The presidents of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California at Los Angeles attempted to defend their decision-making on campus protests before Congress on Thursday, the third such spectacle in the past six months.
The hearing, hosted by the U.S. House’s Committee on Education and the Workforce, was framed as a means of holding the colleges accountable for claims of antisemitism on campus. Exchanges largely centered on agreements that Michael H. Schill of Northwestern and Jonathan S. Holloway of Rutgers struck with pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up encampments to demand divestment from Israel. The lawmakers also berated Gene D. Block, the soon-to-be-retired chancellor of UCLA, for failing to quell violence that broke out at an encampment.
Thursday presented a sharp contrast to last month’s hearing, which zeroed in on Columbia University’s response to antisemitism and its president, Nemat (Minouche) Shafik. While Shafik largely fell in line with lawmakers’ line of questioning and agreed with their assertions, these three leaders — especially Schill — often tried to refute or reframe lawmakers’ inquiries.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina and the committee’s chair, asked whether any students at each institution had been suspended or expelled. After each president responded that many investigations were ongoing, Foxx remarked in frustration that students had not received “any kind of disciplinary action” and posed the same question about faculty members.
“If I might just correct the premise of your question,” Schill said before answering, “the fact that we have not yet suspended or expelled students, does not mean that students have not received discipline. There’s a wide range of discipline, and discipline has been given out to many of those students.”
Throughout his testimony, Schill continued to push back on the “premise” of questions, striking a tone similar to that of K-12 representatives who also testified before the committee this month.
I was not negotiating with the mob. I was talking with students.
Schill’s approach hit a hiccup during a heated exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, whose aggressive questioning had thrown off college leaders in the two previous hearings on campus antisemitism.
Stefanik raised a piece of paper with a giant “F” plastered on it, representing the grade recently given to Northwestern by the Anti-Defamation League.
“Let me tell you why you got an F,” Stefanik said, pointing to Northwestern’s agreement, which she called a “unilateral capitulation to the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, antisemitic encampment.”
When Stefanik asked about a Northwestern Jewish student who was allegedly assaulted at the encampment, Schill started saying that he’d like to “question the premise of your question,” but Stefanik abruptly cut him off. “I’m asking the questions,” she said. “You’re answering.”
‘Hard Decisions’
Schill and Holloway defended their decisions to peacefully end the encampments through negotiations.
“I believe that at this moment, leaders need to make hard decisions,” Schill said. “I believe that we got a good result. We were able to get rid of the major antisemitic event on our campus with no violence.”
“By institutionalizing antisemitism and agreeing to the demands of antisemites,” quickly followed Rep. Kevin Kiley, Republican of California, “President Schill, in my view, you’re the easiest case we have dealt with.” At the end of his questioning, Kiley called for a change in leadership at Northwestern.
Rep. Lloyd Kenneth Smucker, Republican of Pennsylvania, criticized Holloway for negotiating with the “mob” while failing to respond to concerns from Jewish faculty, staff, and administrators. “The first thing I’ll say,” Holloway replied, “I was not negotiating with the mob. I was talking with students.”
In response to lawmakers’ assertions that the universities had rewarded pro-Palestinian protesters by providing funding for new scholarships and faculty positions, both Schill and Holloway said the money came from pre-existing programs. Holloway also faced criticism over Rutgers’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights, which, according to several Republicans, called Israel a “genocidal” state.
Schill confronted a flashier critique: a giant check for $600 million written out to Northwestern from “Qatari-related sources,” which became a prop in the questioning from Rep. Burgess Owens, Republican of Utah. Dated from 2007 through 2022, the check pictured Qatari and Palestinian flags crossing each other, with the memo line reading “from the river to the sea.” Northwestern has operated a campus in Qatar since 2008.
Owens asked Schill about financial relationships between Qatar and terrorist organizations like Hamas and specific transactions between the entities.
“This is not my area of expertise,” Schill responded. He refused to engage with Owens’s yes-or-no question about if he thought that the university should be partnering with countries that harbor terrorists.
“Obviously, you don’t have a problem with that,” Owens responded before continuing his line of questioning.
“I really am offended by you telling me what my views are,” Schill interjected.
