commit vandalism, destroy
university property, set up large encampments, and even in some
instances, carry out acts of violence.
At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
protesters defaced a campus building hours before graduation,
covering the university steps in red paint. At Yale University,
a Jewish student was surrounded by a mob of protesters and
assaulted by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator. He used a
Palestinian flag to jab her in the eye.
At Columbia University, protesters barricaded themselves in
Hamilton Hall, breaking windows and furniture and preventing
other students from accessing the building. I would note that
Columbia canceled its main commencement ceremony.
I would point out the young man that was asked if he was a
Zionist at UCLA, and then prohibited from moving to another
part of the campus and then a building, simply for expressing
his view. Unconscionable.
In fact, at the height of the protests on Columbia
University's campus, one Columbia employee, an Orthodox rabbi,
urged Jewish students to avoid campus, suggesting it was no
longer safe to remain on university grounds in the face of
ongoing protest. Imagine that, in the United States of America
Jewish students were being told to avoid campus.
It is not just antisemitism on college campuses, it is also
blatant anti-Americanism. University of Pennsylvania, Ben
Franklin's statue was vandalized with the words, ``Glory to the
martyrs--Intifada until victory.''
At George Washington University, the statue of George
Washington was spray painted with the words ``Genocidal
warmonger university.''
At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
protesters replaced the American flag with the Palestinian
flag.
Unfortunately, the leadership of far too many of these
universities has refused to respond with moral clarity as to
what is happening. Instead, they have opted to cancel
graduation ceremoneys and in-person classes to avoid further
disruptive demonstrations. The colleges that are failing to
rein in these violent protests are actively trampling their
Jewish students' civil rights.
Keep in mind, these colleges receive billions in funding
and subsidies from the Federal Government. The Committee for a
Responsible Federal Budget estimates that President Biden's
student debt cancellation, which constitutes a free handout to
universities just as much as the borrower, could cost taxpayers
up to $1.4 trillion.
These colleges cannot have it both ways. They cannot rake
in billions in Federal dollars and subsidizing students to
attend their universities while refusing to protect their
Jewish students as they hide behind a false First Amendment
argument.
Congress has a duty to ensure that these Federally funded
entities are protecting students and upholding their rights.
Thankfully, there are a few universities that have demonstrated
strong leadership.
University of Florida's President Ben Sasse made it clear
that while students have a right to free speech, they do not
have a right to take over an entire university, barricade
themselves in campus buildings, and disrupt students'
commencement. He rightfully stated,
I want all of our students to feel safe. But more important
than the subjective feeling, I want our students to be safe.
And that is what is critically important here.
In my home State, the University of Texas, President Jay
Hartzell rightfully refused to let protesters set up an
encampment and disrupt campus operations.
You might ask, with Jewish students' rights under attack by
students, agitators, and DEI bureaucrats, where is the
Department of Justice and its crown jewel, the Civil Rights
Division? Where is Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke?
Instead of taking meaningful action to uphold Jewish
students' rights or going to the Columbia campus, like Speaker
Mike Johnson did, the former Chair of this Subcommittee, to
condemn the lawlessness, on Monday, Clarke delivered Columbia
Law School's commencement remarks, making no significant
mention of the surge in antisemitic action on campus. In fact,
lumping it into a long train of items in a speech.
Imagine that, he didn't even bring it up in any
significance after Columbia had basically been sacked in
protest. All while the Civil Rights Division, by the way, is
actively trampling on the rights of pro-life Americans to
peacefully protest by prosecuting them under the FACE Act.
One young woman, a progressive activist, received a
sentence of 57 months just this week. All while we haven't
heard a word about what, if anything, her division intends to
do about this antisemitic movement among secular liberals on
campuses across this country.
Beyond civil rights, Congress must also examine how we
should use our power of the purse in Congress to shut off the
flow of taxpayer dollars that are going to universities to fuel
this radical ideology. We are allowing billions, five billion
alone in Fiscal Year 2023 that went to Ivy League institutions.
Harvard is sitting on a $50 billion endowment, $50 billion
endowment, most of which is tax-free. Penn, $20 billion
endowment. Yet, we continue to have taxpayer dollars flow to
these universities while they are treating our Jewish brothers
and sisters as we have seen unfold before our very eyes in
recent weeks.
The secular left wants to admonish us not to foment culture
wars. The best way to do that is for these radical progressive
Democrats that infest college campuses and leech off the public
dole and the public debt and the fat cat donors that fuel the
endowments not to do just that, not to start the culture wars
by attacking our Jewish brothers and sisters.
I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses about
their experiences with antisemitism on college campuses and how
we can ensure the safety, security, and equal protection of
rights.
I now recognize the Ranking Member, the gentlewoman from
Pennsylvania, Ms. Scanlon, for her opening statement.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to our
witnesses for appearing today.
As someone who represents a district with more than a dozen
colleges and universities and many others nearby, it is
particularly important to me that our campuses are spaces where
students can engage in meaningful academic discourse while
feeling safe and supported.
Let's be clear: There is no place for violence, threats,
intimidation, or harassment against students, faculty, or other
school community members because they are Jewish. That kind of
conduct is unlawful.
It is not constitutionally protected speech, and it is
antithetical to our most fundamental American values. That
bigotry has no place in our society, and everyone deserves an
equal opportunity for a safe learning environment, regardless
of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or ancestry.
That being said, we have seen too many times during this
majority--as we have seen too many times during this majority,
this hearing seems to be part of a pattern of conduct in which
our Republican colleagues appear once again eager to divide
people, to exploit the issues that they think will score them
the most political points.
In this very Committee room, the Republican majority have
at times decided it serves them best politically to actually
defend threats or acts of violence, including those against
public servants like election workers and school board
officials. Every American should understand that political
violence has no place in our country or in our political
discourse.
Everyone who purports to call themselves a leader must
unequivocally condemn such calls to violence. That includes
standing against acts of discrimination and hate in all its
forms.
Similarly, I believe that those in positions of leadership
have an obligation to model good behavior and not inflame
passions around these issues, even when it might inure to their
political benefit.
So, as we focus on fighting antisemitism on campus, we must
also guard against reactions in the heat of the moment that
threaten important principles like academic freedom and freedom
of speech, considerations that I know the Chair and many other
Members of this Committee on both sides of the aisle take very
seriously.
These principles are as fundamental to our democracy as
antidiscrimination laws are central to the mission of our
higher education institutions, and they are most threatened
when the speech at issue is controversial.
Schools of course are important places to help our young
people become critical thinkers. That is because schools can
and should expose students to the diversity of people,
viewpoints, and experiences in the world around them. In
fighting hate, Congress must respect the imperative that it not
overreach and end up chilling constitutionally protected speech
on college campuses or other places.
That being said, there are concrete steps that Congress can
take to combat antisemitism. As the Chair mentioned, Congress
has the power of the purse.
If my Republican colleagues are serious about confronting
this issue, they would start by adequately funding the
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. That is the
primary agency tasked with enforcing civil rights laws at
colleges and universities.
This includes enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race,
color, or national origin in Federally funded programs, and
which protects Jewish students from antisemitic discrimination.
When the Biden Administration requested an increase in
OCR's funding for Fiscal Year 2024, House Republicans instead
tried to cut the agency's funding by 25 percent. Ultimately the
final compromise deal left OCR's funding inadequately flat at a
time when Title VI complaints from college students have risen
sharply and OCR lacks the resources it needs to get through an
unprecedented backlog.
OCR's mission includes not just identifying violations of
civil rights around antisemitism, but also implementing
corrective action. So, the failure to adequately fund impacts
both the failure to identify past events as well as preventing
future events.
So, as we look toward funding the government for 2025, the
administration is once again requesting an increase for OCR. If
our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are looking for a
real, tangible way to fight antisemitism, they should provide
that funding instead of once again trying to cut it.
Similarly, if our Republican colleagues are looking for
serious solutions, they would help to implement President
Biden's comprehensive national strategy to counter
antisemitism. We could do so by passing the bipartisan and
bicameral Countering Antisemitism Act of 2024, a bill that
would, among other things, create a national coordinator to
counter antisemitism in the Executive Office of the President
to coordinate governmentwide efforts to combat antisemitism.
I should also add that while our Republican colleagues have
called this hearing today, their record of condemning
antisemitic--sorry, antisemitic speech and acts is far from
perfect. Time and time again, they have failed to condemn
instances of antisemitism, particularly when it comes from
their right-wing allies, including the former President.
Therefore, you will have to pardon our skepticism about the
rationale for holding multiple hearings to address this topic
in multiple Committees, when the focus appears to be actually
stoking culture wars concerning institutions of higher
education, rather than actually solving the problem and the
scope of the problem of antisemitism on college campuses.
We had a Full Committee hearing on this topic last fall,
and other Committees have held hearings on the topic as well.
We know the concrete steps that Congress can take now to help
counter antisemitism on campuses. The Subcommittee's time would
be better spent helping to ensure that we take those steps and
empower OCR rather than pouring gasoline on the embers of hate
and antisemitism that we are seeing around the country.
Nonetheless, I thank our witnesses for being here, and I
look forward to their testimony.
Yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the Ranking Member, and I will now
recognize the Chair of the Full Committee, Mr. Jordan, for his
opening statement.
Chair Jordan. I thank the Chair.
Violent protests and encampments on college campuses, civil
unrest throughout the country, a deeply unpopular Democrat
President, and a Democrat Convention happening in Chicago.
Sounds like 1968, but it is 2024.
Weeks after the October 7th, terrorist attacks by Hamas on
Israel, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the topic of
antisemitism on college campuses. We examined the discrepancy
between university administrators rapidly shutting down
conservative events while posturing a slow reaction to violent
pro-Hamas rallies and encampments throughout America's top
institutions.
The school year continued with antisemitic and anti-
American encampments lasting months. This even led to many
graduation cancellations and disruptions. Imagine that. You go
to class, you do your work, you pay your tuition, and your
family and friends come to celebrate your achievements, and
your school chooses to take the side of the woke mob they have
let infiltrate their grounds since this last October.
