Representative Kiley Statement on the Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Investigation into the Explosion of Campus Antisemitism

WASHINGTON – Today Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) lauded the recent Education and Workforce Committee investigation and report into the explosion of antisemitism on U.S. campuses following the attack on Israel by Hamas. For nearly a year, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce majority staff has been working to uncover and document the extent of the problem.  The Committee’s investigation included: Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Columbia University, Barnard College, Rutgers University, Northwestern University, George Washington University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Los Angeles.

“Following several deeply disturbing antisemitic incidents at colleges and universities since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Education and the Workforce Committee has sent a clear message: nothing could further from the values of our country or the purposes of higher education. Disappointingly, several university officials and administrators testified before the committee and failed to condemn antisemitism in the strongest terms, disavow any on-campus activities supporting Hamas terrorists, or assure students of all backgrounds can feel safe. I want to thank Chairwoman Foxx for her leadership and role in this investigation to shine a bright light on these failures and bring about positive change,” said Rep. Kiley.

“For over a year, Republican Committee members have been united behind one goal: ensure Jewish students have the same safe and uninterrupted learning environment of any other student, and I am grateful to Rep. Kiley for the role he has played in our investigation. The explosion of antisemitism on college campuses has exposed the moral rot at many of our so-called elite institutions, and the Committee has rightly demanded accountability from those who allowed it to grow. Now, it is time for the executive branch to step up, enforce the laws, and protect Jewish students from the abhorrent harassment and discrimination they’ve experienced for simply trying to receive an education,” said Chairwoman Foxx.

Click here to read the full report from the Committee.

Key Findings:

• Students who established unlawful antisemitic encampments—which violated university polices and created unsafe and hostile learning environments—were given shocking concessions. Universities’ dereliction of leadership and failure to enforce their rules put students and personnel at risk.
  • Northwestern put radical anti-Israel faculty in charge of negotiations with the encampment
  • Northwestern’s provost shockingly approved of a proposal to boycott Sabra hummus
  • Northwestern entertained demands to hire an “anti-Zionist” rabbi and Northwestern President Michael Schill may have misled Congress in testimony regarding the matter
  • Columbia’s leaders offered greater concessions to encampment organizers than they publicly acknowledged
  • UCLA officials stood by and failed to act as the illegal encampment violated Jewish students’ civil rights and placed the campus at risk

• So-called university leaders intentionally declined to express support for campus Jewish communities. Instead of explicitly condemning antisemitic harassment, universities equivocated out of concern of offending antisemitic students and faculty who rallied in support of foreign terrorist organizations.
  • Harvard leaders’ failure to condemn Hamas’ attack in their widely criticized October 9 statement was an intentional decision
  • Harvard President Claudine Gay and then-Provost Alan Garber asked Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker not to label the slogan “From the River to the Sea” antisemitic, with Gay fearing doing so would create expectations Harvard would have to impose discipline
  • The Columbia administration failed to correct false narratives of a “chemical attack” that were used to vilify Jewish students, but imposed disproportionate discipline on the Jewish students involved

• Universities utterly failed to impose meaningful discipline for antisemitic behavior that violated school rules and the law. In some cases, radical faculty successfully thwarted meaningful discipline.
  • Universities failed to enforce their rules and hold students accountable for antisemitic conduct violations
  • Columbia’s University Senate obstructed plans to discipline students involved in the takeover of Hamilton Hall
  • Harvard’s faculty intervened to prevent meaningful discipline toward antisemitic conduct violations on numerous occasions
  • Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker acknowledged that the university’s disciplinary boards’ enforcement of the rules is “uneven” and called this “unacceptable”

• So-called university leaders expressed hostility to congressional oversight and criticism of their record. The antisemitism engulfing campuses was treated as a public-relations issue and not a serious problem demanding action.
  • Harvard president Claudine Gay disparaged Rep. Elise Stefanik’s character to the university’s Board of Overseers
  • Columbia’s leaders expressed contempt for congressional oversight of campus antisemitism
  • Penn’s leaders suggested politicians calling for President Magill’s resignation were “easily purchased” and sought to orchestrate negative media coverage of Members of Congress who scrutinized the University

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