Several Democrats throughout the hearing lauded Schill and Holloway for their efforts to resolve the encampments peacefully, while rebuking their Republican colleagues for what they characterized as political theater instead of focusing on tangible efforts to stomp out antisemitism.
‘A Viable Model’
Holloway and Schill seemed to have faculty support, too. The American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors held a news conference on Wednesday defending the presidents. Outside Thursday’s hearing, dozens of professors representing unions from Rutgers, Northwestern, and UCLA gathered to protest what they said were Republican attacks on academic freedom and free speech.
Jackie Stevens, a Northwestern professor of political science, said the faculty opposes any efforts to remove Schill in response to outside groups. “No universities’ presidents’ position should be subject to the whims of political or societal pressure,” Stevens said.
While Holloway has faced criticism for his overall handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in addition to other issues that led to a no-confidence vote last September, Rutgers faculty signaled support for Holloway’s decision to negotiate a resolution to the encampment.
“We think Rutgers offers a viable model for how to resolve these conflicts without unleashing unconscionable police violence against our students and our colleagues,” said Emily Marker, president of the Camden campus’s AAUP-AFT union chapter and an associate professor of history.
The faculty support for Block, however, seemed to be weaker than the two presidents who struck deals. “Instead of protecting our students’ rights to free speech and assembly, he has actively hindered them, rendering our students and our colleagues vulnerable to arrest and assault,” said Caroline Luce, the statewide communication chair for the University of California system’s AFT union and a lecturer at UCLA.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, Democratic of Minnesota, pressed Block on why law enforcement was slow to act on the night that violence erupted at the UCLA encampment, which the university cleared the following day, arresting over 100 people.
“This happened in front of your eyes, on your campus, and it was live streamed for the whole world to see,” Omar said. “If you are truly committed to keeping your students safe, how did you fail these students at many critical points where you could have intervened?”
“I’m sorry, but I reject the premise,” Block replied, which Omar interrupted. “How do you reject the premise? Are these pictures lying?” she asked, holding up photos depicting counterprotesters attacking individuals in the encampment. “Are any of these people in jail?”
Block said that the university tried to get law enforcement to the campus as soon as violence erupted, and that the Los Angeles Police Department is still working to identify those involved. “You should be ashamed for allowing such violence to take place on your campus, which will now be weaponized by Republicans in this committee,” Omar said. “You played right into the hands in laying the ground for attacking institutions of public education.”
As Block testified in Washington, students reportedly put up a second encampment at UCLA.
‘Ignorance’ Remains an Issue
Toward the end of the hearing, Rep. Eric Burlison, Republican of Missouri, played a video titled “Gaza Graduation: The Game Show” that purportedly showcased students who couldn’t answer questions about pro-Palestinian slogans. For instance, some respondents didn’t know which river and sea are referenced in the chant often heard at protests, “from the river to the sea.”
The presidents acknowledged that more needed to be done to educate students on the issue.
“The ignorance that you saw in that video and displayed in that video is part of the problem,” Schill said. “It’s something that we, and all of us agree, that we need to be better at.”
Following the hearing, Marker, the Rutgers professor and union leader, felt relieved that Holloway didn’t put any of her colleagues into “the committee’s crosshairs,” and that he reminded lawmakers that protesters are students, not terrorists.
Still, she thought his testimony left more to be desired. “I’m profoundly disappointed he didn’t reject the whole premise of the hearings,” she wrote in a text to The Chronicle, “which is based on the reckless conflation of antisemitism and criticism of Israeli policy.”
Stevens, the Northwestern professor, wrote in a text that the hearing was a “disturbing mix of witch hunt and idiocracy.” She appreciated Holloway’s remarks about promoting education, but as for her own president: “Schill sunk to the occasion.”
Lawmakers weren’t pleased with Schill’s performance at the hearing, either. “I’m appalled by the condescension and contempt you’ve shown for the committee and toward your own Jewish students today,” Foxx said directly to Schill.
The three university presidents made various pledges throughout the hearing to dole out appropriate punishments after investigations, examine their policies, and work to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate on their campuses. With the academic year coming to a close and students leaving campus, it’s not clear what’s next.
But Foxx warned the three presidents at the end of the hearing: Lawmakers’ eyes will remain on their colleges.
“Today is the beginning,” she said, “not the end.”
