Uh working with uh with the ranking member Nadler on some legislation introduced by one of our colleagues trying to see if we can uh put some legislation forward that would help in this area I want to thank my colleagues including represent uh representative Virginia Fox chairwoman of the education
Workforce committee for her important work on these issues want to thank representative Murphy who is a leader on this topic has introduced two bills to advance free speech on campus and co-chair of the uh campus stre speech caucus Miss kamik for her work and passion for this issue also want to
Recognize Mr Kylie one of our members who introduced a bill just last week that denounced anti-Semitism on college campuses we look forward to hearing from all our Witnesses today and again I want to thank you for coming I now uh we’ll turn to the ranking member for his
Opening statement and then we’ll get right to our Witnesses thank actually M I forgot well I’ll I’ll wait till your’s done then I’ll play a short video we have a short 90 second video I wanted to show it we’ll play it right now let’s play it right now 90 second video if we
Can if you can cue that up we’ll play this about what’s going on on college campuses Free Speech debates have Royal college campuses with protest against conservative guest speakers the fight against conservative speakers on college campuses Escala administrators failed to stop some students from heckling a conservative speaker on campus former
College swimmer Riley G says she was assaulted after giving a speech at San Francisco State University I understand and share your objections to a speaker whose rhetoric is offensive clearly intended to shock and provoke I don’t think they’re less able to listen to opposing views I just think they take
Less crap students have been making National headlines protesting controversial speakers on campuses across the country is Free Speech Dead on Campus um no we don’t want him to speak hopefully we can drown him out that’s conservative podcaster Michael NES being burned in effigy at the University of Pittsburgh your opinions
From the bench land as absolute disenfranchisement of their rights the president of the University of Pennsylvania critics say she is not sending a strong enough message against anti-Semitism I don’t hear people talking about Israeli violence Hamas shifted the balance of power Hamas has changed the terms of debate the
Jewish fraternity was uh hit with a graffiti attack of the Jews are Nazis this is our University [Applause] to U I want thank our our staff for putting that together and chair now recognizes the the ranking member the gentleman from New York for an opening statement thank you Mr chairman Mr
Chairman one month ago yesterday on October 7th Hamas launched a barbaric attack on the people of Israel Hamas killed more than 1400 people and kidnapped 250 more many of them very old many of them very young and some of them American citizens the attack represents the largest loss of Jewish life in a
Single day since the conclusion of the Holocaust here in the United States the Jewish Community has had little time to mourn the steady RIS in anti-Semitism in this country over the past several years has now reached fever pitch and few places have had to Bear the weight of
That Trend more than our college and university campuses where according to an audit published by the Anti-Defamation League months before the October 7th attack anti-semitic activity had increased by 41% in the last year alone in many ways the conduct we need to discuss most urgently goes far beyond
The title of this hearing free speech on campus Jewish students are being physically threatened and have legitimate cause to fear for their safety on campuses across the country for example at Cornell University law enforcement officials arrested a student for making violent threats against Jewish students on an internet Message
Board these messages included the exhortation that quote if you see a Jewish person on campus follow them home and slit their throats close quote in another post the student threatened to quote bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig Jews close quote we are joined today by a student from
Cornell University Amanda Silverstein Miss Silverstein I would just like to say that I am sorry that you and the Jewish Community Cornell have had to endure these threats simply for being who you are and I am sorry for the fear they have caused you and your fellow
Students it is unacceptable and we must do better there is no excuse for that kind of violence at any school against any student and an academic discussion about the first amendment is mostly beside the point until we can secure these campuses I think that most members
Here in both sides of the aisle would agree which is not to say Mr chairman that I do not appreciate your calling this hearing Congress can help but first we have to put aside the political stunts and academic debates and put our money where it’s mouth where our mouth
Is the office for civil rights at the Department of Education is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the laws that protect students from discrimination to be clear the office office of civil rights had an enormous amount of work to do long before the attacks of October 7th the reaction to
Those attacks in the United States May threaten to overwhelm the agency that is why the Anti-Defamation League and their partner organization the Brandy Center which is represented here today have set up a helpl line to Aid Jewish students navigate the process for filing complaints alleging anti-Semitism during
This troubling time I would like to commend both organizations for their important work and I encourage Jewish students across the country to make their voices heard Congress also has an obligation to help more than that we have an obligation to offer meaningful help if we want to get this situation
Under control we need to move past debating the various theoretical definitions of the word anti-Semitism we need to move past the meaningless resolutions on the house floor declaring our feelings about bigotry generally we need to send assistance where it is urgently needed and we need to do so
Today earlier this year the Biden Administration outlined a comprehensive National strategy to counter anti-Semitism for that matter the Administration has also announced a national strategy to counter islamophobia these strategies are whole of government efforts to combat bigotry in every part of American life that the government can touch the president has
Put enforcement of our civil rights laws at the center of these strategies long before we could have foreseen the wave of violent anti-Semitism that would sweep across the country President Biden requested a 27% % increase in funding for the office of civil rights if my Republican colleagues were serious about
This issue they would fully fund that request instead they are fighting to slash the office I’m sorry they are fighting to slash the budget of the office of civil rights and other agencies that would keep our children safe their promises about anti-Semitism and their actions disconnect in other
Ways as well if my Republican colleagues were serious about anti-Semitism they would have spoken up after the 2017 unite the right rally in Charlottesville when neo-nazis chanted that quote Jews will not replace us if my Republican colleagues were serious about anti-Semitism they would have spoken up when President Trump then declared that
There were quote very fine people on both sides of that rally if they were serious about anti-Semitism they would have said something last year when former president Trump shared a meal with Nick Fuentes notorious white supremacist and Holocaust denier unless you imagine that I am dredging up
Ancient history let me remind you that if my Republican colleagues were serious about anti-Semitism they would not have just months ago invited Robert F Kennedy Jr to testify in this hearing room after he made appalling claims that Jews appeared to be immune from coid 19 a nod
To the laughable if not so Insidious conspiracy that the virus was somehow engineered to spare the Jewish Community my friends for too long your silence on these matters has been deafening I’m well for free speech on campuses and otherwise that includes the right of my Republican colleagues to say nothing at
