At Wednesday's House Education Committee hearing, Rep. Mark Messmer (R-IN) questioned college presidents about antisemitism on college campuses.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I recognize the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Messmer.
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the witnesses for being here today.
00:08President Raymond, despite your opening statement that you condemn anti-Semitism,
00:13multiple Jewish students on the campus you preside over report feeling ostracized for the sole fact they're Jewish.
00:19Do you think Haverford still has an anti-Semitic problem?
00:22Representative, I know that the effects of what has happened at Haverford have been very concerning to me
00:33and to many of our Jewish students, staff, and faculty.
00:37It's been a troubling time for many of us, and we are working to combat anti-Semitism.
00:42Okay.
00:43Well, other than describing as it being anti-Semitic, how else would you describe the campus where a Jewish student wrote,
00:49the multiple classmates have refused to speak to me after learning I'm Jewish,
00:54or how could you possibly interpret signs at a protest that say decolonization is not a metaphor?
01:01Those Harvard faculty and students participating in these acts are sending a clear message to the Jewish student body
01:05or anyone, any student with ties to Israel, you're not welcome here,
01:10and extermination of Israel and the Jewish people who have sought refuge there is our goal.
01:15This is a very serious matter.
01:16One student said they felt safer in Israel, which is a combat zone, than attending your school in the fall.
01:24They wrote, I'm scared, I'm not going to learn, and I'm not going to be safe.
01:28President Raymond, are you comfortable with Haverford driving away Jewish students who have been accepted admission,
01:34or are you going to establish more useless listening sessions and ad hoc committees
01:38while putting out bland statements approved by lawyers to cover your legal obligations?
01:44Is that really what Jewish students at Haverford deserve?
01:49What you read, Representative, pains me deeply.
01:53Those experiences of our Haverford students are not experiences that they should have on our campus or anywhere.
02:00And I commit to the work of this campus to making it a much more welcoming place for all of our Jewish students and staff and faculty.
02:15Are protests calling for the genocides of Jews a violation of your university's rules or code of ethics?
02:20And if they are, and such statements are made, what is the repercussion for students or faculty to make them?
02:27Such calls are horrific and absolutely not acceptable anywhere in the world.
02:35No such calls have been made at Haverford College.
02:39Any such calls would be, of course, followed up immediately with all of our disciplinary processes.
02:45And what would that discipline be?
02:46The discipline would be what that process would eventually call for.
02:54Okay.
02:54All right.
02:55Dr. Manuel, how about at your university?
02:59If there's a protest calling for the genocide of Jews, what would be the replication for a student or faculty that made them?
03:06Thank you, Representative.
03:07Anybody who would make those kind of statements for the genocide or killing of anybody would be immediately brought in, put through our adjudication processes.
03:19The result could be anything up to and including expulsion.
03:23Okay.
03:24Dr. Armstrong, same thing?
03:27Yes, sir.
03:27Anyone calling for the death of any group or harassing or discriminating would be subject to discipline.
03:35And what would that discipline be?
03:37Well, for students, it could be suspension.
03:39It could be a repeated expulsion.
03:42And then we also have procedures for our faculty and staff that could result in discipline.
03:49Dr. Manuel, instead of checking IDs for protesters that are wearing masks, why don't you prohibit the wearing of masks for those that are protesting?
03:57How is that part of their free speech rights?
04:03We have people on our campus who are immunocompromised, folks who have religious beliefs.
04:08We wanted to accommodate that.
04:10We also wanted to prevent people from evading identification during critical moments on campus.
04:16What I mentioned in my ID masking policy that we adopted is part of the larger culture of creating accountability.
04:24The changes in our time, place, and manner, the additional 30 percent spend on our public safety,
04:30the bringing in of the ADL expert to help with Jewish engagement.
04:33Together, they represent a change to action in the way that we hold ourselves accountable to our community.
04:40I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
04:42I thank you for all being here, and I'll yield back my time.
04:44I thank the gentleman.
04:46I recognize the gentlelady from Minnesota.