It has been said that the activity on college campuses is
like looking into a crystal ball five years into the future.
Censorship of conservative ideas, speakers, and even students,
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives being forced on
peers, cancel culture, safe spaces, the list goes on and on.
At this Committee our oversight is often retrospectively.
This hearing is an opportunity to look forward to ensuring no
other students have to go through what the brave witnesses
today have had to endure. That is why we are here today.
I want to thank my colleagues, including Speaker Johnson,
Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, who have launched a House-wide
investigation on this topic.
In fact, this Committee sent letters to Secretary Blinken
and Secretary Mayorkas three weeks ago, asking a fundamental
question. The Immigration and Nationality Act says if a student
is here on a visa and they are engaged in activity that is
against the law, they are not supposed to be here. The visa is
supposed to be taken away.
So, we asked Secretary Blinken, have you begun the process
of revoking any visas. We know for example, it has been
reported in the press, 55 perent of the student body, according
to the press, 55 perent of the student body at Columbia is here
on a student visa or some kind of visa.
Any of those people engaged in unlawful activity? If they
are, Secretary Blinken, are you working to revoke that visa? If
that is happening, Secretary Mayorkas, are you looking to or
are you in the process of removing these folks from the
country?
I want Israel to win. They were attacked by a terrorist
organization. I want them to win. I thought the White House did
too. I do not understand recent statements and actions by this
Administration. When it comes to the weapons, not letting them
go to our dearest and closest friend, the State of Israel?
When it comes to the leading Democrat in the U.S. Senate
telling Israel you need a new prime minister, for goodness
sake? This is our ally. I do not understand some of the things
that are going on. That is why this hearing is so darn
important.
I want to thank our Chair, Chair Roy. I want to thank
Virginia Fox for the work she is doing on the Education and
Workforce Committee as well. I want to thank our witnesses for
coming here today to testify. This is important. This is real--
I do not understand what this White House is doing. I do not
understand.
We want to help--we want to help Israel prevail. That is
what we should be focused on. We want college campuses where
students can learn and get the education they paid for.
With that, I yield back.
Mr. Roy. Thank the Chair, and I will now recognize the
Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Mr. Nadler, for his
opening statement.
Mr. Nadler. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, I devoted much of my life to combating
antisemitism, and I am as attuned as anyone to threats and
bigotry aimed at Jewish people. I will take lectures from no
one about the need for vigorous efforts to fight antisemitism
on campus or anywhere else.
I am also an unapologetic and deeply committed Zionist. I
believe, and I hope every Member at the dais and each of our
witnesses here today would agree, that criticism of Israel's
government or political criticism of Zionism on a college
campus is not inherently antisemitic.
I also hope our witnesses and Members agree that our
democracy's commitment to free speech requires each of us to
tolerate criticisms of even some of our most deeply held
beliefs, especially in an academic setting where the freedom of
inquiry is necessary to the teaching of critical thinking.
That said, I am extremely disturbed by instances when
political criticism of Zionism or of Israel does verge into
antisemitism, such as when it is used as a proxy or a dog
whistle for hatred of Jewish people.
To the students appearing before us today, Mr. Yakoby, Mr.
Kestenbaum, I am sorry that you and your fellow Jewish students
have endured threats, harassment, and intimidation simply for
being who you are. That is completely unacceptable. I
appreciate you being here today to share your experiences with
us.
Since the Judiciary Committee held a Full Committee hearing
last November on free speech on campus, protests over the
deaths of Palestinian civilians and the mounting humanitarian
crisis in Gaza have increased, if not in number, then certainly
in intensity. Much of the protesters' activity, even
expressions that I consider disgusting and despicable,
constitute legally protected speech.
Too often, however, the protests have exhibited vile
antisemitic conduct. The Department of Education will
rightfully investigate them and their institution's response
for unlawful discrimination. There have been of course obvious
examples of activities that are wholly unprotected, like
threats and intimidation.
Some students and protesters have even crossed the line
into vandalism, destruction of private property, and willful
disruption of campus life. They, too, should face disciplinary
action by their institution, if not legal consequences for
conduct that is obviously not protected by the First Amendment.
There is no excuse for bigotry, threats, violence, or other
criminal conduct directed at anyone, anywhere. It is imperative
that we confront the scourge of antisemitism. Congress can
help.
With respect, Mr. Chair, we don't need more hearings. We
need to take concrete action. We need to put our money where
our mouth is. Last year the Biden Administration outlined a
comprehensive national strategy to counter antisemitism, the
cornerstone of which was increasing enforcement actions by the
Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
OCR, as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee mentioned,
is in charge of enforcing antidiscrimination--is in charge of
enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed,
national origin, antisemitism, etc.
President Biden's budget called for a 27 percent increase
in funding for that office, an increase made necessary by the
huge increase in antisemitic incidents that we saw. If my
Republican colleagues were serious about antisemitism, they
would have fully funded that request.
Instead, they bragged about proposing to slash funding by
25 percent. Slash funding for the office in charge of enforcing
discrimination--of enforcing the laws against discrimination
against Jews and others on campus. By 25 perent they wanted to
cut it, and ultimately insisted that funding be kept flat,
despite the marked increase in Title VI complaints.
We should also be considering H.R. 7921, the Countering
Antisemitism Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by our
colleagues Kathy Manning and Chris Smith, which would codify
this national strategy's whole-of-government approach to
confronting antisemitism.
We cannot stay silent when calling out antisemitism is
inconvenient. I appreciate my Republican colleagues' concern
for antisemitism on college campuses, but where were they when
neo-Nazis in Charlottesville chanted that ``Jews will not
replace us''?
Why did they not speak up when President Trump declared
that they're ``very fine people on both sides of that rally''?
Or when he said that the Charlottesville rally was ``a little
peanut'' compared to ongoing campus protests regarding the
Israel-Gaza war?
We hear nothing from our Republican colleagues when some
conservatives repeat antisemitic tropes about George Soros or
others.
If you mean what you say here today, if you believe that
the threats and vitriol that Jewish students face on college
campuses is unjust, and that combating antisemitism is more
than just a convenient talking point in a larger crusade
against institutions of higher education, then it is time to
move beyond hearings, pointless gestures, and posturing.
We know what the problem is, and what we need is action
that actually helps protect Jewish students. Fully fund the
Administration's efforts to counter antisemitism and other
forms of discrimination by fully funding the requested increase
in OCR to enforce Title VI. Pass the Countering Antisemitism
Act. Our Nation's students deserve no less.
With that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Mr. Roy. Thank the Ranking Member of the Full Committee,
Mr. Nadler.
Without objection, all other opening statements will be
included in the record. We will now introduce today's
witnesses.
Mr. Eyal Yakoby. Mr. Yakoby is a senior at the University
of Pennsylvania. He is one of three named students who filed a
lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania alleging
violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Mr. Shabbos Kestenbaum. Mr. Kestenbaum is a graduate
student at Harvard University. He is one of the students who
filed a lawsuit against Harvard alleging violations of Title VI
of the Civil Rights Act.
Rabbi Dr. Mark Goldfeder. Rabbi Goldfeder is the Director
of the National Jewish Advocacy Center. He also serves as a
Presidentially Appointed Member of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Council, the General Counsel to the Hillels of
Georgia, and Senior Counsel at the Lewis Brandeis Center for
Human Rights under Law.
He has previously served as a senior lecturer at Emory
University Law School and has written widely on antisemitism
and the law.
Mr. Kevin Rachlin. Mr. Rachlin is the Washington Director
of the Nexus Leadership Project. He previously served as the
Vice President of Public Affairs at J Street, and as the United
States Director for the Alliance for Middle East Peace.
We will begin by swearing you in. Would you please rise and
raise your right hand?
Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the
testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best
of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you God?
Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in
the affirmative.
Thank you, please be seated.
Please know that your written testimony will be entered
into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask that you
summarize your testimony in five minutes.
Mr. Yakoby, you may begin. I would ask everybody to
remember to put your microphones on.
STATEMENT OF EYAL YAKOBY
Mr. Yakoby. Thank you, Chair Jordan, Ranking Member Nadler,
as well as Subcommittee Ranking Member Roy, Ranking Member
Scanlon, and Chair Roy, as well as the other Members of this
Committee, for inviting me to be here today.
My name is Eyal Yakoby, a senior at the University of
Pennsylvania. For two weeks, an unlawful and dangerous
encampment was erected in the heart of Penn's campus. Bigotry,
violence, and harassment have become part of Penn's daily
syllabus.
The encampment at Penn waved the flag of the PFLP while
chanting ``Al Qasam, make us proud,'' the PFLP being a
designated terrorist organization, and Al Qasam being the armed
wing of Hamas.
While students walked to class, they were met with masked
individuals screaming at them ``Go die, you are Hitler's
children and Nazis.'' One member of the encampment wore a
sweatshirt with two rats surrounding a Jewish star.
In another incident, a student walking on his own campus
was surrounded by four masked figures flashing strobe lights
directly into his eyes. They proceeded to threaten him, saying,
If you know what is good for you, you will get out of here.
Hope you have a good doctor, and how is your dental plan?
During a unity rally held by Jewish students, we chanted
``Rape is not resistance,'' while the encampment chanted
``Resistance is justified.''
When people reveal their beliefs, pay attention, because at
Columbia, they chanted ``Globalize the Intifada'' right before
smashing windows, barricading doors, and even taking a janitor
hostage. For anyone wondering, that is what the start of a
global intifada looks like.
This is not just an issue for Jews, it is an issue for all
Americans. Because on October 7th, Israel was physically
attacked, but ideologically every free country had been
infiltrated. Because the same people who wave the flags of
Hamas are burning the flag of the United States.
I am a firm believer in the First Amendment, but the
vandalism, assault, and trespassing that is taking place across
college campuses are conduct, not speech. More specifically, it
is unlawful conduct.
At Penn, bigotry and violence seems to be permitted.