All about anti-Semitism when silence is politically convenient even when the former president of the United States takes aim at us directly but if you mean what you say here today if you believe that the threats and vitriol that my community faces on college campuses is both unfair and unjust then I’m asking
You to move beyond the pointless gestures and political posturing and help us protect our children fully fund the offic of civil rights the administration’s efforts to counter anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination help us get the boots on the ground we can do better and our students deserve no less I thank the
Witnesses and I yield back I thinkk the gentleman the gentleman yields back um without objection all other opening statements will be included in the record we will now introduce today’s Witnesses our first witness is Mr Connor Orek uh Mr Orek is a recent graduate of the University of Buffalo while a
Student at Buffalo he’s served as the treasure Vice chair and chairman of the University’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter he faced threats and protests from fellow students over speakers that his organization invited to campus thank you for being with us Miss Jasmine Jordan Miss Jordan is a student at the
University of Iowa she serves as the chairwoman of the University’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter she has received threats from her fellow students over events that her organization has uh invited to campus and their recent pro-israel vigil was vandalized and disrupted by protesters we apologize for that thank you for
Doing that Miss Amanda silberstein as the ranking member has already talked about Miss silberstein is a student at Cornell University she serves on the student Board of the roitman Shabad Center at Cornell the leadership of the alpha capai professional business fraternity and as the director of marketing and Communications for a canel
Cornell based startup thank you Miss Silverstein for for being with us today Mr Kenneth Marcus Mr Marcus is the founder and chairman of the ls D Brandy Center for human rights under law he previously served as the assistant Secretary of educ ation for civil rights the staff director of the US Commission
On civil rights and as Deputy assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for fair housing and equal opportunity we appreciate your work Mr Marcus and thank you for being with us Professor Pamela nadell Professor nadell holds the Patrick Clinton chair in women’s and gender history and is the director of
The Jewish studies program at American University she has taught a variety of courses on Judaism and Jewish and women’s history and has published several related books we appreciate you being here Dr and miss bdet Miss bdet is a public policy strategist and consultant she has previously served as the vice president for government
Relations advocacy and Community engagement at the Anti-Defamation League and as the Director of government and external relations at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum we welcome all our Witnesses and thank them for appearing today we will Begin by swearing you in would you please rise and all rise and raise your right
Hand do you swear or affirm under penalty or perjury of perjury that the testimony you’re about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief so help you God let the record show that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative uh thank you you may be
Seated uh please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entir Elite accordingly we ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes I think we’ll just go like like we did we’ll start with uh Mr oek and then we’ll move right down the
Line so you you’re recognized for five minutes thank you chairman Jordan ranking member nler and members of the committee committee will be in order committee will be in order uh we appreciate people being here but uh the committee has to be in order if you Congress tried to
Silence we will we will remove every single person who disrupts the committee an Israeli apide which has existed longer than what has happened on October 7 this has existed longer than that and The Siege onda now and the occupation you will not silence us is recognized thank you chairman Jordan
Ranking member Nadler and members of the committee my name is Conor Ock and it is an honor to bring my experiences before you today although I hope speaking up against genocide become anti-Semitism how is that to same will be in [Applause] order [Applause] all again although I had hoped that my
Arrival P hearing for Palestinian Students is Anis is an Mr agre Jack we’ll we’ll keep tryan thank you chairman Jordan ranking member Nadler and members of the committee paltin deserve to speak on the genocide of their families all right sit down Palestinian students deserve to speak on the genocide of their fames stop silencing [Applause] St [Applause] [Applause] stoping these people just gentleman’s recognize it is an honor to bring my experiences students should not be censored you want to talk about putting money where your mouth is there are 10,000 over 10,000 Godin dead and more berries half of whom are under the age
Of 18 and you are going to spend money and talk about this where are theere you are not of opinion you are offering partisanship and you are offering murder to more pal my name is Conor Orrick and it is an honor to bring my experiences before you
Today although I hoped that my arrival to higher education would Mark the arrival to a Bastion of free speech many many of my firsthand experiences of freedom of speech violations at the University of Buffalo came during my membership of ub’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom two of the most
Prominent examples of freedom of speech bias that I witnessed at the University each came in the form of speaker events hosted by my chapter in Spring of 2022 as Vice chair of my chapter I had the opportunity to assist with hosting Lieutenant Colonel alen West at UB an
Event which was preceded by delays in the signing of our contract and a forced venue change which was exposed by a freedom of information request however the most striking action taken against us followed Lieutenant Colonel West’s speech which had included a discussion of race in America and accounts from his
Decorated past when the floor was opened to a question and answer session student protesters shouted from their seats before the audiovisual employees from ‘s Student Association the student government cut powers to the events microphones and speakers ending the session confrontations continued upon the exit from the event and once outside
As you just saw in the video before the opening statements chapter members were chased by 100 person mob across campus what that footage did not show was the former Chapter Chair being forced into a bathroom where she called 911 for Rescue and another board member being physically attacked with Silence
From the University and charges not pressed by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office I’ve since been left to consider the precedent this sets for those who plan to protest future events on campus though I may not be qualified to determine what constitutes adequate evidence in the eyes of the justice
System if those were who were involved in this mob were able to result to fear tactics and violence without consequence what is keeping a pattern of this despicable behavior from being set and executed repeatedly this thought remained on my mind throughout the planning of a March 20123 event that I
Hosted as chairman featuring Michael nolles this event would grow to gain more push back than any event on campus in the previous four years and provide the most clear-cut examples of freedom freedom of speech violations this push back included delays in contract signing from EB Student Association that deviated far from their outlined
Standard course of action condemnation of the event by a local New York state senator and multiple Western new york-based organizations a circulated petition constructed by three University professors calling for the cancellation of the lecture which gained thousands of student signatures a forced venue change orchestrated not only by University
Administration this time but voted on by a Sunni Council a multitude of threats in torn literature and even a tweet from Governor Kathy hok on the day of the event calling comments from Michael dehumanizing the decry of this event garnered a responding statement from University president Sati trapathy explaining that the constitution
