University presidents admitted to members of Congress Thursday that few students involved in the pro-Palestinian protests had been suspended or expelled despite holding encampments and violating university policies for weeks.
Northwestern University President Michael Schill, Rutgers University President Dr. Jonathan Holloway and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Chancellor Dr. Gene Block appeared before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to testify regarding antisemitism concerns on campus. Republican ranking Chairwoman Virginia Foxx asked the university leaders how many students had been expelled or suspended in the wake of pro-Palestinian encampments.
“My question is for all three of the presidents,” Foxx said. “All of your universities have been hotbeds of pervasive antisemitism. Please tell me how many students have your university suspended? How many students have been expelled for antisemitic conduct since October 7?”
Schill replied that to his knowledge no students had been either suspended or expelled but that they are conducting investigations and that there have been “terminations of staff.” Hollaway did not say whether any had been expelled but that four were suspended.
“We have ongoing investigations as well, but I can report that we’ve suspended four people and then 19 others have experienced other levels of disciplinary consequences,” Holloway told Foxx.
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Block did not say whether any students at UCLA had been expelled or suspended but that the university is conducting investigations.
“We have, I believe, over 100 active investigations right now,” Block said. “We’re evaluating 100 cases since October 7, of both antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
“So very few students have received any kind of disciplinary action from your campuses,” Foxx concluded.
The Los Angeles Police Department was forced to intervene when violence broke out between pro-Palestinian protesters and anti-Israel counter-protesters, resulting in one person being transported to the hospital via ambulance. Internal university communications documents later showed that UCLA had declined to have a larger police presence at the protest before the fighting broke out. Over 200 people were arrested after police broke up the encampment, according to NBC News.
Northwestern reached a deal with protesters after a week of pro-Palestinian encampments popping up on campus by agreeing to revisit proposals to divest from Israel, according to The Associated Press. Northwestern has also received over $690 million since 2007 from Qatar, which has been known for harboring Hamas for years.
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