Congress schedules college presidents to answer for antisemitic actions on campus

FIRST ON FOX: The dates for closed-door interviews with top university presidents have been announced as House Republicans continue to probe antisemitism at educational institutions across the country. 

Two university leaders were provided notice by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday of upcoming transcribed interviews that will be closed to the press. 

Yale University President Dr. Peter Salovey is set to speak with the committee in a closed-to-press interview on June 20 at 10:30 a.m. and University of Michigan President Dr. Santa J. Ono is scheduled to appear for his own private interview on Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. 

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said, “The Committee has identified patterns of antisemitism on Yale’s and Michigan’s campuses and a general failure by these universities to protect Jewish students that must be addressed. Presidents Salovey and Ono will be required to appear before the committee for transcribed interviews and answer questions on their records.”

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Several university presidents have already appeared before Congress. (Getty Images)

“Questioning will be conducted by counsel(s) and/or Committee staff designated by the Chair and Ranking Member, respectively. The Majority and the Minority will question you in alternating, hour-long rounds, beginning with Majority staff, until neither side has remaining questions,” she wrote in letters to the leaders on Wednesday. 

A spokesperson for Yale University told Fox News Digital, “We are committed to cooperate with the committee.”

Presidents of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California, Los Angeles testified in front of the committee earlier this month during a hearing titled, “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos.” 

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Hundreds of students protest outside the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.  (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

The hearing came only weeks after a high-profile pro-Palestine encampment dispersed at Columbia University and as schools across the country still struggled with their own demonstrations, which also included incidents of antisemitism. 

The Michigan and Yale presidents were originally slated to appear at the same hearing. 

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Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., Chairwoman of the House Education and the Workforce is leading an investigation into campus antisemitism.  (Getty Images)

The outbreak of antisemitism on college campuses has correlated with the onset of the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, which began in October 2023 after the group murdered Israeli civilians and took hostages in a surprise attack. 

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Since then, antisemitic incidents across the country have skyrocketed. In the three months following the Hamas terrorist attack, more antisemitic incidents occurred than during the entirety of each year between 2013 and 2021, with the exception of 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s data. The number of incidents in those three months represented a 361% increase from the same period in 2022, during which 712 incidents occurred. 

Requests seeking comment from the University of Michigan went unanswered at press time.