Haverford, DePaul, Cal Poly presidents grilled on Jew-hatred at House ed panel hearing

Republican members of the House Education and Workforce Committee asked the Haverford College, DePaul University and California Polytechnic State University presidents repeated, tough questions—often raising their voices—about Jew-hatred on campus during a hearing, as Democrats on the panel said the hearing was a stunt, which should address all hatred and that the Trump administration should look inward on the issue.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the committee, used his first question during Wednesday’s hearing on “college presidents to answer for mishandling of antisemitic, violent protests” to ask the leaders how many students have been suspended or expelled for Jew-hatred since Oct. 7.

Wendy Raymond, the president of Haverford, in the Philadelphia area, told Walberg that “we don’t publicize those numbers.”

“So we assume there have been none,” Walberg said.

Robert Manuel, the president of DePaul, in Chicago, told the panel that eight student groups have been investigated, two have been suspended and put on probation and two have been arrested, one of whom is a student.

Jeffrey Armstrong, the president of Cal Poly, testified that six students have been disciplined, with punishments ranging from two-quarter suspension to deferred suspension to probation.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked the Haverford president if statements about killing all Jews is protected on the school’s campus. Raymond said that she wouldn’t defend such statements and that disciplinary actions have been taken, but she wouldn’t specify the actions.

Stefanik told listeners to take note that Haverford’s leadership was not being as responsive as that of other schools.

“You have to see it to believe it. College and university presidents still don’t get it,” Stefanik stated. “Must watch testimony from Haverford president, who failed to answer my questions whether any disciplinary action has been taken against antisemites, who have called for the genocide of Jews on campus.”

“There continues to be a failure of leadership in higher education and no accountability and no enforcement of the rules,” Stefanik said.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the committee’s former chair, pressed Raymond on whether anti-Zionism is more acceptable than Jew-hatred. The Haverford president said that antisemitism was unacceptable but that criticizing any government was allowed.

When Foxx noted that Israel has existed for nearly 80 years and that anti-Zionists said that the state shouldn’t exist, Raymond said that she did not mean to say that such a view was acceptable.

Under persistent questions from Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), Raymond said that she could look Jewish parents in the eye and say that their children would feel safe and comfortable at Haverford.

“I think we heard a lot of lip service here,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) said, as he directed questions at Ramond. (Fine, who is Jewish, said that he was wearing a yarmulke to honor the Jewish students subjected to Jew-hatred.)

‘Scourge’

Opening the hearing, Walberg stated that Jew-hatred is a larger problem than just high-profile examples at Harvard University, Columbia University and other top-rated educational institutions.

“The scourge of antisemitism has taken root far beyond the country’s best-known ivory towers, and it’s our responsibility as a committee to unearth and address antisemitism at these schools, too—especially as antisemitism is at a historic high in the United States,” he said.

“Antisemitism is proliferating at colleges across the country, both private and public, in rural, urban and suburban settings,” the panel chair said. “What does antisemitism look like? It manifests in faculty who create a hostile environment on campus by expressing support for known terrorist groups, verbally harass Jewish students and call for the destruction of Israel.”

Ahead of the hearing, the Anti-Defamation League noted that it had given Haverford and DePaul “F” grades and Cal Poly a “D” in its most recent campus report card.

At Haverford, the school administration has “has consistently refused to act against severe antisemitic harassment on campus” since Oct. 7, Walberg said in his opening remarks. “It has refused to even condemn these incidents of harassment or hostility in a clear, unequivocal statement, much less to meaningfully discipline the students responsible for these incidents.”

“Instead, the university has exhibited an all-consuming commitment to ‘dialogue,’ even when that dialogue is dominated by antisemitic conspiracy theories or calls to violence,” he said.

At DePaul, there have been “multiple instances of physical violence against Jewish students,” and the school allowed “a multi-week encampment” last May that “was so disruptive and violent that the nearby elementary school had to cancel recess,” Walberg said. “After finally forcibly shutting down the encampment, DePaul still ended up giving in to agitators’ demands.”

At least one professor at Cal Poly “has been complicit in harassing Jewish students who were trying to attend an Israel-related special lecture,” he said. “My colleagues and I are committed to holding these three universities and others accountable for perpetuating antisemitism.”

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the committee’s ranking member, said in his opening statements that the committee was focusing on Jew-hatred to the exclusion of racism, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia and bias against those with disabilities.

The panel should hold a hearing on what’s been happening at the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office, which the Trump administration has sought to dismantle, raising “reasonable doubt” about its ability to fulfil its role, according to Scott.

“We should be focused on trying to solve the problem rather than complaining about it,” he said.

“Democrats are using an antisemitism hearing not to condemn antisemitism but to condemn President Trump and his efforts to improve the nation’s education system,” Walberg stated.

“Where were Democrats when the Biden-Harris Department of Education did nothing to help Jewish students and faculty facing an eruption of harassment and violence at college campuses across the country?” the chair wrote.

Raymond, the Haverford president, admitted that the school hasn’t always lived up to expectation.

“We can do better, and I can do better,” she said, adding to Jewish members of the Haverford community that “I wish to make it unmistakably clear that you are valued members of our community and on our campus. I’m sorry that my actions and my leadership let you down.”

Manuel, of DePaul, also apologized and said, of two Jewish students who were attacked in November, that “what happened to them is a hate crime. No one should ever be attacked for who they are.”

As Manuel apologized, the House education panel posted on social media that “DePaul’s president is sitting right in front of a Jewish student assaulted on DePaul’s campus—simply for being Jewish. President Manuel made a hollow apology. He wouldn’t even face Michael.” (Michael Kaminsky, a junior at DePaul, is one of the two students.)

“Your apologies are a little hollow,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) told the DePaul president.

The school has instituted a new ID verification and mask policy, and it suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and hired a former Anti-Defamation League professional to assist it in helping keep Jews safe, Manuel said.

DePaul also launched a Jewish alumni group, according to Manual, who called Jew-hatred “a threat to the very fabric of our American society.”

Armstrong, of Cal Poly, testified that the school doesn’t tolerate threatening activity and deploys campus police when necessary. “We have enjoyed a vibrant Jewish community for many years,” he said, noting that the number of Jewish students has doubled since 2011.

© JNS