House Republicans used words like “violence,” “piracy” and “chaos.” They asked university leaders why so few protesters had been suspended. They showed videos and handled a document with a bright red ‘F’ grade.
Leaders at Northwestern, Rutgers and the University of California, Los Angeles responded with phrases such as “due process,” “appropriate penalties” and “task force.”
At the third congressional hearing with college presidents on Thursday, Republicans asked them a pointed question about pro-Palestinian encampments that student protesters have set up on college campuses and campuses across the country in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
But university leaders appeared to learn lessons from previous hearings and sought to avoid the wrath of either Republicans on the committee or members of their institutions. They acknowledged some mistakes and promised to do more to fight anti-Semitism, while also pushing back against some of the charges against them.
The result was something of a culture clash, with Republicans acting like prosecutors, demanding yes or no answers from witnesses as they sought to extract the devastating moment that helped topple the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
“Each of you should be ashamed of your decisions that have allowed anti-Semitic camps to endanger Jewish students,” Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina and the committee’s chairwoman, told the leaders, including two — Michael Schill of Northwestern and Jonathan Holloway of Rutgers — who made deals with protesters to end their encampments.
“Mr. Schill and Dr.
University leaders tried to counter the attacks with measured responses. And they tried to explain why administrators hadn’t immediately suspended or expelled some students accused of wrongdoing or hate speech.
“We, at Northwestern, believe in due process,” Mr. Sill said after a hostile question from Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York. “We believe in research.”
He declined to say how long such investigations would take to complete, prompting Ms. Stefanik to say: ”That’s why you earned an F” from the Anti-Defamation League in its report card on campus anti-Semitism.
Mr. Schill faced the most critical question about his decision to strike a deal to end the protest camp at Northwestern. The ADL is one of several groups that have called on him to resign over what it called his “reprehensible and dangerous” deal with activists.
Under the agreement, the students removed their tents in exchange for Northwestern agreeing to fund positions for two Palestinian faculty members for two years and pay for the education of five Palestinian undergraduates. Northwestern also agreed to re-establish an advisory committee on investment responsibility, with student representatives, and to answer questions about its holdings. He did not agree to withdraw from Israel, as the protesters demanded.
Ms. Stefanik called the deal “a unilateral capitulation to the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic camp.”
Mr. Schill, who noted that he is Jewish and a descendant of Holocaust survivors, said the characterization was wrong.
“We have not given in to any of the protesters’ demands and the commitments we have made are consistent with our values,” he said. Moreover, he later added, “I think we had a good result: we were able to get rid of the major anti-Semitic event on our campus without violence.”
At one point, the grilling was so testing that Mr. Sill told a Republican: “I’m really offended that you’re telling me what my views are.”
Dr. Holloway, the president of Rutgers, defended his decision to reach an agreement with the protesters as well. “They were not, as some have called them, terrorists,” he said. “They were our students.”
Rutgers agreed to establish an Arab cultural center, consider a Middle Eastern studies department and “implement support” for 10 displaced Palestinian students to study at the university. He also promised not to retaliate against the camp participants — a promise that spokesman Foxx denounced as “an outrageous amnesty deal.”
Lisa Glass, the executive director of Rutgers Hillel, a Jewish campus organization that had criticized Dr. Holloway, said he thought he “did really well” in the audition.
“I think his answers were thoughtful and give me hope,” she said.
Ms. Glass said that when the House Education and Workforce Committee called Dr. transparency about bias investigations.
When it came time for Dr. Holloway to testify, “he was in a pretty good place,” she said. “Now it’s time for us all to work together.”
Gene D. Block, the chancellor of UCLA, faced questions about the rampant violence that unfolded on his campus when pro-Israel counter-protesters attacked pro-Palestinian protesters, pepper-spraying them, hitting them with wooden planks and setting off fireworks at their camp. , without police intervention for hours.
After the attack, UCLA called in the police to clean up the camp, resulting in more than 200 arrests. None of the counter-protesters, however, were among those arrested, leading to accusations of double standards in the treatment of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters.
Representative Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, and one of three Muslim members of Congress, addressed this point specifically at the hearing, accusing Dr. Block that he did nothing while counter-protesters “attacked students you were responsible for.”
“Are any of these people in jail?” asked. “It’s been over a month.”
UCLA is leading an investigation into the counter-protesters, but its police department has not made any arrests. Dr. Block said the Los Angeles Police Department helped identify the perpetrators of the violence and tried to get police to the scene as soon as possible.
“With the benefit of hindsight, we should be prepared to immediately remove the camp if and when the safety of our community is compromised,” he said.
Ms. Omar pointed out that video images showed UCLA campus police officers standing by as the violence occurred.
“You should be ashamed of yourself for allowing such violence to happen,” Ms Omar told Dr Block.
Ms. Omar’s daughter was among several Barnard students suspended for attending a pro-Palestinian camp at Columbia University.
While the hearing was taking place, hundreds of students walked out of Harvard University’s commencement ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, chanting “Let them walk!”, a reference to 13 student protesters at Harvard who were barred from graduating. Although Harvard did not say what the students did wrong, official statements from the university indicated that the protesters had cut a lock on a gate and had harassed and intimidated staff members.
And at UCLA, students set up a new pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, barricading an atrium with umbrellas, tables and boxes.
With little sign that such protests would end, Dr Fox promised further action. “Today’s hearing is the beginning, not the end, of this committee’s investigation of your institutions,” he said.