Protects speech on campus quote no matter how noxious the content and quote based on the actions taken by faculty and the rhetoric used by trapathy I cannot name more clear examples of evidence that demonstrate the case of a university concerned only with following the letter of the law rather than
Uplifting conservative values to to a level equivalent with the values of the left which are often celebrated in the University’s own distinguished speaker series unfortunately this was forced to extend into a federal lawsuit with representation by Alliance defending Freedom once our yaf chapter was banned from campus as the result of a new
National affiliation ban by the student government though I graduated in the previous spring semester and no longer able to engage in discourse with opposing students I’m fortunate to still have friends on campus including current yaf board members who can something that has particularly concerned me recently
Both on campus and off is the outward support for Hamas under the guise of support for Palestinian civilians I will not generalize in entire groups however an unsettling number of students who appeared both in a 300 person Pro Palestine march on campus as well as a protest against a
Pro-israel speaker did not solely speak out in support of Palestinian civilians rather these students stated their support for H Hamas directly I would like to be clear regardless of background I do not wish for civilian death support for Hamas is not support for Palestinian civilians it is the
Opposite support for Hamas is support for a terrorist organization and this must not be misconstrued regardless of what side of the political aisle you reside on it should be common ground that no student deserves to be threatened mistreated or silenced on campus due to their personal beliefs conservative students currently
Face a Relentless uphill battle for representation on campus and though we may seek support from outside groups and legislators such as yourselves we will not accept the label of victims standing up for your beliefs will never be a waste of time and As Americans we hold
This in our hearts I thank you for your time thank you uh Miss Jordan you are recognized good morning chairman Jordan ranking member Nadler and the members of the committee my name is Jasmine Jordan and I’m blessed to have the opportunity to speak with you all today I was raised
In the church and homeschooled from preschool through fifth grade both of these were crucial in shaping my early upbringing and my worldview they gave me the strong Foundation of moral beliefs and values that the constitution was founded on lessons like iron trens iron be a leader not a follower and so help
Me God are ingrained into every aspect of my character as I progressed to the public school environment this strong moral compass guided me throughout my journey and I carried it with me to college in Spring 2022 I joined Iowa Young Americans for Freedom when I discovered that this organization
Aligned with the Christian conservative values instilled in in me by my church and family the more involved I became in the club the more I discovered that the playing field for freedom of speech on college campuses was not equalized the first time I noticed this was when Iowa
Yaf hosted kellyan Conway as a speaker in response I was doxed in a group chat of over 800 students and was falsely labeled as a Nazi a token a white supremacist and a bigot some individuals even expressed that I made them uncomfortable and feared that I might
Commit a hate crime against them simply because I’m black and hold conservative principles these students believe that if you are conservative you are hateful support oppression and only want to benefit straight white men even though such beliefs are untrue when we hosted Lieutenant Colonel Alan West to speak on
Campus last year he spoke on the topic of debunking diversity Equity inclusion and prove that America is not racist we use chalk advertisements to promote the lecture which is something many colleges do to effectively let students know about upcoming events immediately or chalk was altered which is a violation
Of school policy new messages were put in place saying that Alan West is racist and that racism is prevalent in schools thus critical race Theory should be supported at Alan West’s lecture a protester stood in the back holding a sign that read stop the alt-right punch your local Nazi today this is blatant
Irony conservatives are slandered by students and faculty as harmful yet here’s an obvious example of someone openly delivering a violent threat and facing no repercussions the entitlement continues I find that when a conservative doesn’t want to hear a speaker they just don’t attend the event but when a leftist doesn’t want to hear
A speaker they do everything they can to shut the lecture down our club recently hosted Matt Walsh students and faculty were willing to do anything to cancel the event just because they found Walsh’s speech to be offensive some people were so dedicated to silencing her voices that literally as one of us
Was advertising with chalk a leftist student was erasing each of those letters with a wipe we received death threats along with plenty of verbal harassment that night before the speaking event my hall mate who happened to be the one erasing the chalk stalked outside of my bedroom door by putting
His ear on it to see if I was in my room because he was just so outraged by my involvement that was a terrifying experience but what I find to be more appalling is when I talked to a our Hall coordinator about this and she replied people are allowed to think feel and
React however they want to about this upcoming event at the event someone through 2 thou 20,000 marbles on the floor to prevent people from entering the venue attendees were spat on outside a popular pet band well known to our school played loud music to try and drown out the speaker’s message I share
These occurrences with you all to show that despite repeatedly meeting with the University Administration the rules are continually permitted to be broken by left leaning students they are in fact coddled by our school the university expresses affirmations and puts together support solidarity and celebration spaces these individuals act out against
Conservatives without care or consequence and are empowered to act this way because of the lack of action by the administration and University leaders conservative organizations do not get the same resources that these other organizations receive conservatives often have to hide who they are and what they believe in so
That they do not lose relationships or receive a lower grade or face constant doxing harassment intim or threats I went to college with the expectation that I would hear different points of view because I thought it would be a place where young people could come together disagree and still be friendly
And courageous to one another however after two years I’ve realized that this is not the case at all and that students who hold opposing views are often subjected to frequent violent threats and other forms of harassment with no accountability our founding fathers guaranteed every US citizen the right to
Free speech in the Constitution it is an important resource for all Americans not just a small percentage of them particularly if they hold different views and ideas than those of others to ensure that peaceful continuation of the nation we must all come together and understand that differ opinions and
Expressing them we should nevertheless show respect for one another and refrain from causing each other bodily mental or emotional harm thank you for your time thank you Miss Jordan Miss Silverstein you’re recognized I was alone in a world gone mad these are the words my grandfather wrote
On the day in October 1942 after his father had been shot dead and the Jews in his small polish Town including his entire family were deported to a death camp he was a teenager alone in a labor camp with a bleak future filled with unimaginable suffering I have thought
About my grandfather’s words often in the 32 days since October 7th if I have watched what I can only describe as a world gone mad I have seen and heard things on on and around Cornell’s campus that just over a month ago I could not have imagined Cornell professor Russell
Rickford publicly Justified and celebrated barbaric acts of Terror as exhilarating and energizing describing the torture rape and murder of innocent women and children as resistance I see classmates perpetuating anti age-old anti-semitic tropes on social media I walk across a campus to face with anti-israel signage and graffiti seeing
