On Wednesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said that university presidents will be called before the committee to testify on how they’re handling antisemitism and support for Hamas on campus, but also cautioned that “there are so many of them to invite to come up, we’d be having hearings day after day after day on nothing but this issue.”
Host Greta Van Susteren asked, “[B]ack in the early nineties, when people were admitting that there was a health crisis associated with smoking cigarettes, Congress pulled the CEOs of the tobacco companies to Capitol Hill to answer questions. When are the presidents of these universities going to be brought before your committee and answer questions about what they’re doing and not doing to condemn Hamas?”
Foxx responded, “Well, Greta, first of all, they’re not doing enough, we know that. They have allowed this…this has been festering for a long time on the campuses, and it’s broken out more after the October 7 horrendous attacks by Hamas. But these colleges and universities have been in a downward spiral for a long time. They should be bastions of free thinking without any regard to partisan dialogue. It should be a place where students can learn from all sides and make decisions. But that’s not what’s happening. We need these presidents to speak out forcefully and to do the right thing. Antisemitism cannot be tolerated anywhere in this country, and particularly on campuses.”
Van Susteren then said, “But you have the power, Madam Chairwoman, because you pull them up to the Hill and you show their faces to the committee and they answer questions, their feet will be held to the fire. Otherwise, they’re just going to sit and hide in their ivory towers. They’re going to continue to let like 100 professors — who have free speech rights, I get it — at Columbia, write the letter that we reported [on] last night. You actually can — you can ask them to come and face tough questions.”
Foxx responded, “Well, we will do that, Greta. But we are calling them out. We called them out today in a bill that Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) and I co-sponsored along with our colleagues. We’re calling them out every single day on both sides of the aisle.”
Van Susteren then followed up by stating that a bill will take time to pass and she doesn’t know why they won’t question university presidents immediately.
Foxx responded, “Greta, the only problem is, there are so many of them to invite to come up, we’d be having hearings day after day after day on nothing but this issue. We’re going after them, Greta.” Foxx then turned to legislation House Republicans are doing.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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