Because within 24 hours of the encampment being assembled,
Penn's administration released a statement and said in no
uncertain terms, ``Blatant violations of university policies
and credible reports of harassing and intimidating conduct have
occurred.''
The President went on. He stated, ``Failure to disband the
encampment immediately will result in sanctions.'' The
encampment went nowhere.
The following week, the President of Penn released another
statement, whereby he said,
Every day the encampment exists, the campus is less safe. Some
have aimed to characterize this as a peaceful protest. It is
not.
Despite this, he said that he still believes negotiations
are the best way to go, while admitting that ``The protesters
have refused.''
What happened a mere 24 hours after the statement, you ask?
The encampment took over the other side of Penn's college
green, chanted ``We don't want no Zionist pigs,'' and compared
the Philadelphia Police Department to the KKK.
They also vandalized the Benjamin Franklin statue with Nazi
and Hamas logos, as well as graffiti reading ``Zios get
fucked.'' While the encampment persisted, on an anonymous
social media app exclusive to Penn students, posts read ``Burn
Filthy Zios,'' and ``Keep protesting louder, Hamas just made a
statement and they are with us.''
Penn, after 16 days, finally disbanded the encampment,
declaring, ``Our community has been under threat for too
long.'' The university finally acknowledged reality. We as
students for far too long endured danger.
So, let me ask you this: What value is such an
acknowledgment if action takes two weeks? The lesson that Penn
has been teaching students and faculty is that violence and
harassment work. Penn has allowed individuals to act with
impunity.
As former President Harry S. Truman stated, ``Appeasement
only makes the aggressor more aggressive.'' Moreover, four days
prior to the encampment being disbanded, in Penn's own words,
We have heard reports of circulating documents with
instructions for escalating, including through building
occupations and violence.
The Penn crimes log even included ``Terroristic threats.''
To be clear, the university knew about documents
circulating within the encampment for instructions on building
occupations and violence. There were terroristic threats. They
waited at least four days to do something.
On top of that, once the encampment was cleared, the
university found weapons within it. This right here is the
moral degradation of higher education and an utter neglect for
safety.
When we applied to Penn, we expected to be nervous about
our final exams. What we didn't expect was to have
counterterrorism units roaming on our campus. Taxpayers weren't
aware that their Federal dollars would support the hate that
has taken root at Penn.
Make no mistake, it is not the administration alone. Some
professors at Penn are also abetting hateful speech and
conduct. To illustrate, one professor posted a cartoon mocking
9/11.
Another posted on October 7th, ``Beautiful and timely,''
referencing Hamas terrorists entering Israel. While in class, a
different professor remarked that not all Jews should be thrown
into the sea, but only because, in his own words, it was not
practical.
I sit here today because I am urging the administration to
redeem themselves. Penn's coat of arms reads ``Laws without
morals are useless.'' Well, right now, Penn has laws with zero
morals.
Just last week, students put up six American flags on
campus. Within 24 hours, all the flags were removed. Yet, the
PFLP flag that sat just yards away was left untouched.
Apparently, at Penn, the flags of terrorist organizations that
rape, murder, and take American hostages can fly freely, but
the U.S. flag cannot.
Thank you.
[The Statement of Mr. Yakoby follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
STATEMENT OF SHABBOS KESTENBAUM
Mr. Kestenbaum. Subcommittee Chair Roy, Subcommittee
Ranking Member Scanlon, my name is Shabbos Kestenbaum. I am a
proud Jew. I am a proud first generation American.
Unfortunately, I have the distinction of being the plaintiff
against Harvard University for their inability and
unwillingness to combat Jew hatred on their campus.
As my last name Kestenbaum suggests, my family's origins
are traced to Germany. Indeed, my great-great grandfather,
Yosef Breuer, was the leading German Orthodox Rabbi and a
respected figure within German society. Breuer's youngest
daughter, my great-great aunt, vividly recalls praying from the
Book of Psalms while her father was arrested by the Nazi
gestapo.
Their historic Breuer Synagogue in Frankfurt completely
burnt to the ground on the night of Kristallnacht. As one of
the very last Jews to flee Nazi persecution in Germany, my
family found home in the United States of America where they
were able to rebuild and sustain their Jewish identity. To this
day, the historic Breuer Shul stands tall in New York City,
representing not only the indomitable spirit of the Jewish
people, but of what makes the United States such a beautiful,
welcoming country.
My story of antisemitism, therefore, is deeply painful and
it is deeply personal. The members, Kristallnacht did not begin
with burning books or broken windows. Kristallnacht did not
begin with destroyed synagogues nor expulsions.
Kristallnacht began with the acceptance, the normalization,
and the celebration of Jew hatred. The Members of this
Committee, I appear before you with an urgent warning. The
treatment of Jewish Americans on college campuses across this
country and, in particular, at Harvard University is nothing
short of a national emergency. It is blatantly antisemitic. It
is frighteningly discriminatory, and it is deeply un-American.
I say this words out of two years of personal experience
with a pervasive bigotry toward Jews and a stunning lack of
moral clarity. I'd like to walk you through the last three
weeks at Harvard to prove my point. On the first day Passover,
hundreds of Harvard students and faculty members set up
encampments in Harvard Yard in direct violation of Harvard
policies demanding that Harvard divest all moneys from the
Jewish State.
The protestors cheered thunderously when they replaced the
American flag overlooking Harvard with that of Palestine. They
screamed about globalizing the intifada, drew pictures of our
Jewish university president with horns and a tail, and screamed
at all hours of the day that, quote, ``Palestine will be
Arab.'' Perhaps most concerning, the protestors established
their own rule of law on campus creating self-appointed safety
marshals to patrol the campus. These safety marshals followed
Jews like me on our way to class, monitoring our every move.
They often recorded us and demanded that we leave their
encampment as if we did not have a right to exist at Harvard.
They did nothing when their encampment participants physically
threatened Harvard community members. This campaign was
designed for one reason and one reason only, to intimidate,
harass, and bully Jewish students at Harvard University.
In fact, although President Alan Garber himself admitted
that these students threatened both students and employees, the
encampment was allowed to continue uninterrupted for nearly
threw weeks. While the encampment finally ended yesterday, if
you would like to see Harvard's antisemitism in real time, look
no further than the fact that Harvard has agreed with almost
all the encampment leader's demands. In exchange for leaving,
the anti-Semites will face zero consequences.
They will get to meet with the university to discuss a
Palestinian Studies Department. They will meet with the
corporation to discuss divesting from the Jewish State. Not
once has Harvard publicly condemned the objective antisemitism
that we Jewish students have faced as a result.
Not once has Harvard's antisemitism task force said
anything. More importantly, not once have they done anything to
combat an-
tisemitism at Harvard. The encampment espoused near daily
antisemitism, harassed, and followed Jews, called for the
violent destruction of the Jewish State, all in direct
violation of school policy.
As a result, they will all be rewarded. Only those--I am a
Jewish student and have thus far been unable to meet with
President Alan Garber or my dean, Marla Frederick, to discuss
the pervasive antisemitism on campus. Only those who call for
the ethnic genocide of Jews, violate school policy, and sent
masked thugs to follow Jews are given the honor of having a
seat at the table.
That is the reality of being a Jew at Harvard in 2024. When
the antisemitic encampment was ongoing, a few brave patriots
and I decided to plant 1,200 Israeli and American flags in
memory of the 1,200 Muslim, Jews, and Christians slaughtered by
October 7th. Harvard responded by calling the police on me.
Harvard did not deem chanting violent destruction of the
Jewish hate actionable, but planting American flags were.
Tellingly within 24 hours of our installation being set up, the
American flags, Israeli flags, and hostage posters were all
vandalized. To this day, Harvard has yet to acknowledge let
alone condemn this act of hatred.
I will close by saying that Harvard students have called
Jews bloodthirsty vipers. A professor has publicly stated that
quote, ``Zionists do not belong in public health.'' Class
instructors have canceled classes to encourage students to
participate in anti-Israel demonstrations, and a staff at
Harvard threatened me with a machete.
To this day, Harvard has yet acknowledged to me what they
will do to protect me, what they have done to discipline the
staff member. I have seldom experienced such disdain,
disregard, and contempt for a minority group than the way in
which Harvard treats its Jews at Harvard.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kestenbaum follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Roy. Thank you, Mr. Kestenbaum.
Rabbi Dr. Goldfeder, you may begin your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MARK GOLDFEDER
Mr. Goldfeder. Chair Roy, Ranking Member Scanlon, the
Members of the Subcommittee, good afternoon. My name is Mark
Goldfeder. I'm the Director of the National Jewish Advocacy
Center, a nonprofit legal organization set up to combat
antisemitism.
It is an honor to appear before you on this important
topic. Even pre-October 7th, studies show that nearly 75
percent of Jewish students on campus had experienced
antisemitism. That number is only growing.
I'm incredibly grateful for the wide bipartisan consensus,
both here in Congress and in State legislatures throughout the
country, that more needs to be done to protect our Jewish
students. Antisemitism is also a serious concern for the rest
of American society because history has repeatedly shown that
it is a proverbial canary in the coal mine of intolerance. One
need look no further than our college campuses, where already
the chants have morphed from death to Israel to death to
America.
There's no time for a history of antisemitism. It is worth
noting that there are certain patterns that consistently emerge
when it comes to antisemitism's focus, the form if not the
content of its justifications, and the effective process by
which it allows otherwise decent people to do horrible things.
In terms of its focus, as Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of
blessed memory once explained, antisemitism often looks at Jews
as a collective.
The idea being that while individual Jews might be
tolerable, Jews as a separate collective identity should not be
allowed to exist with the same rights as other groups. That's
why the majority of antisemitism at any given era tends to
focus on the primary form of collective Jewish identity at that
point in time. So, in the Middle Ages, Jews were for the most
part a religious community.
So, they were hated for their religion, even if those
particular Jews being oppressed were not religious. In the 19th
and 20th centuries, the primary unifying collective identity of
Jews was their ethnicity. Even when the assimilated Jews had
only a trace amount of Jewish blood in them, they were killed.