Phrases such as F Israel and Zionism ‘s genocide anti-zionism and anti-Semitism are inextricably linked this is evidenced by the Jew hatred that consistently and openly accompanies attacks on Zionism on campus I am now confronted daily with shouts to free Palestine from The River To The Sea this catchy chant
Is not about peace or sovereignty for the Palestinian people it is a call for a Palestinian State extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea a territory that encompasses the entire state of is Israel it is a jew-hating genocidal mandate seeking to deny the Jewish right to self-determination in
Israel it is a call to exterminate all Jews in accordance with hamas’s open and unequivocal goal this chant is not about Palestinian life it is about Jewish death imagine that you frequent Jewish events on campus imagine that you live in a Jewish sorority house then imagine
Scrolling on your phone one day only to discover that a student wants to shoot up the coacher dining hall and and I quote gang rape all Jew Pig women on campus that is what my peers and I experienced last week when reading the multiple online threats made by a fellow
Student instructing other Cornell students to assault Jews on campus to follow them home and slit their throats this was not just hate speech it was a call to action and an immediate threat the sentiment did not begin without student professors and student organizations ations have been fueling Jew hatred and spreading it across
Campus with disregard or potentially even with deliberate intent to incite Palestine anti is not committee will be in war committe will be in order apologize miss silberstein you can continue and even after that student’s arrest professors have continued to teach blatant anti-israel lessons in their classrooms students in the course
Raced racism and public policy reported that Professor Lindsay played a video in class claiming that Israel is committing apartheid in which students felt was an attempt to place blame for the terror attack on Israel students in the writing seminar true stories taught by Professor globman reported that the professor
Suggested that Palestine is a textbook case of genocide and sought to pressure students who had previously expressed sympathy for Israel to change their views these not so subtle examples of bullying and attempts at indoctrinate Nation have a tangible impact on the pervasive Jew hatred spreading throughout my
Campus my grandmother along with many of my family members and close friends live in Israel why are they calling me every day to check in and see how I’m doing do I feel safe on campus is there enough security do other students know that I am
Jewish they live in an active war zone with rockets constantly being fired at them and yet my safety on an American college campus is keeping them up at night growing up with a firsthand accounts of what my grandfather endured during the Holocaust I could never comprehend how neighbors and Friends
Stood by as Jews were rounded up to be killed and how governments around the world turned a blind eye until now witnessing such unbridled and Unapologetic anti-Semitism unfold on my college campus is a testament to the impacts of Permitting Jew hatred to fester and infect the mob mentality of
Impressionable students it is shocking that college campuses have devolved into Echo Chambers fostering animosity aggression and bigotry a shift that is painfully reminiscent of the vitriol and Terror that my grandfather endured in the 1930s anti-Semitism can no longer be hidden under the guise of anti-zionism disseminating lies about Israel is an
Effort to validate violence against Jews I’m grateful for the supportive words of from the Cornell Administration but actions speak louder than words we require tangible measures including strict adherence to policies that forbid threatening or intimidating behaviors towards any student and ensures that purveyors of violence are removed from
Campus no student should ever live in fear for their safety regardless of background or religion what is happening on Cornell’s campus and across universities in this country is not about protecting expressions of free speech or free exchange of ideas it is about enabling and even promoting intimidation and the threat of harm to
Jewish students and supporters of Israel it is imperative that decisive action is taken to ensure the collective safety of students thank you for your time today thank you Miss silver thank you for your courage um Mr Marcus you recognized for five minutes uh chairman Jordan ranking member Nadler distinguished members make
Sure you got the mic make sure your mic’s on there chairman Jordan go ranking member Nadler distinguished members friends Brave students thank you for conducting this important hearing today I am chairman of the Lou D Brandi Center for human rights under law and former head of the US Department of education’s
Office for civil rights at the Lou D Brandi Center we fight anti-Semitism on college campuses and I appreciate the kind words from both the chairman and ranking member about the work that we’re doing more work than ever before I would have said If This Were October 6th that
We have never seen more anti-Semitism on College camp campuses than we were seeing on October 6th our staff was stretched we were getting more complaints on a daily basis than ever before and by far we look back with Nostalgia at those days because in a week since October 7 we’re
Hearing from more students than we would in a month or more before October 6th incidents have gone through the roof let’s think about that we’re talking about a situation in which there was mass murderer of civilians organized rape torture and desecration of corpses in the immediate reaction on many many
College campuses was for student organizations to go out and celebrate the murders the rapes the torture for so many students that we work with and you may get a sense of this from the brave words that you’ve heard today from these students what they’re facing is an extraordinary shock and the difficulty
Of realizing that the masks are down and the students who they thought were their friends are celebrating murders of people just like them this is partly about be order this is an issue of speech and it’s also an issue of civil rights again and again we are seeing Jewish college
Students who are being prevented from expressing not only their viewpoints but an integral part of their identity for many Jewish Americans not all but for many Jewish Americans Zionism a commitment to the Jewish state of Israel is an important part of their identity and so when they are excluded as
Zionists they feel this as exclusion as Jews a rule against zionists is a rule against Jews even before October 7 we were finding that large numbers of college students including strongly self-identified Jewish college students such as people who were living in Jewish fraternities and sororities were unwilling on a consistent basis to
Express their Jewish identity majorities were saying that they sometimes felt it necessary to conceal their Jewish identity including in particular their support for the state of Israel in many cases we saw this not just as toxic hostile environments but as specific actions to exclude Jewish students who
Have that as a part of their identity for instance at tuft and the University of Southern California clients of the Brandy Center were members of student government facing organized efforts to exclude them to throw them out of student government because as Jews they support the state of Israel similarly this is difficult difficult
But I have to say at Sunni news we had two clients who were thrown out of a sexual assault survivors group because Zionism was an important part of their identity at the University of Vermont similar issues as well as a book club in which one could not participate if one
Was a Zionist here we found Viewpoint discrimination but not just Viewpoint discrimination that is to say people were shunned marginalized and excluded not just because of their political views but because who they are and what their identity is as Jews at my own alma mater the University of California at
Berkeley School of Law many student organizations including law reviews have adopted rules including bylaws and changes to their constitutions that prevent anyone from speaking to their groups who is a Zionist or a supporter of the state of Israel and let me be clear they were prevented from speaking
