[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 30, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3071-S3073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Protests

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, last week, the Senate completed a critical 
task to support our national security. After months of uncertainty, 
this

[[Page S3072]]

Chamber overwhelmingly approved a bill to reaffirm our commitment to 
our allies who are facing unrelenting aggression around the globe.
  This legislation will bolster Israel's fight to defend itself against 
terrorists like Hamas; it will support Ukraine's ongoing defense 
against Russian forces, who are violating their sovereignty; and it 
will help countries in the Indo-Pacific, like Taiwan, counter or deter, 
hopefully, Chinese aggression.
  America has always been known as one that stands by its friends and 
allies. That is actually one of the biggest differences between the 
United States and Russia and China. We have friends. We have like-
minded allies based on our commonly shared values.
  Now, there are strategic shotgun marriages, which you see now between 
Iran and China and Russia, but nobody would mistake that for a shared 
value concept. It is just that they are arrayed against the United 
States. ``The enemy of my enemy is my friend'' is the philosophy that 
they embrace.
  We have a long and proud history of defending democracy and standing 
up to adversaries, and I am glad Congress approved this legislation to 
continue in that tradition. As America's friends and allies combat evil 
around the world, we are seeing a new wave cropping up right here on 
American soil.
  Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 of last year, anti-Israel 
protests have taken place across the United States. For our country, 
protests are nothing new. In fact, they are privileged and guaranteed 
under the First Amendment to the Constitution. So impassioned debate is 
not a recent innovation. But there is a clear line between protesting 
and rioting and an even clearer line between free speech and violence. 
Regrettably, that line has been crossed time and again in recent 
months.
  Some Hamas sympathizers and supporters have used the guise of 
protesting to harass and intimidate Jewish students across the United 
States, and some of the most disturbing incidents have been those on 
college campuses. In the wake of October 7, campuses have experienced a 
wave of anti-Semitic attacks targeting their Jewish students.
  Last fall, for example, Jewish students at a small university in New 
York City sheltered in the college library as pro-Palestinian 
protesters banged on the doors and windows and chanted outside. 
Multiple students at Tulane University in Louisiana were physically 
assaulted during a tense protest. A Cornell University message board 
was flooded with anonymous comments that threatened to physically harm 
any Jewish person on campus.
  These incidents highlight a dangerous resurgence of anti-Semitism 
that has spread like wildfire across college campuses, and too many 
people have tried to defend these attacks as constitutionally protected 
speech. I would hurry to point out that not everybody involved in these 
protests and this civil disobedience or even violence is even a student 
at these universities. In many ways, I think this is another 
manifestation, another indication, more evidence that many of our 
institutions of higher education have lost their way. They should be 
focused on educating the next generation of American leadership, not 
being engaged in or being primarily focused on this sort of activity.
  It is shameful and disingenuous to suggest that attacks, particularly 
physical attacks and threats against Jewish students, qualify as 
protected speech. As I said, the First Amendment does protect speech, 
but it protects the right to protest peacefully. It does not give 
anyone the freedom to riot, to threaten, or to carry out acts of 
violence against other people or to even violate the rules of their 
universities.
  The Supreme Court has long recognized that neutral protections like 
time, manner, and place provisions do not violate the First Amendment, 
and those are the sorts of guidelines and rules that these protesters 
need to follow. When they don't follow them, they should be held 
accountable for it.
  Sadly, pro-Palestinian groups are continuing to create a threatening 
environment by attempting to occupy and disrupt some college campuses.
  At Yale University, a Jewish student journalist was attacked by a 
pro-Hamas mob while attempting to film a protest. She was stabbed in 
the eye with a Palestinian flag, and her attacker has still not been 
identified.
  This last weekend, at Harvard, anti-Israel protesters raised a 
Palestinian flag in the place where the American flag should have been 
flying.
  Protests at the University of Southern California have created such 
serious safety concerns that the university actually canceled its main 
graduation ceremony.
  Some of the most alarming incidents have taken place at Columbia 
University, where pro-Palestinian students set up a tent encampment at 
the center of the campus. The situation became so tense last week that 
a prominent rabbi urged Jewish students to leave campus and stay away 
for their own safety. The situation grew even more dangerous overnight 
as an anti-Israel mob broke into an academic building and used 
furniture to barricade the doors. They shattered windows, hung pro-
Palestinian banners from the building, and a member of the building's 
maintenance team said he was briefly held hostage.
  These institutions are known as some of America's elite universities, 
but their response to these incidents has fallen far short. They have 
allowed protesters to break university rules, threaten other students, 
particularly Jewish students, and create a dangerous and hostile 
environment for their entire campus communities.
  Under title VI of the Civil Rights Act, colleges and universities are 
required to provide an environment free from discriminations based on 
race, color, or national origin. So it is shameful that some of these 
so-called elite universities in our country do not take that 
responsibility seriously.
  Last week, protests erupted at the University of Texas in Austin, 
where I live. But I am glad to say the response there was far different 
than what you have seen in many other parts of the country. As hundreds 
of protesters attempted to occupy the campus, the university hasn't 
wavered in its commitment to preserve a safe environment for all of its 
students. They have recognized the danger that these demonstrations 
could pose to Jewish students, as well as disrupting the entire campus 
community that is, after all, dedicated to education. It is hard to get 
a good education if you can't go to class or you can't participate in 
activities on your own campus for fear of violence or threats.
  The University of Texas took swift action to break up last week's 
demonstration before things turned violent, and it has continued to do 
the same thing as the situation heats up this week.
  I want to commend my friend UT Austin president Jay Hartzell for 
doing what so many other college presidents have failed to do. As 
protesters took over the campus, he, with the backing of our Governor 
and our other elected officials, made it clear that the university's 
rules would be enforced.
  As we have seen at college campuses across the country, 
uncontrolled--I should say--or out-of-control protests create a very 
dangerous environment for all students, the faculty, and staff. They 
create an especially threatening environment for Jewish members of the 
campus community who are targeted solely based on their ethnic identity 
or their religion.
  These types of attacks are despicable and un-American, and I am glad 
the University of Texas at Austin made it clear that anti-Semitism has 
no place on its campus.
  Last week, 26 of my Republican colleagues and I urged the Biden 
administration to do more to protect Jewish students on college 
campuses. Anti-Semitic mobs are paralyzing many campuses and 
threatening Jewish students.
  Given the wave of protests across the country, the Biden 
administration must do more to combat anti-Semitism and ensure that 
every student has a safe place to learn.
  Universities, of course, are no strangers to activism. Generations of 
young people have organized protests and raised their voices on a 
variety of political and social issues, and that is entirely 
appropriate.
  The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it does not 
grant anyone the ability to say or do whatever they want without 
consequences.
  Recent demonstrations have turned into a breeding ground for anti-
Semitism, and we must do more to protect

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all of our students and restore safety to our college campuses and 
restore the very basic mission for which they were founded, which is to 
educate the next generation of Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.