Leaders of Northwestern, UCLA, and Rutgers Testify Before Congress on Campus Protests

TIME

House Republicans have summoned the leaders of Northwestern University and Rutgers University to testify about concessions they gave to pro-Palestinian protesters to end demonstrations on their campus.

Transcript

00:00 October 7 ignited a powder keg of pro-terror campus fervor, a shocking

00:06 spectacle for the American public. Suddenly, the radicalized zealots found a

00:13 cause and group that they could graft their hate onto. Somehow Jews fit neatly

00:20 into DEI's oppression matrix, thereby justifying anti-Semitism. Each of you

00:26 should be ashamed of your decisions that allowed anti-Semitic encampments to

00:31 endanger Jewish students. Mr. Schill and Dr. Holloway, you should be doubly

00:36 ashamed for capitulating to the anti-Semitic rule breakers. Our job today

00:42 is first and foremost to hold those who are supposed to be in charge to account.

00:47 No one should be threatened, harassed, or attacked because of who they are or who

00:51 they worship. Moreover, students cannot learn if they feel unsafe, yet here we

00:56 are for the fifth time in six months holding another hearing to complain

01:00 about the problem of anti-Semitism, but no work is being done to find a

01:04 meaningful solution to address animus on college campuses. Complaining about a

01:09 problem is not a solution. We had to get the encampment down. We needed to. The

01:17 police solution was not, number one, not going to be available to us to keep

01:23 people safe, but also may not be the wise solution as we've seen at some other

01:27 universities around the country. So we found, and we were fortunate to have

01:33 students who were willing to negotiate and were willing to give up their

01:40 demands that they came in to us for. Their number one demand was divestment.

01:45 We said no. We said absolutely not. We said nothing that singles out Israel. We

01:51 made a choice. That choice was to engage our students through dialogue as a first

01:55 option instead of police action. We had seen what transpired at other

01:59 universities and sought a different way. Tragically, it took several hours before

02:03 law enforcement could quell the violence. On May 1st, with the support of the

02:08 University of California's President Michael Drake, we provided protesters a

02:13 final opportunity to leave, but when more than 200 protesters refused police

02:18 orders, law enforcement removed the encampment that night. With the benefit

02:24 of hindsight, we should have been prepared to immediately remove the

02:27 encampment if and when the safety of our community was put at risk. I'm asking, is

02:33 it a fact that you earned an F and they called for your resignation? I have great

02:36 respect for the ADL. I am sad that they gave Northwestern an F. But it's true. You got an F.

02:44 Yes, moving on. Isn't it true that you asked the Hillel director whether it was

02:49 possible to hire an anti-Zionist Hillel, head of Hillel, rabbi? I did not. I

02:58 absolutely did not. I would never hire anyone based upon their views of being

03:05 Zionist or anti-Zionist.

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