And are to this day prevented from speaking on any topic this was not just a statement that if your Viewpoint disagrees with us we don’t want to hear you this was if you are a Zionist we don’t want to hear you on any topic if you are a feminist legal scholar we
Don’t want to hear you on feminist legal issues if you are a supporter of Israel which is to say most Jewish Americans would not be able to speak to these groups because of their identity as Jews since October 7th this has skyrocketed we are hearing continually of Jewish students being assaulted Jewish property
Being vandalized Jewish students being harassed in any number of different ways not just on a few college campuses that one might describe as hotspots but at so many colleges and universities that one cannot identify any place that are safe a few quick suggestions if I may first the Department of Education should have
The same tools to protect students free speech that it has to protect the very important issues of anti-discrimination second a coordinator within the department to protect Free Speech third the Department of Education has committed to issue a regulation implementing the executive order on combating anti-Semitism and has set a deadline of next
Month be nice to ask them if they’re going to do it and finally the anti-Semitism awareness act would provide uh for the Department of Education a a cified definition of anti-semitism similar to what’s used around the world and has been embraced by this Administration I would suggest
That action needs to be taken and I commend you for this opportunity uh thank you Mr Marcus uh Dr nadell you’re you’re recognized for five minutes thank you hit the he hit that hit that pull it close is the light on no there let’s try that sorry sorry thanks
Thank you chairman Jordan ranking member Nadler and the distinguished members of this committee for inviting me to testify today will be in order I am Pamela Adell a professor of history at American University and I am writing a book called anti-Semitism and American tradition under contract with
Ww Norton and um I am a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanity’s public SCH award to write this book and I am delighted to be able to thank the Congress for supporting the National Endowment for the Humanities for supporting work that teaches us about
The history of our nation and for this prestigious award anti-semitic behavior that we’re seeing right now on college campuses as we have heard so brilliantly from the students and also from Mr Marcus this anti-Semitism is part of anti-Semitism that is Raging across the United States the last time that I
Testified before this Committee in 2017 was um in November of 2017 just after three months after the white nationalists at the rally the unite the right rally in Charlottesville Virginia marched across the University of Virginia campus branching tiki torches and they were deliberately imitating the na Stormtrooper parades of the
1930s during that hearing I was opposed to Congress legislating any definition about anti-Semitism and I remain opposed now because the definition keeps changing it keeps morphing and changing over time what I can do is I can give you some of the themes that are in ins sconed in um the word anti-Semitism
Anti-semites blame Jews for the death of Jesus and believe that they that the Jewish people across eternity should be punished for that crime anti-semites believe that Jews have been corrupted by money since Judas sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver and what they’ve done since then is they have used different
Code names over time [ __ ] Rothchild and now George Soros to signify avaricious Jews anti-semites believe that Jews primary loyalty is to their people around the world and not to the Nations that they live in that conspiracy theory gained Traction in the United States when hen Ford published in
The Dearborn independent over 91 weeks a series called the international Jew the world’s foremost problem today that charge that Jews are internationalist goes under a different code word globalist across American history the people from all walks of life have conveyed these anti-semitic ideas new Amsterdam’s Governor Peter steson tried
To expel quote this deceitful race such hateful enemies and black blasphemers of the name of Christ close quote the future President John Quincy Adams wrote quote the Jews would steal your eyes out of your head if they possibly could close quote Congressman Albert Johnson a chief architect of the 1924 law
Establishing immigration quotas told a Jewish reporter quote if the Jewish people combined to defeat the immigration bill is reported by the committee their children will regret it close quote that was the past what about today we are just 5 months out from the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue
And I could give you so many other examples as for the campus anti-zionism meaning opposition to Israel’s policies absolutely crosses the line into anti-Semitism when it leads to discrimination violence harassment intimidation and bullying as we have heard from the students today the barbari of the Hamas Invasion the
Torture the rapes the murders and The Taking of more than 200 hostages adds a terrible new chapter to Jewish history anyone who CLA claims to care about human rights should denounce these Horrors that so many students on college campuses not only did not but that they claimed that the savagery was
Justified um has caused not just students on campus it has caused Jews around around the world deep anguish what happened on October 7th was not anti-zionism it was anti-Semitism I deplore hate speech but in the United States in America hate speech including anti-semitic speech remains protected speech for that speech
Stands at the core of liberal arts education an education which I believe every single member of this committee benefit benefited from when you were students at some of the nation’s Elite colleges and universities and the fine public colleges and universities that our country has the value of free speech
Does not permit discrimination bias threats or violence in any form including on the campus when these occur our institutions of higher education have mechanisms for dealing with them in May 2023 the White House published the US national strategy to counter anti-Semitism the first time I believe that any nation in the world has
Published such a strategy it talks about how to use title six to deal with problems of anti-Semitism on campus I am a proud American and I am a proud Jew I never used to be afraid to identify as a Jew in this world since 2017 since that March in Charlottesville
I am afraid we can work together in this country to to resolve this problem but it’s not just a problem on campus thank you chairman thank you doct miss bdat you recognized for five minutes thank you chairman Jordan for inviting me and for having these students uh able to bring their voices
Here we have too many conversations about them without them and chairman Nadler thank you for always being a voice of conscience in this country against anti-Semitism and for the civil rights of all Americans and listening to these students if I had a sharp I’d want
To change my name tag just to say mom because I too have a son processing these events on a college campus a campus is the most diverse Place most people will ever encounter for the rest of their lives graduates will sort themselves into the right neighborhoods the right book clubs the right school
Districts or houses of worship filled with people who agree with them but in college they live in the reality that a free Society isn’t only about what you get to say it’s what you have to hear and managing that experience for young adults is a very hard work is a very
Hard job for universities but students who can navigate the discomfort of conflicting ideas and we’ve heard some here today they will be leaders who can engage in the kind of give and take that we need to solve the world’s biggest problems and we’re living in what it looks like
To not be able to have give and take to solve problems now just because speech is legal doesn’t mean it can’t be harmful and University presidents and Deans have made crystal clear that anti-Semitism goes against their values protecting expression also means making clear when it crosses a line into threats or
