GOP Lawmaker: 'We're Going To Continue To Look Into' Universities Receiving Funds After Protests

6 months ago

At a House Ways & Means Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) spoke about pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

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00:00Ms. Van Dyne.

00:05Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:08I request a unanimous consent to insert for the record a campus-wide email that Cornell

00:12President Martha Pollack sent on May 14, 2024.

00:16Without objection.

00:17Thank you.

00:18I'd like to read a short excerpt from it.

00:20Dear Cornellians, last evening the Coalition for Mutual Liberation voluntarily took down

00:24their encampment on the Arts Quad.

00:26While I do not condone the encampment, which was in clear violation of university policies,

00:30I want to acknowledge and express gratitude that in contrast to what has taken place at

00:35some other universities, the participants here remained a peaceful and nonviolent throughout,

00:41and for the most part, they tried to minimize the disruption caused.

00:45With this in mind, and provided no further violations of university policy occur, we

00:49are able to pause on issuing additional suspensions and disciplinary referrals.

00:54The participants in the encampment shared that members of our Jewish community who have

00:57criticized Israel have been targeted with slurs, which not only is deeply offensive,

01:02but also trivializes the memory of the Holocaust.

01:06Other students involved in the encampment shared experiences of being called terrorists

01:09over the past few months, and an expression of anti-Arab discrimination and hatred.

01:14No matter one's political beliefs, using such rhetoric, which questions the basis of someone's

01:19religious, cultural, ancestral, or any form of identity is unacceptable.

01:23And I implore everyone in our community to think carefully about their words."

01:30It's disappointing that after the chaos and the distress that were caused by mobs of students

01:35who set up illegal encampments that raged with anti-Semitism across the country, and

01:41Ms. Dorr, you describe this as anything but peaceful and non-disruptive, but it's disappointing

01:48that one of President Martha Pollack's last acts as the president of Cornell University

01:54is to express concern that a single student in the encampment says that they were called

01:58a slur, after Jewish students on Cornell's campus feared for their lives after numerous

02:03death threats and harassment that raged for months without end.

02:08Ms. Dorr, I want to thank you again for taking the time to testify before this committee.

02:13Can you please share with us how you felt when you received this email, and how did

02:18you feel when you read that the president of your university said that the encampment

02:22participants here remain peaceful and non-violent?

02:25Congresswoman, it's great to see you, and I really appreciate this question because

02:29this email was actually the moment I decided not to attend my graduation.

02:34This is laughable.

02:35I've spent the past eight months being called a Nazi because I believe in the existence

02:39of the state of Israel, and for her to protect students, falsely mischaracterizing Israel

02:46defending itself as a genocide in the name of trivializing the Holocaust is laughable

02:52and shameful.

02:54I also want to bring up a point that you mentioned in that email.

02:57She said, a Jewish student that criticized Israel.

03:00No, these students call for the complete elimination of the Jewish state and every single Jew inside

03:05of it.

03:06They are calling for a Jewish genocide.

03:08Also, she mentioned that these students have been referred to on campus as terrorists.

03:13These students are openly supporting the PFLP, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

03:19They are also regularly terrorizing Jewish students on campus by threatening them and

03:23intimidating them.

03:27It's no surprise that Martha Pollack protects the students behind the encampment when $1.8

03:34billion are funneled into Cornell by United States adversaries.

03:40I appreciate your comments.

03:44We've had a lot of discussion now about some of the lack of actions that were taken against

03:49not just the students, but of the faculty.

03:51You mentioned specifically Russell Rickford.

03:53I understand that he was on paid leave.

03:56I also understand that he's coming back to campus to teach next semester.

04:01Your comments on how to handle that is quite clear.

04:04I think as a committee, looking at universities and whether or not they are teaching anti-American

04:11hate, whether they are teaching things that are specifically aimed at creating distrust,

04:18division, violent outbursts that are being promoted by their own professors, their own

04:27administration, I think that's something that we have to take seriously.

04:32Whether or not that's on campus or off campus, if they are putting out stories, if they are

04:37putting out articles, yes, while that may not have been written on campus, it does say

04:42a lot and it does reflect a lot on the university.

04:46Whether or not these universities are actually upholding a pro-America position, and yet

04:53they're getting taxpayer-funded dollars and they're also getting tax-exempt status.

04:59I know that this is something that the chairman takes seriously, has spent a lot of time looking

05:03into, and that as a committee, we're going to continue to look into.

05:06Again, thank you very much, and I yield back my time.

GOP Lawmaker: 'We're Going To Continue To Look Into' Universities Receiving Funds After Protests

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