Haverford College President Wendy Raymond took the brunt of congressional questioning and criticism at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on Wednesday on campus antisemitism, repeatedly dodging questions from committee members.
Pressed at various points in the hearing, Raymond offered broad condemnations of antisemitism and expressed support for Zionist students at Haverford, but largely declined to discuss specific incidents, examples of unacceptable rhetoric or disciplinary action against or investigations of any particular individuals.
At one point, under questioning from Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), she condemned discrimination and said she would not defend statements made by a Haverford professor who said that people should stop talking to Zionists. But she also said that the faculty member has not been fired.
“I’m very sorry that someone on the faculty would espouse those kinds of views,” Raymond said.
“So you can go back and you can fire him,” Fine shot back. Fine added that his son had urged him to wear a kippah to the hearing to represent students who don’t feel safe doing so themselves, and said he’s thinking about doing so more often.
“You still don’t get it. Haverford still doesn’t get it. It’s a very different testimony than the other presidents who are here today, who are coming with specifics,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told Raymond. “This is completely unacceptable and it’s why this committee has stepped in.”
Stefanik later posted a photo on X showing a sheet Raymond had with her during her testimony that outlined responses to potential questions she might face, including a line that said “‘River to the sea’ – antisemitic? Has become a dog whistle.” Stefanik wrote that Raymond “showed up to a congressional hearing on antisemitism with flashcards of pre-written answers. Not convictions. Not moral clarity.”
Raymond did acknowledge some past missteps, including an email that offered little clear condemnation of the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“To our Jewish students — some of you are here today — I wish to make it unmistakably clear that you are valued members of our community and on our campus,” Raymond said in her opening statement. “I am sorry that my actions and my leadership let you down. I remain committed to addressing antisemitism and all issues that harm our community members. I am committed to getting this right.”
Raymond testified alongside DePaul University President Robert Manuel and California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo) President Jeffrey Armstrong.
In his opening statement, Manuel also offered an apology and directly addressed Jewish students who had been attacked on campus, one of whom was sitting in the row behind him in the audience.
“We’ve made mistakes along the way. As DePaul’s leader, I want to acknowledge that … To our students, our parents, our faculty, our staff, our alumni, and our friends, I am deeply sorry. I know there are areas where we must and will do better,” Manuel said. “I also wish to speak directly to two of our students who were attacked last November. What happened to them was a hate crime. No one should ever be attacked because of why they are. I am sorry for the pain of their experience.”
Manuel highlighted the actions DePaul has taken recently to address issues on campus, including implementing new ID and mask policies and protest policies, suspending or banning anti-Israel groups, hiring a former Anti-Defamation League staffer and creating an antisemitism task force, reviewing of and investing in security and the creating of new Jewish affinity groups for alumni and faculty and staff.
Manuel faced criticism from GOP committee members for failing to take quicker action to disband an anti-Israel encampment on campus. He acknowledged that the school’s response had not been sufficient and said that it had led the school to change its policies.
“Our immediate instinct was to work with our students,” Manuel said. “That did not go very well.”
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) argued during her exchange with Manuel that “I don’t think the issue is more policies. I think the issue is action.” Manuel acknowledged that the school’s leadership needs to do better, but was unable to name any specific consequences for decisionmakers at the college when pressed by McClain.
“Both as a university president and a human being, this is a matter I take particularly seriously. We have to do better,” Armstrong said in his opening. “I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee. No leader wants to have to acknowledge potential gaps or find it necessary to look back on some actions with regret for what more could or should have been done in a sensitive situation.”
He insisted that the college has taken action, utilizing disciplinary procedures and deploying police, making arrests and filing charges when necessary. He said the school has been working with the ADL and Jewish leaders on several initiatives, including improving antisemitism education, establishing a presidential antisemitism task force, endowing a Jewish studies chair and working with Jewish groups to found an interfaith center.
Several Democrats on the committee, throughout the hearing, criticized Republicans and the Trump administration for cuts to the Department of Justice’s Office for Civil Rights, which handles claims of antisemitic discrimination on campus, and accused them of subverting due process in stripping funding from universities and detaining student visa holders.
Committee chairman Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) argued in his closing statement that OCR “had not done their job” and said that he hopes that as the administration implements changes, adding ”and we will be asking questions — we will have an entity that actually functions for all students, all faculty on campuses.”
Democrats further argued that Republicans were not serious about confronting the issue of campus antisemitism and, in some cases, accused them of trying to criminalize and suppress opposing views.
The Democrats’ chosen witness, David Cole, a former national legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, compared the committee’s series of hearings on campus antisemitism to McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee, warning of government censorship of speech and that Republicans were being overly broad in what they deemed to be unacceptable antisemitic activity.
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and some other Democrats did acknowledge in their remarks the very real challenges happening on campus and advocated for a serious approach to understanding why these issues persist and combating them, including proper resources for OCR and the Department of Education. Stevens, a vocal supporter of the Jewish community who described herself as a Zionist during the hearing, is a candidate for Michigan’s Senate seat.
“I don’t believe it is a false obsession. We know in the United States we have rising antisemitism,” Stevens said. “Maybe you’re going to say that anti-Zionists are welcome as well. And one of the challenges that those of us who have studied this issue have come across is that, while it might sound good to say that anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, we haven’t yet really seen that exist. We want to be very careful with embracing this modality of thinking that is anti-Zionism that very quickly bleeds into antisemitism.”