Harassment support for Palestinian rights solidarity with Palestinian suffering is not anti-semitism it is not anti-Semitism to advocate for curing cancer either but when your advocacy turns into threats of violence eliminationist speech hostility that ju goes from online threats and translates into hate incidents against people because of
Their identity will then we need to see and we have seen schools enforcing their rules protest permits suspending perpetrators schools have been working with law enforcement to have people arrested and to open investigations but that’s not enough the anti-Semitism task forces that have announced been announced in some schools can go deeper
They can make transformative chains change across systems they can touch every aspect of student life and what they learn the national strategy to counter anti-Semitism did that kind of stocktaking they spoke to a thousand community members and experts and it commits our government to Serious action with time bound deadlines and federal
Agencies have already been fulfilling those commitments including some uh ad mentioned by my longtime colleague Mr Marcus in addition to the Department of Education eight other federal agencies have affirmed in writing for the first time that title six Bans anti-semitic discrimination in all federally funded programs so if you ride on a transit
System that gets Department of Transportation money you are covered these changes and commitments are important and dramatic and meaningful and even the little actions matter making a new Complaint Form so that it says on the form and makes clear that if you’re a Jew victim of harassment you are covered making information available
In Hebrew Hebrew and Yiddish for orthodox Jews who walk to and from synagogue and face attacks they need to know their rights and they need to know what recourse is available to them and this strategy this is those are just a few examples of why the action recommendations in this strategy are a
Real road map to stem the normalization of anti-Semitism it’s got bipartisan by Camal support and so many organizations rallied around and celebrated this strategy strategy because it’s such a serious plan so first Congress should implement it if they’re serious and second by the time a student files a
Complaint to the Department of Education we failed them their peer networks have failed them their school has failed them and now they will be making a complaint the number is what Mr Marcus called through the roof they will send those complaints to a civil rights staff that is already processing a record
Record number of complaints with less capacity so Congress should fund the office of civil rights put investigators in the chairs for the complaints that we know are going to be coming we are sad but we don’t want those students and families to wait and finally it seems like the only thing communities and
Congress can agree on is to fund security and that’s critical but we can’t legislate regulate tabulate or barricade anti-Semitism out of our society Jews are saying loudly and clearly they feel alienated they feel alone they feel disappointed in their allies they want support prevention and awareness building and community
Building aren’t some kind of extra the Jewish Community Values those opportunities you should see how many groups are working with the US Department of Agriculture that never did before we want these programs we want to engage in prevention and the Department of Justice civil rights uh community relations service and those programs
That we sometimes think of as an afterthought they are essential to prevent these incidents before they escalate Jews are a small minority in this country and we are targeted so disproportionately by hate violence that was true before October 7th it was true 10 years ago we don’t have the luxury right now
To be partisans of anything but our safety and right now the national strategy is the best blueprint for Action I have seen in 30 years of writing blueprints for Action the clock is ticking for us and for Jewish students so the question isn’t whether but how quickly is
Congress going to fund and implement it thank you very much thank you Miss Bret we will now proceed under the five minute rule with questions the chair recognizes the gentleman from California Mr Isa for five minutes thank you Mr chairman the testimony today obviously is concerning I want to touch on a few
Points and then ask a couple of short questions I wish I had more time uh I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood I grew up at a time in which there was uh there were Wars between Arabs and Jews in the in the region those Wars have ended Ed
When this War Began I was in Bahrain a country that has signed diplomatic relations with Israel they didn’t do it because the Palestinians were being treated well or ill treated they did it because in fact Israel is a partner they wanted to have against Iran I’m going to say here today and the
Protesters who have all been escorted out probably don’t understand but they are playing into the hands of Iran they are playing into the hands of the last major Nation to be not just anti-semitic but wanting to destroy the state of Israel and doing it in no small part by funding activities around places
Including college campuses so I’m going to agree personally with Miss uh brette yes we need to fully fund but we need to fully fund investigations into the funding that goes to anti-Semitism into a pattern that we see here today I want to say to all of you who uh
Both Young Americans for freedom and non yaf members thank you for standing up to be conservative zanan campus and taking it um but particularly uh to miss cyber and I have a question for you you know the history of the Holocaust you know that before uh uh
That terrible uh time and and the mass murders in fact Jews had duck their heads they had been forced to reduce or deny who they were do you see that as a young Jew do you see that as a pattern that today we are at risk if we don’t
Use the full power of civil rights to protect the right of people to have their religion be proud of it and be proud of all that goes with it thank you for your question uh the Jewish the history of the Jewish people is one of constant oppression and fear
For our lives and for being persecuted for who we are and as I’ve mentioned my grandfather experienced this throughout his life and most prominently in his childhood during the Holocaust and his suffering in a schwitz but we are seeing it very prevalent especially on college campuses today and I never thought twice
About about putting on my Jewish star every day about opening my computer with my Hebrew keyboard in class but today I do think twice about that and the thought of being persecuted for who I am being looked at differently and being discriminated against crosses my mind
Multiple times a day and I do see I do see a positive path forward for us I think that Jews are we are resilient we are perseverant and we will not stop shouting out and and voicing our concerns and voicing our fear until it is dealt with and I really do appreciate
You all considering this today Mr Marcus are you concerned that this uh movement is not just Pro Palestinian or just anti-semitic but in fact massive amounts of of dollars and support not just here but globally is in fact being spent coming from the very country who paid
For the 5,000 now 10,000 plus rockets that have fallen on Israel that paid for those weapons and that continues to be virtually the sole funer of attempts to destabilize Israel and in fact led to the murder of more than 2,000 Israelis thank you Congressman Isa for
Your question and it is well put uh yes indeed what we’re seeing today especially post October 7 is not just harassment of Jewish students although we’re seeing that and it certainly isn’t just support of Palestine which in and of itself is simply a political view what we’re seeing is a lethal hatred
Which may be supported by funds from other countries and to that extent I believe we need to know first are colleges making the disclosures that are required by law and if not are there appropriate sanctions being brought on them second we need to know if funds are being brought in from
Abroad what is the impact not just on these groups but on University curricula personnel and other decision-making well and you have our pledge and my pledge particularly to the two-pronged approach combat anti-Semitism using the power of this committee and particularly civil rights and look into and root out the
