House Republicans Demand Inquiry Into Antisemitism on UCLA Campus
A congressional education committee chaired by Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx from North Carolina on Wednesday chided UCLA for its response to the pro-Palestinian encampment and to the attack by a mob of counterprotesters against the encampment, and is demanding the university turn over all documents, communications and security videos related to alleged antisemitic incidents on campus since Oct. 7.
In a letter written Wednesday, she charged UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, UC President Michael V. Drake, and Rich Leib, chair of the UC Board of Regent, with “inadequate response to antisemitism and failure to protect Jewish students.”
Block, Drake, and Leib have been asked to testify at a hearing on May 23 called “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Foxx, who is chair of House Committee on Education and the Workforce, previously praised Columbia University President Minouche Shafik for calling in the New York Police Department to sweep the New York university’s encampment, which led to the arrest of 108 protestors.
In addition to videos of the protests, Foxx has also asked for all texts and other communications from university staff, police and the regents to be delivered by Monday, May 21.
The Gaza war-protest encampment was set up next to Royce Hall for two weeks until police dismantled it and arrested more than 200 people on May 1. Foxx argued that it should have been taken down long before then.
“UCLA’s leaders have allowed their campus to become a severe and pervasive hostile environment for Jewish students, standing by as students, faculty and affiliates were assaulted and harassed,” Foxx wrote. “For days, the unlawful encampment’s checkpoints illegally denied students access to campus buildings.”
The letter alleges that “Jewish students were attacked, harassed and intimidated for walking on their own campus.”
The committee also wants to see disciplinary records for faculty and students “relating to alleged antisemitic incidents” at the university since Oct. 7, according to the Times.
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