Today when the primary collective embodiment of Jewish
people on the world stage is the people of Israel and their
nation State, Jews around the world are hated and held
accountable for their State, even if they're not Israeli. The
essence is the same even if the focus shifts. It's the denial
of the legitimacy of the Jews as a separate people.
In every generation, those manifesting such bigotry use
some variant of the same refrain. We don't hate Jews. We just
hate X, to justify their hatred in a socially acceptable way.
Anti-Semites need a rationale that can pass in polite society.
So, in the Middle Ages, that was religion. In post-
Enlightenment Europe, it was science. Today, it involves using,
actually abusing the language of human rights with selective
claims of social justice.
That's only Jews or the Jewish State as worth of
condemnation. Finally, in terms of its insidious process, one
unifying theme is consistent dehumanization. Whether the Jews
are portrayed as malevolently superhuman like in the Protocols
of the Elders of Zion or as worthlessly subhuman in Nazi
ideology, anti-Semites have found that it is easier to despise
and eventually kill that which you don't consider human.
The bottom line is that the rationales are ever changing.
So, to fight antisemitism, we need solutions that can cut
through all the timely excuses given for a timeless hatred. We
need to focus on practical measures.
So, I wish to offer three suggested efforts. First and
foremost, for the vast majority of Jewish people across time
and space, Zionism is and always has been an integral part of
their Jewish identities. To quote my distinguished co-panelist,
Mr. Rachlin, ``not all anti-Zionism is antisemitism, but most
of it is.''
Certainly, any time that Jews are targeted for their Jewish
belief in Zionism, that is antisemitism nor is that in any way
controversial or partisan. That idea actually comes from the
Administration's National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that
Ranking Member Nadler referenced. So, Congress should clarify
that unlawfully targeting a Jewish person for any aspect of
their Jewish identity, including a belief in Zionism is
antisemitism and will be treated as such.
Second, Congress should make sure that the Federal
Government is enforcing laws already in place, including, of
course, Title VI. Congress could also add teeth in the form of
penalties for schools that fail to fulfill their obligations or
to file the requirements to disclose foreign funding. Finally,
Congress should make clear that the First Amendment is not some
mystery that no one knows how to apply.
The government expects universities to apply it correctly
and consistently. Freedom of speech, even offensive and hateful
speech, must be protected. There are limits to what constitutes
speech and there are rules for when it crosses over into
actionable conduct.
Let me be clear. You can say whatever you want, however
abhorrent, about Jews or the Jewish State. You can't then
attack Jews because of those hateful feelings. The First
Amendment does not protect trespassing, vandalism, harassment,
assault, the destruction of property.
It does not protect those making true threats or
intimidation or incitement. Protests are important, important.
Schools can and must still impose reasonable time, place, and
manner restrictions.
Even a public university is not a public street. The rules
for what speech must be allowed on each are very different.
University officials do not have to tolerate student activities
that breach reasonable campus rules that interrupt the
educational process or interfere with other students' right to
receive an education.
We also don't have to imagine what responsible leadership
looks like in practice. As the Chair mentioned, President Ben
Sasse of the University of Florida is one example of someone
who had stepped up to show the way. Thank you for this
opportunity to testify, and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Goldfeder follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Roy. Thank you, Rabbi Goldfeder.
Now, I would turn to Mr. Rachlin for his testimony.
STATEMENT OF KEVIN RACHLIN
Mr. Rachlin. Thank you so much, Chair Roy and Ranking
Member Scanlon. Thank you for inviting me here today. My name
is Kevin Rachlin, and I'm the Washington Director of the Nexus
Leadership Project, a group committed to supporting the
historic U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and to
fight antisemitism in ways that bring together communities.
Antisemitism is a threat to our society and to the norms
and values of democracy. Every day, there seems to be new data
showing an undeniable dramatic spike in antisemitism. That data
doesn't tell the story half as well as these two students here
today.
As Rabbi Dr. Goldfeder explained in his testimony, the kind
of incidents being reported go well beyond the bounds of mere
expression or protest. Chants of eff the Jews or calls for
Jewish students to go back to Poland, these are brazened anti-
Jewish taunts and harassment and they should be condemned and
are simply unacceptable. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a
complex issue, and reasonable people can disagree on solutions.
Universities should be a place to embrace complexity and
promote understanding. When students are celebrating October
7th or saying Zionists should die, this is simply unacceptable
and should be condemned. There's some disagreement about where
anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel overlaps into
antisemitism.
That's a debate that Nexus project has engaged in. When it
comes to actually to protect college students, there's
consensus around the anti-Jewish incidents we are hearing about
today and about one of the common ways that anti-Zionism shows
up. While not every argument against Zionism as a political
ideology may be motivated by anti-Jewish bias, as a practical
matter, the majority of American Jews self-identify as
Zionists.
So, we have seen school clubs or movements with litmus
tests saying Zionists not allowed, this is effectively a ban on
including a majority of the Jewish students on that campus.
That exclusion can be a Title VI violation and civil rights
laws give enforcement agencies a mandate to act against that
discrimination. Ultimately, we have to recognize that the rise
of antisemitism is a broader societal issue that extends far
beyond just our college campuses.
That is why the comprehensive whole-of-society approach of
the National Strategy is so critical. Its recommendations for
how the government, schools, businesses, and communities can
prevent and respond to antisemitism has bipartisan bicameral
support and has been embraced by the majority of the American
Jewish community. The administration is already currently
implementing the strategy within the relevant Federal agencies.
What we have seen again is that politicians won't even take
a look at it or accept it simply by virtual of the fact that
it's from another party. As you hear in this room today, Jewish
students are facing atrocious antisemitic hostility, and
Members of Congress should do something that might be
extraordinary. Reach across any divide to take action.
Too much of this debate and too many proposed solutions do
nothing for Jewish students, American students, or the health
of the higher education system here in the United States. A
recent letter from Jewish students at Columbia noted, quote,
Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some
are politicians looking to use our experiences to foment
America's culture war.
Another national Jewish student petition said something
similar. To truly protect Jews on campus and across the
country, Congress must implement a collaborative and nuanced
antisemitism strategy that centers Jewish safety above
political gamesmanship. Students are smart enough to know that
the external public posturing and politicized debate is making
more headlines than headway to improve their lives on campus.
Politicians who are quick to descend on campus, call for
Presidents to be fired, or to hold press conferences have not
done their core job to make sure students have a place to call
for help. I hope that every Member of the Subcommittee supports
two bills that are a priority for the vast majority of the
Jewish community. I don't know what could be easier or more
salient at this point in time.
First, support the Goldman's Showing Up for Students Act,
so that the Department of Education has the capacity it needs
to cope with the influx of Title VI complaints. That office is
handling a record number of antisemitism cases. Congress hasn't
even provided adequate support to cope with their pre-October
7th case load, not to mention what has happened post-October
7th.
Second, support the Manning-Smith Countering Antisemitism
Act, a bipartisan bicameral bill to establish a national
coordinator to oversee Federal efforts to counter antisemitism
and lead an interagency task force to implement the U.S.
National Strategy. This bill has broad American Jewish communal
support from groups like the ADL, AJC, J Street, AIPAC, Nexus,
Hillel, and JCPA, just to name a few. I hope this hearing spurs
a few more Members of Congress to cosponsor and support these
really critical bills in fulfilling a basic duty to protect
these students at this critical point in time. Thank you so
much for inviting me to testify today, and I really look
forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Rachlin follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Roy. Thank you, Mr. Rachlin. I will now recognize
myself under the five-minute rule for questions. Mr.
Kestenbaum, you wrote on March 5th in Newsweek a fairly
detailed outline of what you've been facing at Harvard. I
wanted to give you the opportunity to be able to express some
of that.
Let me just read for the record, then you can expand on it,
if you want, where you talked about being shocked to learn that
Harvard permits the Palestine Solidarity Committee and other
groups to hold an annual Israel Apartheid Week funded with
Harvard money, designed fund student initiatives as you laid
out in the lawsuit.
During these events, student activists built what they
called apartheid walls meant to criticize Israel's efforts to
prevent terrorist attacks, plastered Harvard Yard with imagery
designed to compare Israel to the Nazis, and have invited more
antisemitic speakers to infect Harvard's community. After that
week, a swastika was found in the undergraduate Currier House,
correct?
Mr. Kestenbaum. Yes.
Mr. Roy. Since October 7th, ``antisemitism on campus has
multiplied exponentially,'' you wrote. On my way to class, this
is your words, ``people directed chants at me to,'' quote,
Globalize intifada, to kill all Jews in the world, or to free
Palestine from the river to the sea to annihilate the only
Jewish State and its Jewish inhabitants, including my family.
Your family.
Might expect that, as you wrote that, Harvard Divinity
School, with its mission emphasizing, quote, diversity,
inclusion, and belonging, and with religious tolerance--the
divinity school, I want to be clear--one of its core tenets
would be a safe place for Jews. As you wrote,
Harvard Divinity, however, as my lawsuit alleges, has proven to
be a fount of anti-Jewish sentiment and discrimination.
Does this reflect what you are currently finding in your
experience at Harvard? Do you think it reflects the experience
of most Jewish students currently at universities across the
country, particularly Ivy League universities?
Mr. Kestenbaum. It absolutely reflects my experience, and I
would actually argue it has only gotten worse. I will give you
one quick anecdote. Marla Frederick, who is the Dean of Harvard
Divinity School, who I am sure is watching right now, I have
emailed her more than 40 times to talk about antisemitism. She
has not responded once to a single one of my emails. She has
refused to meet with me. She has refused to acknowledge that
antisemitism is a problem at Harvard Divinity School, and
Harvard University more broadly.
I will make one last point. We invited two months ago a
popular Israeli musician, Ishay Ribo, to come sing songs to
Jewish students who have been experiencing antisemitism. There
was such a vicious boycott and protest where they chanted
``Globalize the intifada, resistance is justified,'' that we
had to hire outside security.
