Cardona refuses to condemn calls for universities to cut ties with Hillel in clash with lawmaker

Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday refused to condemn calls for universities to cut ties with Hillel organizations at a congressional hearing.

Cardona testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, drawing heated questions from lawmakers regarding the anti-Israel protests on college campuses.

Among the concerned lawmakers was Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who flung a series of questions at Cardona to get him to make clear stances on certain incidents amid the uproar on college campuses due to the Gaza conflict. Before his barrage of questions, Kiley acknowledged a letter written by Cardona which entailed the secretary calling any incidents of violence and intimidation against Jewish students "abhorrent."

"As the 2023-24 school year comes to a close, I remain incredibly concerned by the reports of antisemitic hate directed at students on some campuses," the letter read.

Kiley tied the letter to what some would consider antisemitic demands from anti-Israel protesters for colleges to cut ties with Hillel International, which facilitates local Hillel chapters at 850 colleges globally.

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Colleges and universities across the U.S. have a local Hillel community that serves as a faith-based Jewish educational resource. These organizations provide a social network and a place to develop leadership and professional skills for Jewish students.

"How about demands to cut ties with Hillel?" Kiley asked Cardona. "Do you condemn those demands to cut ties with Hillel at universities?" 

"There's guidance there [DOE's website] for universities where a lot of the questions you're asking makes it very clear," the secretary responded.

"OK, but your letter said that certain things are abhorrent on campus. Would you say that’s one of them? Calls for universities to cut ties with Hillel, is that abhorrent, to use your word?" Kiley pressed.

"Violence toward students, antisemitism on campus which we’ve seen-" Cardona said before being cut-off mid-sentence by Kiley asking, "Mr. Secretary, you’re not willing to condemn calls to cut ties with Hillel? Will you condemn that, yes or no?" 

"We are responsible for adhering to Title 6 and enforcing it. And your support of our budget would help us get to that level instead of creating division as I said at the beginning of my call…" Cardona ducked the question again.

Kiley's questioning comes as chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) call for universities to end any relationship with Hillel.

The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City SJP demanded their school "cut ties with Hillel International and any other Zionist Institutions. Hillel at SVA is an explicitly Zionist club that is officially registered with SVA. It's a chapter of the larger Hillel International organization that receives funding from AIPAC, a Zionist lobbyist organization. Hillel has paid for and advertised ‘birthright’ trips to ‘Israel’ towards Hillel at SVA and other Hillel chapters while ‘Israel’ continuously displaces and murders Palestinians."

SJP at UC Santa Cruz posted their demands on Instagram last week for their university to "Cut ties UC wide with all Zionist institutions," including Hillel International, as part of a "complete academic boycott."

Santa Cruz Hillel responded to the Instagram post, stating that they are "deeply concerned that the protesters' demands include a UC wide boycott of organizations that support Jewish studies, Jewish life, and address campus climate and anti-Semitism."

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"We’ve seen at a number of campuses, such as U.C. San Diego and UCLA, protesters who have blocked, physically, Jewish students from entering spaces on campuses. Do you condemn that behavior?," Kiley asked.

"Absolutely," Cardona replied. 

"How about these encampments themselves?" Kiley asked. "Do you condemn that?"

"I condemn behaviors that are unsafe, and I leave it to the university leaders and their board of governors to address how they handle encampments or other issues that are happening on campus," Cardona said.

"Acts of intimidation, violence toward Jewish students, or any student for that matter, are not tolerated. That’s not, as the president said, that's not protesting, that’s creating harassment on campus," he added. "The university has the responsibility to follow and to uphold their rules on campus."

Kiley pressed further, "So can you tell right now, yes or no, do you condemn the encampments on campuses?"

Cardona explained that universities are engaging in dialogue with anti-Israel agitators constructing encampments on campus. Kiley asked Cardona to respond to students who were given orders to leave the encampments. Cardona said that "if the university directs them to leave, they should leave."

The heated exchange came as anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses near three weeks of activity. Some universities have requested the assistance of police to deal with the problem, while others have caved in and agreed to certain demands by the protesters.  

The decisions by administrators to either concede some demands of the protesters or allow their activity to continue, stand out amid the chaotic scenes and more than 2,400 arrests on dozens of campuses nationwide since mid-April. Tent encampments and building takeovers have disrupted classes at some schools, including Columbia, USC and UCLA. 

The protesters have mostly demanded that their university cut all ties with Israel, including study abroad programs and links to the Israeli military, now embroiled in the war in Gaza.