Continued foreign influence that may affect not just here but around the world anti-Semitism and anti-israel chman thank you for your Indulgence I yield back gentleman yields back the chair now recognizes the ranking member from New York Mr n thank you Mr chairman Mr pet do you agree that if Congressional Republicans really care
About enforcing title 6 they would support fully funding rather than trying to cut funding for the office of civil rights at the Department of Education to ensure that the office’s adequate Staffing and anticipation of a surge in title six complaints I would say that anyone who cares about civil rights rights and
Enforcement uh against anti-semitic actions should fund that office and Miss bdet was the office for civil rights already inundated with complaints of anti-Semitism and islamophobia before October 7th they had their record year of complaints in 2016 I’m sorry to say and that was that record was broken in
2022 um at almost 19,000 complaints they have worked through them um but they are working with uh I think 12% less staff so it just doesn’t make any sense at all and what happened after October 7th after October 7th we already know from NOS like the one cited uh where my my my
Professional alma mater ADL talking about 400 hundreds of percent increase but if you uh ask Mr Nadler the NYPD they even reports coming to them in just three weeks have been skyrocketing and when you compare it to an average month of October um there there are three times as many incidents and I’m
Sure police departments in a lot of congressional districts would say the same and what do you think will happen going forward we know that every time Israel is in the headlines unfortunately attacks against Jews go up so inappropriate there’s there’s no war there’s no conflict there’s no Injustice
That entitles someone to punch their neighbor in the face to spit at them and all the things we’ve heard here from these students I think that this war won’t be a Six-Day War this conflict the tension on campus is going to take a very long time to work through it’s
Really a work in progress and I think we’re going to be dealing with these incidents for a long time that’s why I mentioned the community relationship service I don’t know if we think about it every day but those civil rights tools and instruments and Outreach programs that we have they’re going to work
First the universities and those programs have the ability to help Miss Silverstein right now without a law and without a markup thank you professor nadell and Miss Beret in your testimony you noted the White House’s National strategy to counter anti-Semitism for the record I would also note that the
White House is also pursuing an analogous National strategy to counter islamophobia to the extent you are able can you explain the national strategy to counter anti-Semitism and highlight why you think it’s valuable and effective thank you um thank you for your question I was one of the 10,000
People that the White House talked to as they were developing the national strategy to counter anti-Semitism this is an extraordinary document it runs to I don’t know 60 70 pages and it is filled with recommendations about what can be done to respond to anti-Semitism in different venues and in different agencies in the
United States government as I said in my opening remarks I know of no country that has ever developed such a strategy and believe me as we know from the testimony of Miss Silverstein we know that other countries could have developed this if they had the Good Will
To do so so for example it talks about as um Miss berett was talking about it talks about the what should be done in the office of civil rights in the Department of Education since the Obama Administration title six has protected Jewish students under title six by um
Understanding that they need to be protected based on Ancestry and based on ethnicity because title 6 doesn’t specify based on religion and it to understand Jewish identity it’s a very complicated phenomenon so there are these kinds of measures there but what I’m hearing from Miss berett and I’m not
An expert on funding in the government is that it’s not been sufficiently funded and what is very clear both from Miss Brett’s testimony and from Mr Marcus’s testimony is that it’s going to need more support than ever before thank you thank you let me just
Say to uh Miss Jordan and Mr O gritc I hope I haven’t mispronounced your name uh as a very proud uh left-wing liberal um I hold no truck with trying to silence conservative voices or any other voices um and on college campuses or anywhere else freedom of speech is a
Fundamental value and I I would just say that this is not new when I was at undergraduate of Columbia I was shouted down by the an organization called the students for Democratic Society because I was not leftwing enough in their opinion uh this is something that is an
Ongoing fight and uh um in a liberal Society we must conducted and I and I I’m sorry for your experience oh and uh I ask the anatomist consent to include the following items in the record written testimony of Jonathan greenblock CEO and National director of The anti-deformation League
A letter dated November 6th 2023 from Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to speaker Mike Johnson outlining the department of education’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism and islamophobia on college campuses and oped piece in the New York Times dated October 30th 2023 co-authored by The deans of the Princeton School of Public and
International Affairs and the Columbia School of International and public affairs and an article from inside higher education titled House Republicans plan to cut education Department’s budget noting that Republican appropriators want to cut about 25% from the Department’s office office for civil rights that was a long title without
Objection so ordered we now recognize thank you Mr chairman the gentleman from Colorado for his five minutes thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Marcus I want to visit with you for a few minutes I guess about uh an issue I I feel like we’re talking about college campuses right now and we
Really should be talking at a much younger age in how to deal with this problem by the time students get to college campus they have certain views and and often times ingrained that are then reinforced by other students would you advocate for some type of um you know education or other um uh
Awareness for uh younger adults in our K through2 system isn’t our K through2 system really uh um letting down the the concept that we have in America for free spe speech but also for responsible free speech for for speech that doesn’t include hate Congressman I would like to be able
To tell you that you don’t need to worry that this is just a campus problem but the fact is that it is not um K12 is important not only because of the attitudes that students develop and bring to college but also because there are increasing issues that we see
Currently in public elementary and secondary school including any number of different forms of discrimination we see that especially in certain schools especially on the west coast that have a particular form of uh ethnic studies which unfortunately has involved some degree of anti-Semitic stereotypes and defamations there are things that
Educators can do to address this certainly there are more school districts that are incorporating Holocaust Education into their programming but what studies are showing is that Holocaust Education isn’t necessarily sufficient and that it’s better to have also education into the ways in which an anti-semitism manif itself today so that sort of um
Programming is important but more than that I do think we need to have more attention than we have been about the increasing problem of anti-Semitism also in K12 uh schools you mentioned funding from uh other countries do do you have any direct evidence of funding from other countries because I I honestly
Believe that it goes on in a lot of different areas one of the great things about americaas we’re open and one of the great vulnerabilities we have is that we’re open and social media is being used to manipulate us in a lot of different ways do you have any evidence
That uh Iran or any other foreign country is using our social media in this country to uh promote anti-Semitism during the Trump Administration the Department of Education revealed various kinds of evidence that there were not just significant contributions coming from the Gulf States uh and elsewhere in the