When I asked Harvard DEI to at minimum condemn the fact
that Harvard students had made it so unsafe for Jews to sing
songs that we needed to have security, they said, ``This does
not fall under our purview.'' This is the same Harvard DEI that
commented on George Floyd, on abortion, and on Russia's
invasion of Ukraine. When it comes to protecting Jewish
students, nothing.
Mr. Roy. So, and to be clear, this is Harvard that has a
$50 billion endowment, correct? It is still--
Mr. Kestenbaum. That is correct.
Mr. Roy. --getting billions of dollars in taxpayer funds.
Mr. Kestenbaum. Right.
Mr. Roy. I just want to be very clear, when we are talking
about the money, and the need for resources, the problem here
is the secular left in control of universities that are
perpetuating the kind of stuff that you just described. I want
to investigate the point here the extent to which this has been
coordinated, the extent to which this is coordinated across
campus across this university--across the country.
Rabbi, I believe you are familiar with some of the
observations and actually some information about the extent to
which this has been very clearly organized and coordinated
campus by campus around the country.
Mr. Goldfeder. Sure. Chair, somebody is buying all those
matching tents. I believe, and I believe strongly enough, that
along with my partners at Greenberg Traurig, Holtzman Vogel,
and the Schoen Law Firm, we filed a Federal lawsuit in the
Eastern District of Virginia accusing some of those
coordinators of working directly with Hamas. We will let our
filing speak for ourselves.
I know that Congress is now looking into some of that
funding, but it goes beyond funding. It goes beyond
coordinating. When someone tells you that they are trying to
provide material support to Hamas, it behooves us to believe
them. I will tell you why I think it is important to trace that
funding. It is because if you ever walk into one of those
protests, which I have done, you will notice something
fascinating. Eighty percent of the people there don't know what
river and what sea.
Mr. Roy. Yes.
Mr. Goldfeder. Some are there for the pizza. Some are there
because they have been genuinely misled into thinking that they
are on the right side of history. If we can actually prove who
is behind this, I think we can save 80 percent of our future
citizens.
Mr. Roy. On this point about the universities fomenting
this, there are some universities that have not. There are some
universities that have stood up. I would ask if you can think
of some good examples. For example, my friend Ben Sasse, the
President of the University of Florida, who basically said this
is not a daycare. You know the rules. Follow the rules. Florida
then did it the right way. Or, for example, the University of
Texas where Jay Hartzell said we are not going to do this.
Would you guys agree that there is a way to do this at
campuses, you can have free speech, you can be able to say what
you believe, but not terrorize and harass Jewish students?
Would you guys agree with that? Yes or no.
Mr. Goldfeder. Yes.
Mr. Roy. Yes?
Mr. Kestenbaum. Yes.
Mr. Roy. Last question because I am running out of time,
particularly to the two students. Could you guys expand a
little bit on the extent to which this is not just antisemitism
but anti-Americanism? I am going to go to you first, Mr.
Yakoby. I would ask the two students to answer my question.
Mr. Yakoby. Definitely. I just want to reference one
Professor who on a Twitter account, which criticized Sami Al-
Arian, who was deported for terrorism, and it commented on how
he visited a campus. A professor then retweeted it saying that
``This is the time to say that I have a longstanding respect
for Sami Al-Arian.''
That is a terrorist that was deported from the United
States, and a Professor at Penn then said that she has a
longstanding respect for him in response to that tweet.
Mr. Roy. Mr. Kestenbaum, do you want to respond?
Mr. Kestenbaum. Within 24 hours of installing two American
flags at Harvard Divinity School, they were vandalized three
separate times. The flagpole was ripped in half. The flags were
tossed across the ground. This is not just about antisemitism,
and it is not just about Jew hatred, but it is hating the
United States. It is hating our democracy and hating Western
values.
Mr. Roy. Thank you, Mr. Kestenbaum.
I will now recognize the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr.
Cohen.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Chair. There is a whole lot of--
[Disturbance in the hearing room.]
Mr. Kestenbaum. Even when we talk about antisemitism, we
can't even do it.
[Disturbance in the hearing room.]
Mr. Roy. All right. Mr. Cohen, you may begin. We can
restart the clock at five minutes.
Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. What bothers me with this
hearing--I think the hearing is good that we are having it on
the issue, and I think the discussion has been great and the
witnesses are great. There has been antisemitism in this
country and in the world for a long, long time, and the world I
guess 2,000 years give or take, and in the United States
probably since the beginning of this country.
Most of it has come from right-wing racist crowds, like the
Ku Klux Klan, the Proud Boys, other groups that stand for
nationalism. They were the groups that were at Charlottesville
and said, ``Jews will not replace us'' and marched with their
torches.
They are the people that have consistently been the David
Dukes and been antisemitic, and yet when those things happen,
people that are really against antisemitism, and those of us
are who are Jewish and feel it in a personal way so many times,
didn't feel support from many, many, many people who today are
some of the strongest people fighting antisemitism.
Now, when they fight it, they are really fighting higher
education, and they have always had a problem with that. I know
a Senator who said, ``Higher education is a cesspool.'' Well,
obviously, it is not, but that says something about her
education.
We ought to fight antisemitism at every corner in which it
exists. What is happening now on the campuses is despicable and
unfortunate, and so many of these people, including those--many
of those who just left us with their red hands and voices,
don't understand the history of why Israel was created, why
there is a necessity for Israel, and why it needs to exist.
Ignorance has given them a lot of opportunities to make
their voices heard. It needs to stop, but I think in that--what
I would ask Dr. Goldfeder, and I know you have been at Emory, I
don't know, but I think earlier--I don't think you are
necessarily as Southern as that far back, but you get a taste
of it in Atlanta. Is antisemitism more prevalent among Klansman
and Proud Boys, and some of these right-wing groups?
Mr. Goldfeder. I am Emory by way of New York. Thank you for
the question, Congressman. It is an excellent question. I will
answer that by saying that I think that antisemitism is hard to
measure where it is more prevalent. It is dangerous wherever it
comes from, but I think it is more dangerous coming from the
left right now, because it is OK to say it in polite society.
No one think it is OK to say, ``I stand with David Duke or with
the Klan.'' People are willing to literally say, ``I stand with
Hamas.'' That is why it is more dangerous, because you can say
it in polite society on university campuses.
Mr. Cohen. Well, President Trump said he thought David Duke
was OK when he ran for office in 2016, and he said he didn't
know about all that other stuff. He welcomed David Duke's
support. That is neither here nor there.
A lot of the issues--and I don't mean to defend it in any
way whatsoever, but has anybody out here, any one of you, done
any studies to see how much Saudi money, Kuwaiti money, or
Qatari money has been given to the schools, Ivy schools in
particular? It is dollars I think might have something to say
because I have read that there is a lot of Middle Eastern money
gone into these universities, and that they are afraid to lose
it.
Yes, sir. Rabbi?
Mr. Goldfeder. I didn't do the study, but there was
research done by the Institute for the Study of Global
Antisemitism and Policy, and they found that from 2015-2020,
institutions that accepted money from the Middle Eastern donors
had on average 300 percent more antisemitic incidents than
those institutions that did not. From 2015-2020, institutions
that accepted undisclosed funds from authoritarian donors had
on average 250 percent more antisemitic incidents than those
institutions that did not.
Mr. Cohen. Anybody else have anything to add? Mr. Yakoby?
Mr. Yakoby. This was a report done by the Network Contagion
Research Institute that invested Qatari money funneling into
U.S. universities. The report clearly states, and I quote,
There has clearly been an erosion of democratic norms on
campuses and that a massive influx of foreign concealed
donations to American institutions of higher learning, much of
it from authoritarian regimes with notable support from Middle
Eastern sources.
That was the direct quote from the study.
Mr. Cohen. They generally are--those countries are
generally aligned with Hamas.
Mr. Yakoby. I can tell you from my own experience--I am a
political science and modern Middle East studies major--I have
yet to take a class in all four years of college that depicts
the United States in any sort of positive light. Much of the
professors that are saying things like playing the victim is
what Jews are best at are the ones in the Political Science and
Modern Middle East Studies Department at Penn.
Mr. Cohen. Well, I thank each of you. The students are very
impressive, and the adults are--super adults are very
impressive, too, but--and I appreciate the hearing. I do hope
that we will have more consistency in our opposition to
antisemitism.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Roy. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee.
I will now recognize my friend from Texas, Mr. Hunt.
Mr. Hunt. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You have
probably been wondering why all these pro-Palestinian
antisemitic protests are occurring across the country today. It
seems organic, right? Just some college kids protesting like it
was back in the 1960s and 1970s, same song, different verse. Is
that true?
We have seen this before even more recently than you might
think. In 2020, we had the Summer of Love, and then the
organized, coordinated BLM and Antifa riots. In 2024, we had
the organized and coordinated antisemitic protests and riots on
college campuses around the country, like we are seeing right
now.
What do these two years have in common? I know. They are
both Presidential election years. Sometimes I feel like Bill
Murray on Groundhog Day. It is the same thing over and over and
over again, groups with similar ideologies and goals causing
chaos and riots across my Nation, and they have just picked a
different cause this year. This year it is my friends of Israel
and my friends, the Jewish people.
This isn't just some grass-roots effort of college kids
rallying around a joint cause, picketing the campus with signs
and shouting ``From the river to the sea'' for those who know
what that means. These are people shouting antisemitic remarks
taking over and barricading themselves inside campus buildings,
and in the case of Columbia University, taking a university
employee hostage inside of a campus building.
What are we seeing? What we are seeing now is not a simple
protest. It is a more organized, violent occupation of campuses
funded by outside organizations, by their wealthy, liberal
donors. Who are these wealthy donors? Don't shoot the
messenger. I am not the one saying this. This is in Politico.
We can all agree that Politico is a relatively trusted source,
especially for the left. According to a recent Politico
article, ``some of the biggest donors behind these protests are
George Soros, David Rockefeller, Jr., and Nick and Susan
Pritzker.''
Mr. Chai, I would like to submit to the record the article
from Politico titled ``Pro-Palestinian Protests are Backed by a
Surprising Source: Biden's Biggest Donors.''
