Congresswoman Virginia Foxx Fri, Nov 08, 2024 From the office of Congresswoman Virginia Foxx The Committee on Education and the Workforce, which I Chair, released new findings on how antisemitism engulfed college campuses while campus administrators put the demands of terrorist sympathizers over the safety of Jewish students, faculty, and staff. For over a year, the American people have watched antisemitic mobs rule over so-called “elite universities” across the country. But what was happening behind the scenes was arguably worse. While Jewish students displayed incredible courage in the face of antisemitic harassment, university administrators, faculty, and staff were cowards who fully capitulated to the mob and failed the students they were supposed to serve. Our report’s findings clearly support four separate conclusions: University administrators made astounding concessions to the organizers of illegal encampments. For example, in the case of Northwestern University (Northwestern), administrators entertained demands to hire an “anti-Zionist” rabbi and divest from and remove Sabra Hummus from campus cafeterias. University administrators deliberately chose to withhold support from Jewish students.Harvard University’s (Harvard) decision making was particularly egregious, as demonstrated by choices to intentionally omit condemnation of Hamas and acknowledgment of hostages in its widely criticized equivocal statement on the October 7 attacks, and then-President Claudine Gay asking Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow not to call the phrase “From the River to the Sea” antisemitic hate speech. University administrators overwhelmingly failed to impose meaningful discipline for those who engaged in antisemitic conduct. Across the board, enforcement of campus rules was wildly uneven, from Harvard and Columbia faculty playing key roles in derailing discipline toward antisemitic conduct violations and Rutgers University (Rutgers) actually disciplining Jewish students who spoke out against the harassment, to the overall lack of consequences for those involved in encampments at schools including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Yale University (Yale), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). University administrators considered Congressional oversight a nuisance at best and with open hostility at worst. Administrators at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), for instance, attempted to orchestrate negative media coverage of Members of Congress who scrutinized the university while Harvard president Claudine Gay disparaged U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) character to the university’s Board of Overseers. Our investigation has shown that these ‘leaders’ bear the responsibility for the chaos likely violating Title VI and threatening public safety. It is time for the executive branch to enforce the laws and ensure colleges and universities restore order and guarantee that all students have a safe learning environment. My Newest Bills Recently, I introduced the Helene Recovery Support Act and the Disaster Recovery and Resilience Act. These are two separate pieces of legislation that work to trim burdensome regulations that would stall timely disaster recovery, and to reallocate unused funds from questionable government programs so that FEMA and the Small Business administration can receive a strong cash infusion – as well as the New Markets Tax Credit. I see these two bills as opportunities to do the right things for the right reasons – and to create a pathway where necessary resources can be provided while also allowing recovery efforts to go unimpeded. Congress can, and should, pursue commonsense solutions to aid in disaster recovery efforts – the solutions that I have placed on the table help lead the way. A Helpful Reminder My district offices in Boone and Clemmons are continuing to assist those who need help with FEMA and other federal agencies following Hurricane Helene. If you have any issues with the federal government, please contact my offices in Boone or Clemmons – my staff stand at the ready to assist you. Below, you’ll find the telephone numbers for both offices: Boone: 828-265-0240 | Clemmons: 336-778-0211 Quote of The Week “Goodness is about character – integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.” -Dennis Prager Have a blessed weekend, Virginia Foxx