House committees broaden anti-Semitism investigations into Northwestern, other colleges: 'will not rest'
Several House committee chairs sent stern letters to Northwestern University and several other colleges and cited a Department of Education Title VI inquiry into the college based on a complaint filed by the Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief.
Several House committee chairs sent stern letters to Northwestern University and nine other colleges. They cited a Department of Education Title VI inquiry into the Evanston, Illinois, college based on a complaint filed by Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Dr. Zachary Marschall.
The initial Title VI complaint, filed by Campus Reform Editor-in-Chief Dr. Zachary Marschall, states that Jewish students at Northwestern University “have felt increasingly unwelcome” since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack.
An investigation was opened by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in late January based on the complaint.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), 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 leadership of Barnard, Columbia, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Penn, Rutgers, and Cornell, warning them that they “will not rest” until a safe learning environment is restored for all students.
”The fight against antisemitism is not a partisan issue,” the chairs wrote. ”The undersigned Committee chairs are proud to conduct this work with substantial bipartisan support and will not rest until the facts are known and Northwestern University and others restore a safe learning environment for your students and properly steward the taxpayer funds placed in your care.”
The chairs wrote that the House will not support federal funds being used to ”indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism.”
Each chair wrote how their committee is investigating anti-Semitism on American college campuses:
- The Committee on Education and the Workforce has opened investigations into each of the institutions regarding their compliance with the Civil Rights Act.
- The Committee on Oversight and Accountability recently opened investigations into funding for ”groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students.”
- The Committee on Ways and Means, according to the letter, ”has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing.”
- The House Committee on Energy and Commerce opened investigations into the universities regarding federal funding at the institutions.
”This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has initiated an investigation into your institution for Title VI Shared Ancestry violations,” the chairs wrote.