Interestingly enough, in his remarks about the campus
protests, President Biden said, and I quote, ``Destroying
property is not a peaceful protest. It is against the law.'' It
seems like the President is talking out of both sides of his
mouth, so which one is it? The protests wouldn't have happened
in the first place without his donors funding it. For you,
President Biden, none of this would be happening at all.
Remember, this isn't me saying this, Republican Wesley
Hunt. This is Politico. We should have seen this coming. This
is a Presidential year after all, and I suspect that many of
the protests that we have seen on college campuses may have
just been recycled from 2020 riots and rioters and protests.
Why do I suspect that? New York city officials said that
close to 30 percent--
Thirty percent of the people arrested at Columbia, and 60
percent of the people arrested in City College, were not
affiliated with the universities at all.
In my home State, over half the people who were arrested at the
University of Texas had no tie to the university at all.
Mr. Kestenbaum, you brought up a very good point. You see,
if you were Black students, you wouldn't be sitting here.
Period. Because the entire campus would have changed their
social media profiles to Black dots, and these people would
have been fired. These teachers would have been fired, and you
would have your justice.
Just because I am Black, I look different from you, doesn't
mean that we get different treatment and we should be treated
better than you, because we are all Americans. I know we are
all Americans because I fought for this country. I went to West
Point. I fought beside my Jewish friends. I went to Cornell
University for grad school. I learned beside my Jewish friends.
You should see the emails and text messages that I am
getting from my Jewish friends that I grew up with. I want to
let you know that I have their back and I have your back. Just
because you have a lighter skin color than me doesn't mean that
you get to get treated differently than me because we are all
Americans and we all should be treated fairly in this country.
No one should have it easier or more difficult to be able
to walk around on campus based on the way we look. If you are
leaders on these campuses today, you are failing us.
I went to Cornell for grad school. Failure. Columbia.
Failure. Harvard. Failure. Fix it right now.
I want to let you all know that we, especially on this side
of the dais, we have your back, and we will fight antisemitism
tooth and nail.
Thank you for the courage and continue to fight for your
people, and most importantly continue to fight for our fellow
Americans. God bless you. Thank you for being here.
I yield back the rest of my time.
Mr. Roy. Thank you. I thank the gentleman from Texas.
I will now recognize the gentlelady from Texas, Ms.
Escobar.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank
all our witnesses for being here to testify. I know this is a
really challenging moment in American history, and it is so
important for us to listen to one another and learn from one
another.
I will tell you, I wish, wish, wish we could hear that same
passion that we just heard about all racism. I sit on this
Committee, this Subcommittee, and the Immigration Subcommittee,
and I think it is really important for us to draw an
interesting distinction that I have seen. From this Committee,
this Committee actually has been used as a vehicle to promote
xenophobia and to push anti-immigrant rhetoric in a way that
has been incredibly alarming and disheartening.
Again, I stand against antisemitism, as do the vast
majority of Americans I believe. I wish we could stand against
all racism and all hatred together. It is important for
Americans who are watching at home to not necessarily listen to
what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are saying
with regard to this issue, but really to look at their actions.
They say they condemn antisemitism, and yet they fought to
reduce funding for the Department of Education's Office of
Civil Rights by 25 percent last year. If we really are deeply
committed as the U.S. Congress to combating antisemitism, then
we should put our money where our mouth is, and actually use
the tools at our disposal and fund those tools.
When one side wants to cut those tools, it really makes you
question what their real intention is. They say they condemn
antisemitism, yet a good portion of them stood by silently in
2017 when White supremacists chanting explicitly antisemitic
slogans marched in Charlottesville. They said nothing when
then-President Donald Trump called those marching good people.
They say they condemn antisemitism, yet they embrace the
great replacement theory, a White supremacist belief that is
rooted in both anti-immigrant and antisemitic sentiment, and it
portrays immigrants and non-White Americans as invaders. In
fact, the word ``invasion'' is probably the word most
frequently used on this Committee by my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle.
Here in Congress, as I said, ``our budgets reflect our
values.'' I will continue to support and urge funding for
offices like the Department of Education's Office of Civil
Rights, so that our government has the tools it needs to really
combat antisemitism.
I do believe students' rights to express their opinions or
share their beliefs on campus should be protected, but students
do deserve to be safe and learn in a safe environment.
Mr. Rachlin, can you please tell us, do you think colleges
and universities could help ratchet down the temperature on
campuses and prevent violence by facilitating constructive
dialog and understanding among students with diverse
backgrounds, students who are Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, and
Arab?
Mr. Rachlin. Thank you so much for that question,
Congresswoman. Unequivocally, yes, this is something that can
and should be done. Universities, college campuses, high
schools, they need to meet students where they are, and they
need to be able to bring them together in a safe and
collaborative environment that fosters open and honest dialog,
but that is respectful dialog at the same time.
It can be upsetting, these conversations, for students on
both sides of the aisle, but at the end of the day this is how
you actually bridge the sides together, through conversation
that is respectful and meaningful. Having worked in the peace-
building space, this is something that we push for quite
consistently, the idea of sitting down with the others to see
them as a human being and to actually have those conversations
that are difficult and recognizing the shared humanity from the
other side as well.
So, it is absolutely critical that universities bring
people together to have those conversations in a safe and
effective environment.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you for reminding us of those very
important values, which we should not just pursue in a
university setting but those of us who are lawmakers as well.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the gentlelady from Texas.
I will now recognize the gentleman from California, Mr.
Kiley.
Mr. Kiley. Mr. Kestenbaum, thank you for your very
compelling and very disturbing testimony. I am so sorry for
what you and your peers have had to endure, just the
backwardness and the horror, on Harvard's campus.
I want to reiterate a very important point from your
testimony, which is that Harvard caved to the demands of the
encampment. Is that correct?
Mr. Kestenbaum. That is correct.
Mr. Kiley. Tell us again how long the encampment was there?
Mr. Kestenbaum. About three weeks.
Mr. Kiley. You had the people on this encampment--I don't
know if they were students or not--who were harassing Jewish
students, who were threatening them, who were following them
around, and monitoring their activities. In response to this,
the university gave them what they wanted?
Mr. Kestenbaum. That is absolutely correct.
Mr. Kiley. What were the demands that were agreed to?
Mr. Kestenbaum. They want a full divestment from the only
Jewish State, they want a Palestinian study center, and they
want to have full control over certain narratives that are
being given in classrooms as it pertains to Israel.
Mr. Kiley. This was described as a negotiation. Were you
invited to that negotiation?
Mr. Kestenbaum. I have never once been invited to speak,
with the president, with the dean, with anyone of power in
Harvard.
Mr. Kiley. So, this is the important point, and you have
these university presidents, and this has become a trend now of
university presidents caving to the demands of the encampments.
Then they pat themselves on the back. They say, ``Oh, reasoned
dialog, that is how we got here, dialog is the answer.''
This is not dialog. This is the opposite of dialog.
Dialogue involves a reasoned consideration of different points
of view. Dialogue is not the preferred mode of operation for
antisemites, anarchists, terrorists, and their sympathizers
because their arguments are terrible. They are morally
bankrupt. They are repugnant. So, they prefer to do things by
force.
Now, you have university administrations that are rewarding
that mode of operation by saying the way that you get to be
part of this negotiation is not by representing a significant
voice on campus, not by someone who has been victimized by the
things that are going on the campus; rather, the way that we
will negotiate with you is if you engage in illegal activities
and violate the university's rules and harass other students.
We are seeing this at more and more universities now. Just
today, Sonoma State, which is a university in California,
announced that they were, in response to the encampment there,
basically adopting the full BDS program. They even said that
for flyers that might be out there that made a reference to
study abroad in Israel, they would immediately act to get rid
of those flyers, so the word ``Israel'' doesn't even appear on
any of them.
Then, to top it all off, to enforce this new policy, they
set up an Advisory Council of Students for Justice in
Palestine. I am not making this up. This is actually what they
did. This Council will enforce the agreement, and it is going
to consist of members from the encampment--faculty, staff,
administrators, Palestinian alumni, and other interested
students. This is an absolute disgrace. Any leader at Sonoma
State who is party to this needs to resign immediately. They
are institutionalizing antisemitism.
I will give you another example, because you said you
haven't been invited to take part in negotiations, to have any
sort of meeting with university leadership, and that is what we
are seeing at universities across the country.
Here is an example from University of California, San
Diego, where a student emailed the Chair of the Academic Senate
and said,
Hope all is well. I have been invited to schedule a meeting
with the Academic Senate regarding my experience as a Jewish
and Israeli student on campus during this academic year. Please
let me know the followup steps.
The response, and this is from John Hildebrand, the Chair
of the Academic Senate at UCSD, says,
I apologize, but we can't meet with you at this time. There is
a lot going on, and it is just not possible just now. Feel free
to send comments to my email. But as you may imagine, we are
inundated with requests.
This is an absolutely shameful State of affairs where you
have the voice of Jewish American students that is being
sidelined, the people who are most affected by what is going on
in our campuses, but the people who are creating the
disruption, who are engaging in harassment, who are engaging in
threats of violence, and even in some cases acts of violence,
are being elevated, are being given a privileged position, and
then are having their antisemitic, anti-Israel demands actually
being agreed to by the Administration.
So, this has become a much bigger problem than just the
sort of scenes that we are seeing that are so disturbing, that
have been described by our witnesses today. It has become an
institutional problem, the way that universities are responding
to this, but of course we know that it is the actions of the
universities that in many ways have led to this crisis that we
are now experiencing in the first place.
So, I want to thank, in particular, the students here from
Harvard and from Penn, and so many voices that we have heard,
courageous accounts from all across the country. We need
fundamental reform in American higher education.
I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the gentleman from California.
I now recognize the gentlelady from Vermont, Ms. Balint.
Ms. Balint. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This issue is deeply personal for me. I am the
granddaughter of Leopold Balint, who was horribly, viciously
murdered in the Holocaust. When you go to Yad Vashem and you
read the ``Book of Names,'' you will see a lot of Balints
there. You don't see a lot of Balints in this country. There
are a lot of Balints in that book.
