On Monday, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Science, Space, & Technology Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) sent letters to the leaders of Barnard, Columbia, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Penn, Rutgers, and Cornell as part of their Congress-wide investigation into the rise of antisemitism on college campuses.
In their letters, the Chairs wrote: “Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities. … This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist.”
The Chairs continued: “Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots. … The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism.”
Here is how each committee can do its share in combatting college antisemitism:
- The Committee on Education and the Workforce has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
- The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaging in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students.
- The Committee on Ways and Means has broad jurisdiction over the Internal Revenue Code, which includes the generous tax exemption most universities receive under Section 501 of the Code, the university endowment tax under Section 4968, and the excise tax on executive compensation for tax-exempt organizations under Section 4960.
- The House Judiciary Committee has broad jurisdiction over “civil liberties,” “criminal law enforcement,” and federal immigration law.
- The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is investigating concerns over the extent to which the Department of Health and Human Services and its grant awarding agencies—such as the National Institutes of Health—are ensuring that universities receiving federal funds are fostering and maintaining an environment free from harassment and discrimination.
- The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has broad jurisdiction over non-military research and development. This jurisdiction includes science-based scholarships and grants to universities from multiple federal departments and agencies.
All I can do at this point is share with you my great disappointment with Sam Graves (R-MO), Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, for failing to do his share in blocking road access to those ten university campuses across US cities for students wearing keffiyehs and waving pro-Hamas slogans.
I’m kidding, of course, there are no functioning roads remaining in US cities.