World but also contributions that were not disclosed as required by law and these are the college Camp to college colleges and universities and I believe there was also a um a effort by the Chinese Communist party to establish uh groups on uh campuses the confucious center I think they were often called
That’s right but if I may Congressman the problem is also going the other way around which is to say the increasing perception that there may be support from college campuses for terrorism abroad not just money coming one way but support coming the other you’re not suggest in that colleges are supporting
Terrorism abroad but but students or or professors on college campuses are are are supporting terrorism there are student groups who have indicated that they are not just in favor of the same issues as Kamas but that they are part of that movement and there is a point at
Which under Federal terrorism law that promoting the program and agenda and ideas of a US state department designated terrorist organization May constitute material support for terrorism so where do we draw the line between speech and where it crosses the line um the Supreme Court has made clear that that anything that encourages
Violence and I’m not using the the technical words but uh crosses the line but is anti-Semitic speech by itself uh violative of of the uh first amendment in the case of support for terrorism of course under the absolutely absolutely I’m just suggesting someone um we we have hateful speech all around um and
It’s offensive and and frankly I want to be the first and and as all my colleagues on this committee are to condemn anti-Semitism and islamophobia and uh racism and anti-christian speech um it’s terrible it’s hateful it shouldn’t be in this uh you know Marketplace of ideas that we have but is
It without threats and of violence is that speech uh violative of the of the First Amendment so what I would say to you congressmen is that the Supreme Court has properly been protective of a wide range of speech including much speech that we would describe as hate
Speech however what we are seeing over and over again on college campuses is that where you see intense anti-jewish hate speech you will almost always also find hateful conduct hateful conduct not just words it can be assault it could be exclusion it’s happening over and over
Again again so in order to address the anti-Semitism I think that there is sufficient conduct we need to go after in terms of speech I think there should be the same protections regarding speech in this area as in any others I yield back thank you I think the gentleman we
Now recognize the gentleman from Georgia Mr Johnson thank you uh Mr chairman um the chairman when he showed his video this morning uh we witnessed in that video someone asking the question is Free Speech Dead on Campus I think that question uh applies to Congress it’s ironic that we’re holding this hearing
Today about censorship and uh speech on campus uh but last night uh Maga Republicans and others censured the only Palestinian voice in the House of Representatives because they didn’t like what she had to say she didn’t threaten anybody she did not uh advocate for violence uh she
Stated a view uh as happens on college campuses it happens across the country we have freedom of speech in this country but she was censured last night for exercising Her First Amendment right to freedom of speech and uh we’re not setting a very good example uh here in
Congress we are all reeling from the situation in the Middle East passions are running High throughout the country but they are especially intense on college campuses every student including students of Jewish Israeli Muslim or Arab backgrounds deserves a safe College learning environment free from threats of violence and discrimination it should go without
Saying that threatening violence against people because of who they are is illegal and never acceptable the department of education’s office of civil rights is primarily responsible for combating anti-Semitism islamophobia and other forms of discrimination in higher education the office of civil rights has already seen a dramatic rise entitled
Six discrimination claims in the wake of the October 7th attack by Hamas but the office of civil rights needs sufficient funding to carry out its civil rights enforcement Mission President Biden’s budget requested a 27% increase in funding for the Doe’s office of civil rights but Maga Republicans are pushing to slash its
Budget magga Republicans need to stop playing political games with Jewish lives with Muslim lives and all students lives by giving the Department of Education the money that it needs to keep students safe uh Professor nadell what lessons can we draw from the long history of anti-Semitism and what do you think
Criticism of the government of Israel or let me ask it this way do you think that criticism of the government of Israel is always anti-semitic or does it depend on context and how such criticism is expressed thank you for your question as a historian I think everything depends
On context um I think we always need to think more broadly it’s very clear the criticism of the government of Israel is not ipsofacto anti-semitic if it were hundreds of thousands of Israelis who he had watched in the past months turning out to throng the streets of Tel Aviv and of every
City and hamlet in um Israel would have been seen as anti-semitic so criticism of the government’s policies is not by itself anti-semitic however what is anti-Semitic is absolutely is to deny the Jews the right of self-determination a right that is internationally protected and to um call for the
Destruction of the state of Israel so there’s no question about that what we know from the long history of anti-Semitism is we know that Jews live with memories of hate against their people that go back to ancient times and that they live with the fear or with the
Sense that they may encounter it in their lifetimes and that they are afraid that it will continue forever we know that anti-Semitism in those three little examples I gave you that anti-Semitism has coursed across American history it has risen in sometime periods and it has been more under the radar in others
Historians used to call the years between 1933 and 1945 the high tide of American anti-Semitism I have been saying not just since October 7th I have been saying for far longer that we are living in the high tide of of American anti-Semitism but I won’t be around to
Write about that but we are what we hear from the students but also what we hear from those who are afraid to walk into their synagogues who are concerned about the future of the of their of their children of their grandchildren my my niece did not send her daughter one
Second my niece did not send her daughter to a Jewish preschool on the day of global Jihad CU she was afraid it would be attacked we need to deal with that in the United States thank you and it wasn’t made easier when uh ex-president Trump made his remarks
About there’s good people on both sides when he talking about down in Charlottesville but thank you and I yield back the gentleman yields back we now recognize the gentleman from Florida Mr Gates I want Israel to win and Hamas to lose but this is not an armed services Committee hearing about the military
It’s a Judiciary hearing about speech and in that vein I am reminded of the great words of the philosopher Austin Powers who said there’s only two things I can’t stand people who are intolerant of other people and the Dutch and a similar tension seems to be on display
Today because on one side of the witness table we have people saying we have we have speech that we would like to have Vindicated and we’re under this tremendous pressure from these entities that offer a hecker’s veto of what we’re trying to get out and then on the other
Side of the table you have people saying well there’s speech we really don’t like that’s anti-semetic and problematic and we got to figure out ways to root it out there is an inherent tension in having that discussion on those terms and increasingly it feels as though if we
Like speech then any effort to constrain that speech is really problematic and the committee needs to explore it and if we don’t like speech we’re increasingly censuring it on the house floor we’re increasingly uh confronting it on on pretty negative terms so like I guess I want to just go
Through some of the statements some of our Witnesses made like so Mr Marcus a celebration of what happened on October 7th let me let me disclaim is
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