I have seen antisemitism firsthand. My family has
experienced it. We are continuing to deal with the generational
trauma that was brought on my family through the Holocaust.
I was raised in a house in which it was taught at a very
young age that you always need to look for the signs of
antisemitism. It is used to manufacture division and fear, and
anyone can fuel it, but it always benefits politicians who rely
on that division and fear for their own power.
It is incredibly frustrating to me that in Congress right
now we can't have a conversation around antisemitism that will
lead to actual action.
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a video
that I have compiled regarding antisemitism, and I ask
unanimous consent to show it in Committee.
[Video shown.]
Ms. Balint. So, you can see why I have a very hard time
taking it seriously when we come together in this format, when
I have to sit and listen to antisemitic rhetoric from my own
colleagues.
To the students, your experience is horrible, and you never
should have had to go through that. I have family and friends
who have students also at college campuses right now. Some are
part of exercising their First Amendment rights against Israel.
Some of them, like you, have been on the receiving end of
horribly antisemitic rhetoric. Both these things are true.
What I would like to see from my colleagues is to stop
using antisemitism and your bogus attempts to address it to
raise money and dollars. Why don't we do something that will
actually solve the problem? Because it is real, and many people
in this country are suffering from it.
I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I now recognize the gentlelady from Wyoming, Ms.
Hageman.
Ms. Hageman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I actually want to take
a step back and look at the forces behind these college campus
riots, which have far overstepped the protections from the
First Amendment and threatened Jewish students and faculty
across the Nation.
From what I have seen, these riots are a form of anarchy
that are being pursued by a violent group of anti-American and
antisemitic groups. What strikes me about this pro-Palestine,
pro-Hamas-inspired unrest is both the speed, in which, it
started after the October 7th attack, and the sophistication of
the coordinated acts of crime, including threatening our Jewish
students occupying and damaging college buildings and more.
First, we must start with the fact that on October 8th, one
day after the Hamas terrorist attack, Palestine chapters on
college universities such as Harvard issued statements and
began holding rallies in support of Hamas, and placing the
blame for the violence entirely on Israel.
Mr. Kestenbaum, you are a master's student at Harvard.
Didn't you find it a little odd that groups were so prepared to
immediately support the Hamas attacks?
Mr. Kestenbaum. I found it odd, and I found it horrifying.
Ms. Hageman. Well, and I did, too. I would say this
preparation suggests outside influence inside the student
organizations, and that such outside groups were possibly
informed of the October 7th attack, before it occurred. That
this situation is being driven by outside forces is not just
speculation.
Of the 262 people arrested at Columbia and the City College
of New York, nearly half had no affiliation with the schools.
At George Washington University here in D.C., only six of the
33 arrested individuals were affiliated with the school. The
coordination is mind-blowing.
I don't want to diminish what our Jewish students are going
through right now, but I want to hopefully highlight something,
Mr. Kestenbaum, you stated in your testimony and to describe
the further danger of this situation. Wouldn't you agree that
outside criminal and violent forces exploiting colleges for
their causes are dangerous for each and every member of the
school, the students, and the faculty alike? Mr. Yakoby, would
you agree with that?
Mr. Yakoby. One hundred percent.
Ms. Hageman. What about you, Mr. Kestenbaum?
Mr. Kestenbaum. Absolutely.
Ms. Hageman. Rabbi Goldfeder?
Mr. Goldfeder. Absolutely.
Ms. Hageman. Mr. Rachlin?
Mr. Rachlin. Yes.
Ms. Hageman. Shai Davidai, an Assistant Professor at
Columbia Business School, reported that one of the nationwide
instigators of these campus movements, Students for Justice for
Palestine, received guidance and financial support from
American Muslims for Palestine, and he reports AMP's directors
have links to groups which fundraise for Hamas.
These groups have these antisemitic, anti-American groups
even have direct ties to the Biden Administration, to the White
House. The National Security Council Coordinator for
Intelligence and Defense Policy, and the Deputy Assistant to
the President, Maher Bitar, is driving the Administration's
Hamas policy. In college, Mr. Bitar was an active participant
in the Students for Justice in Palestine at Georgetown
University.
Again, that relationship, that connection, absolutely
horrifies me, and it demonstrates why we have seen such a weak
response from the Biden Administration.
Rabbi Goldfeder, your testimony touches on this issue a bit
in your second recommendation, and what you State is that we
just simply need to enforce the laws on the books, which
provide for punishment when foreign students provide support
for terrorism. Could you please elaborate on the source of the
issue from which this recommendation comes from and what
Congress can do through oversight to ensure that DOJ is doing
just that, which is enforcing the law?
Mr. Goldfeder. Sure. Well, that particular recommendation
comes from the Immigration and Nationality Act, but I will take
it a step further, which is that even groups that include
domestic citizens that support terror, there are laws in place.
The ATA and JASTA are there to protect everyone else from
groups that support terror.
AMP was founded on the ashes of other groups that were shut
down literally for supporting Hamas. AMP coordinates NSJP, and
that is why we sued them in Federal Court. So, it is important
to enforce those laws to make sure that the DOJ actually does
hold them accountable.
Ms. Hageman. Do you think that the DOJ is currently
enforcing the law as it is written?
Mr. Goldfeder. I do not.
Ms. Hageman. OK. I would ask unanimous consent to introduce
into the record the article ``One Look at Biden's Top Advisor
Explains his Support for Hamas.''
I want to thank all of you for being here. I am sorry for
what you are going through, but I also want to thank you for
your bravery, for your willingness to step up and talk about
this. It needs to be exposed. Sunshine is the best
disinfectant. We are going to get through this. We are all
going to get through this. I know it is tough, but your bravery
demonstrates that there are good, good, good Americans out
there that will always fight for the right thing.
Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the gentlelady from Wyoming. Without
objection, her consent request will be admitted into the
record.
Mr. Roy. I also have a letter from Advancing American
Freedom that--to Attorney General Garland that, without
objection, I would like to introduce into the record involving
these issues and some questions they asked from the Department
of Education.
Then, in addition, I think somebody referenced earlier and
would like to introduce a Politico article, dated May 5th,
titled ``Pro-Palestinian Protestors are Backed by a Surprising
Source: Biden's Biggest Donors,'' including Soros, Rockefeller,
and Pritzker. Without objection.
Now, with that, I will recognize the Ranking Member.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you. I do think we are hearing an
interesting array of conspiracy theories here without much
evidence to back them up. That could be a subject of a whole
other hearing, including the growing evidence that Russia,
China, and Iran are exploiting the campus protests for their
own purposes, to sow division in the U.S., particularly, in
advance of an election, as we have seen them do the last two
election cycles.
So, that probably is not the right subject for today's
hearing, but it does go to one of the issues I am most
interested in, which is the role that our schools, colleges,
and universities can play in terms of educating students and
young people how to distinguish fact from fiction, propaganda
from what is true in the world, and how they can help us,
everybody, but particularly on our college campuses, provide
the atmosphere, the respect for one another, and the ability
for people to have those open conversations.
We have seen a variety of responses. I know today's focus
has been on places where there has been virulent antisemitism
and hate speech and actual potentially criminal violations.
There are many campuses where this has not occurred and there
have been great efforts.
So, Mr. Rachlin, could you comment on the role that
colleges and universities can play, what they can do, perhaps
in combination with the Office of Civil Rights, to make sure we
do have safe spaces for people to discuss these important
issues without veering into territory that we don't want them
to.
Mr. Rachlin. I am really glad you brought that up, and
actually I am very happy you brought up the Office for Civil
Rights. I think it is an important thing to note in this
Committee that hasn't been said yet is this. I am just going to
say a quick number, 50 to 1. This is the number of
investigations per investigator that the Department of
Education's Office of Civil Rights have currently for their
caseloads--50 investigations per investigator.
Each one is trying their best to try to investigate all
these complaints of Title VI on college campuses and in high
schools around the country. They don't have the resources to
adequately address this. They need more money. It is one of the
reasons why we and others are really pushing for increased
funding for OCR to really push that forward to give them the
resources to take some of the pressure off the university, so
that when there are complaints, like the students say that they
are being investigated quickly, that they are being brought to
fruition, and that there are consequences following those
investigations that the Department is actually putting forward.
In terms of universities, they really need to do a better
job at bringing people together. One of the things I have seen
is that there are several universities that rather than allow
these encampments and these issues to bubble up and explode the
way they have on other campuses around the country that they
brought together sides before any of this has happened, sat
them down, and said: These are the rules for engagement. These
are the rules for protests. If you go outside these lines, you
will be subject to be penalized for that.
I think that is the way that universities should be
handling this. They should be taking a proactive approach
rather than a reactive approach to this at this point in time.
I think all universities, particularly, someone like my alma
mater, Ohio State, this is what they are trying to do at this
point in time. They are trying to be proactive and address this
before it starts spilling out, so that it impacts Jewish
students across their campuses.
Ms. Scanlon. I do think that is a really interesting role,
particularly in the academic context, of helping people to
understand, what are the boundaries of free speech versus hate
speech, what are the boundaries of nonviolent protests and
civil disobedience, so people understand where they are, and if
they do cross those lines, they do so intentionally, and then
they know what the consequences are.
Do you want to add anything, Rabbi? You looked like you
were nodding in agreement.
Mr. Goldfeder. I agree with everything that was said, but I
am also a practical thinker. When I look on campus, we are not
seeing calls for conversation. Hard conversations are like
chess, and you can't play chess when someone keeps on knocking
over the board and kicking you in the face.
So, until we can assert these are the rules of the game,
and how we are going to have conversations. Again, I will point
to Ben Sasse in Florida, President Ben Sasse; he has done
that--then I am all for it. You have to have a conversation
with someone who respects your very existence or else it won't
go anywhere. So, I 100 percent agree in theory. When it comes
to funding OCR, absolutely, we should give them the funding
that they need. There also does need to be accountability.
