The past week has seen further efforts involving Republican-led House Committees to bring greater accountability from campus leaders for the growth of antisemitism on their campuses. This included a graduating senior testifying on June 13 about the status at Cornell.
On June 3, seven House committee chairs co-signed a letter to outgoing President Martha Pollack outlining concerns about antisemitism. The letter threatened, “The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into
hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism.” Not only did the letter place into question direct federal aid and research grants, but also the university’s tax exempt status.
On June 13, The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing entitled, “Crisis on Campus: Anti Semitism, Radical Faculty, and the Failure of University Leadership.” The hearing included live testimony from Talia Dror ‘24 who has just graduated from Cornell. In general, the Committee is looking for leverage such as loss of tax-exempt status to get universities to crack down on antisemitism.
In Dror’s opening prepared remarks, she pointed to a nation-wide problem:
“I have provided just a few examples of rampant antisemitic and anti-American hate on Cornell’s campus, all of which is enabled by my administration’s cowardice. Let me be very clear: what I have just described to you pervades campuses all across the country.”
There were a number of dramatic exchanges during the question and answer session. For example:
Rep. Smith: “Ms. Dror, I want to talk briefly about the 501(c)(3) part of our tax code and that exempt purpose. We could talk probably a long time, in addition to the discussion here, in terms of tax-exempt status and what does that do for students. It certainly doesn’t seem to lower the tuition much. Especially when students would feel harassed in the environment, where these institutions have massive and generous tax breaks that they take advantage of. What would you say is the impact of students themselves?”
Talia Dror ‘24,: “Universities are using their federally-allocated funds to fund hateful student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, and its fellow organizations that essentially organize and spew hatred…They’re using their very exorbitant amount of power and wealth to fund anti-American students promoting hatred and anti-Americanism.”
Rep. Wenstrup: “What would happen if we cut off federal funds to any university that was allowing these types of things to go on on their campuses?”
Professor Shai Davidai (Columbia University faculty): “I would say that even before you cut it off, their knees will start shaking and change will happen. We have to remember, Columbia University is the largest private landlord in New York City. It is a tax-exempt, largest private landlord. They own the land under Rockefeller Center. They own most of Morningside Heights and many of the buildings in Harlem. If only the thought of losing that tax exemption would pass through their minds, you would see no more antisemitism, you wouldn’t see any misdoing, anything on campus. These universities, and I’ve spent a lot of time in these universities, are not elite universities; they’re expensive universities. All they care about is money and PR. If you start playing with that, things will change.”
Talia Dror,: “I couldn’t agree more. I would like to actually take this moment to thank Mr. Smith for his investigation. Every single positive action I’ve seen out of Cornell in the past seven months has been the result of the pressure of this Committee. I have a lot to be grateful for. I do think that you will see tangible results when you place pressure on these universities that think that they are allergic to any form of punishment.”
Next, Rep. Van Duyne read into the record President Pollack’s statement issued the day after the Cornell encampment was disbanded. He said: “Ms. Dror…can you please share with us how you felt when you received this email, and how did you feel when you read that the president of your university said that the encampment participants here ‘remain peaceful and nonviolent?’”
Talia Dror: “This email was actually the moment I decided not to attend my graduation. This is laughable. I’ve spent the past eight months being called a Nazi because I believe in the existence of the state of Israel. For her to protect students, falsely mischaracterizing Israel defending itself as a genocide in the name of trivializing the Holocaust is laughable and shameful. I also want to bring up a point that you mentioned in that email. She said a Jewish student that criticized Israel. No. These students call for the complete elimination of the Jewish state and every single Jew inside of it. They’re calling for a Jewish genocide. Also, she mentioned that the students have been referred to on campus as ‘terrorists.’ These students are openly supporting the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine], Hamas, and Hezbollah. They are also regularly terrorizing Jewish students on campus by threatening them and intimidating them. It’s no surprise that Martha Pollack protects the students behind the encampment when $1.8 billion are funneled into Cornell by United States adversaries.”
The Committee will receive additional written testimony from the public until June 27.
In sum, Congress continues to pressure universities about the way that they respond to the pro-Palestine protests.
The link to the committee hearing can be found here