I have done OCR complaints for many years, and to my
knowledge there has never been in history a single time where a
university actually lost its funding for antisemitism. The
words have to mean something, so I think any additional funding
has to come with accountability.
Ms. Scanlon. Sure. That makes sense, and it would help if
OCR had the resources it needs to do its job.
I do have to disagree that the only response has to be
threats, because we have certainly seen many of the
universities in my district that having open dialog, having
respectful dialog, has avoided some of the issues that we have
seen and that have been discussed today. So, thank you.
With that, I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the Ranking Member.
I will now recognize my good friend, Mr. Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we should
start with this isn't a protest. What we saw here today is
performative art. The only time their hands go up is when the
camera goes on, because they are trying to get in a picture.
They can't keep their hands up for longer than 15 seconds.
If they want to know what protest and bravery looks like,
read some stories, talk about somebody starving to death and
handing the person standing next to them in line their food for
the day, when the food they are getting for a day is less than
most people get for half of a breakfast, when an entire
continent is trying to wipe you off the face of the planet.
You want to know what the difference is? Mr. Kestenbaum, if
the Klan tried to have a two-week sit-in protest at Harvard, do
you think Harvard's university and their leadership would
negotiate a cease-fire with them?
Mr. Kestenbaum. Absolutely no.
Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Yakoby, if a bunch of militia guys
showed up in Tommy tactical gear and playing G.I. Joe and doing
all those things, and wanted to do all that at Pennsylvania, do
you think the university would negotiate with them?
Mr. Yakoby. They would not.
Mr. Armstrong. No, they wouldn't.
Mr. Goldfeder, you said that. That is the difference,
because you can get a picture with these people, you can stand
there, you can talk about these things in polite society, when
they are saying things when they have no idea what the history
is.
Seven miles from the river to the sea. Seven miles to the
Jordanian border. That is where it is in Israel. The reason
Israel exists is because nobody in Europe would take them. We
wouldn't take them. It is the greatest single horrific event in
modern history. I just think if you are at Harvard maybe you
should learn about it, or if you are at Penn, you should learn
about it.
So, when we talk about these things like they are
equivalent, they are not. They are just not. This is
coordinated. This is going on. We treat somebody differently.
Here is the thing. If somebody comes after you with a machete,
that is not a mostly peaceful protest. That is a felony. Charge
them.
If you want to occupy an entire building and commit felony
acts of vandalism, how about a bunch of rich, liberal, and
credit card kids understand what the consequences to a protest
are.
I spent 10 years as a criminal defense attorney and a
public defender. I can tell you, if you are not on an Ivy
League campus and you decide to do that, when you are told you
are going to leave, you know what you are? Six months later you
are a felon. We don't need more Federal money and dialog. We
need somebody to say, hey, we are going to--you want to do
this? You want to go bomb the grounds of free speech? You want
to commit crimes on public ground? Then, you know what? You can
go through the rest of your life with your Ivy League
education. Great. Fantastic. It is awesome, but You are also
going to have that felony designation. Let me know how that
goes when you are trying to become a licensed doctor or a
licensed nurse.
Then, better yet, I think we should give them a Columbia
law school graduate as their attorney, because you know what
they got? Pass-fail grades because who could possibly go to law
school at a time like this. The one profession where your
personal feelings and your independent emotions and your spaces
don't matter, ``I am sorry, Judge. I need a continuance.''
Judge replies ``Why?'' and you reply, ``You overruled my
objection, and I don't know how we can go on at a time like
this.''
I have no concept. This is not the same thing. This is
pervasive. It has been allowed to exist. I just had three
seniors in high school here, not from North Dakota. Turns out I
don't have a very large Jewish constituency in North Dakota. We
are pretty homogeneous up there.
There is no moral equivalency to any of this. When we
pretend that there is, and we paint our hands red, and we walk
around here, the reason the Klan wore hoods was two reasons:
(1) To intimidate people; (2) because they didn't want anybody
to know who they were. That is the difference.
I have got a minute left, and you guys, Mr. Kestenbaum, you
go back to your neighborhood right now, where you went to high
school, would you tell a senior in high school who is a Jewish
senior in high school to go to Harvard?
Mr. Kestenbaum. Thank you for the question, Congressman. I
want to be super clear with my former principal and my Jewish
community that it is not that Jewish students don't feel safe
at Harvard. Jewish students are not safe at Harvard. Until
Harvard implements any type of accountability, responsibility,
or policies to combat antisemitism, then all these Jewish
schools, synagogues, and communities should not allow Harvard
admission recruiters within 50 feet of their school or 50 feet
of their child. It is completely unacceptable what Jews are
facing at Harvard in 2024 in the United States of America.
Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Yakoby, same question for Penn.
Mr. Yakoby. I agree with my friend, Shabbos. Unless the
university enforces their own rules between now and graduation,
then no Jewish student, no one that doesn't support the pro-
terror encampments that are happening should step foot on
Penn's campus.
Mr. Armstrong. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the gentleman from North Dakota.
I now recognize the gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Fry.
Mr. Fry. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all our witnesses for being here today, what
you have testified to. We have heard this not only here in
Congress but in our communities back home, and I myself just
came back from Israel where there is a deep-seated fear that
there is a separation between Israel and the United States
because of the policies of this Administration.
According to Hillel International, there have been 1,584
total reported antisemitic incidents on college campuses since
October 7th. Since October 7th. That is a 700 percent increase
compared to just last year. The 65 institutions of higher
education have been placed under investigation since October
7th, of last year--65 institutions.
Mr. Chair, I request unanimous consent to enter into the
record the statistics from Hillel International.
Mr. Roy. Without objection.
Mr. Fry. So, let's take a look at these statistics in
action. Let's play a video.
[Video shown.]
Mr. Fry. So, these clips are just a snippet of the nonsense
that we have seen on college campuses since October 7th. This
isn't in Gaza. This isn't in the West Bank. This is right here
in our country. Institutions of higher education, which are
supposed to be great institutions of learning where you develop
as an individual, are now places of repression and suppression,
depending on who you are.
The last photo is George Washington visualized dressed up.
I think it is one of the most abhorrent things that I have
seen, and that is right here in our Nation's capital. It is
heartbreaking to see that. I am not Jewish, but I empathize
with what you two have gone through, and your classmates. Not
only at your schools, but in dozens of schools across the
country.
Mr. Kestenbaum, just yesterday protesters at Harvard
finally took down their tents as the university officials
agreed to the students to discuss the questions about the
university's endowment. Have Harvard officials publicly
condemned antisemitism that Jewish students have faced on
campus in any which way?
Mr. Kestenbaum. As it pertains to the encampments, Harvard
forgot about it and hasn't condemned the antisemitism from the
encampments. They haven't even acknowledged that it happened.
Mr. Fry. Do you feel that Jewish students at Harvard have
an ally, an advocate, in the Administration?
Mr. Kestenbaum. In no uncertain terms, let me be absolutely
clear, Harvard--Jewish students do not have a single advocate
at Harvard University. The president doesn't meet with us or
care about us. Our respective deans don't meet with us or care
about us.
We have students who have seen that there is no
responsibility or accountability for their actions, so they can
chant ``Globalize the intifada.'' They can chant calls for the
ethnic genocide of Jewish people. They can draw a Jewish
university president as a devil because they know they will get
away with it. It is inconceivable that any other minority group
in the United States would be treated with the scorn, contempt,
and disregard that Harvard treats its Jewish student
population.
Let me just add, it is a damming indictment that in order
for Jewish students at Harvard to receive equity, equality, or
justice, we have to go to a court of law. We have to go to the
U.S. Congress. We have to go to the media, because the people
at Harvard who, again, I am sure are watching this and they
won't even talk to us.
Mr. Fry. Yes. Isn't that absurd, right? Like you are
followed on a college campus, you can't go to school, and some
universities are canceling commencement.
You are the generation that couldn't go to your own
commencement for high school because of COVID, and now these
radical lunatics are taking over a college campus, and we can't
ensure the security of our own students, so we are going to
cancel things.
Then we adhere and acquiesce to the demands of this lunatic
fringe. It just doesn't--it makes no sense to me.
Mr. Yakoby, earlier this month you delivered a petition to
shut down the encampments. I think you got 3,200 signatures.
You delivered it to the president, the provost, and the Board
of Trustees. You did not receive a timely response, so you sent
a letter. I think it was in an email, and you laid out a few
demands.
Can you elaborate what those were really briefly?
Mr. Yakoby. Thank you for the question, Representative Fry.
The demands were, actually, exactly what the president stated
within 24 hours of the encampment, is disbanding an encampment,
which is allowing violence, pro-terrorism support to happen. We
got 3,300 signatures on that petition. Then after a week, when
we hadn't heard a response, we sent another petition where we
got 2,800 signatures within 24 hours, both of which were not
responded to, and yet the administration had three meetings
with the encampment.
Mr. Fry. Then my last question here, do you believe--both
of you--do you believe that your universities are doing enough
to prevent antisemitism on college campuses? It is an obvious
answer I think, but--
Mr. Kestenbaum. I wouldn't say that they are not doing
enough. They are not doing anything.
Mr. Fry. Mr. Yakoby?
Mr. Yakoby. It is almost a satirical question with how
little they are doing.
Mr. Fry. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time, your
bravery today to be here.
With that, Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Mr. Roy. I thank the gentleman from South Carolina.
I recognize the gentlelady for a UC request.
Ms. Scanlon. Yes. I request unanimous consent to enter into
the record an article from the front page of The New York
Times, Sunday, May 11th, describing how the Republican Party
has seized on-campus protests as a political tool. It is
entitled ``How Republicans Echo Antisemitic Tropes Despite
Declaring Support for Israel.''
Mr. Roy. Without objection.
Ms. Scanlon. Thank you.
Mr. Roy. Well, this concludes today's hearing. We thank the
witnesses for appearing before the Committee today.
Without objection, all Members will have five legislative
days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses
or additional materials for the record.
Without objection, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:15 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
All materials submitted for the record by Members of the
Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government can
be found at: https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent
.aspx?EventID=117305.
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