Dive Brief:
- House Republicans intend to ramp up their oversight of colleges in an effort to "hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students," Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday.
- Johnson said a coalition of six House committees will lead the scrutiny of universities' federal funding and tax benefits. His office said in a news release that the committees will probe the international student visa program, claiming without evidence that it has let students "sympathetic to terrorist groups" attend U.S. colleges.
- The inquiry comes amid growing pro-Palestinian protests calling on colleges to divest from companies with links to Israel in response to the country's war with Hamas and bombardment of Gaza. College administrations have diverged on how to address protest encampments, with some reaching agreements with the activists and others bringing in police to have them arrested.
Dive Insight:
Tuesday's announcement heightens the stakes colleges face when attempting to protect free speech while curbing harassment on campus.
The coalition will include leadership from the House Education and Workforce; Ways and Means; Energy and Commerce; Judiciary; Oversight; and Science, Space and Technology committees.
"Nearly every committee here has a role to play in these efforts to stop the madness that has ensued," Johnson said in a statement. "The federal government plays a critical role in higher education, and we will use all the tools available to us to address this scourge.”
Several presidents of prominent universities have recently testified to Congress on how they’re handling antisemitism on campus — but their responses failed to satisfy some lawmakers. In response, Republican legislators launched probes into the colleges' policies, even before this latest salvo from Johnson.
In December, the Republican-led House education committee announced it would investigate disciplinary policies at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after their leaders testified before lawmakers on campus antisemitism. The committee later expanded the investigation to other colleges.
In January, the House Ways and Means Committee launched another probe into the same three institutions, along with Cornell University, over their responses to antisemitism on their campuses.
Rep. Jason Smith, Ways and Means chair, said Tuesday that his committee has called on the institutions to share what disciplinary action they have taken against antisemitic activity and to disclose funding received from foreign governments.
“Our investigation has already produced more than 1,500 pages of documents that we are now actively reviewing,” he said in a statement.
Johnson last week visited Columbia University, an epicenter for the protests, and called for Minouche Shafik, the institution's president, to resign. He was met with boos and pro-Palestinian chants while speaking in front of the campus library.
Columbia called law enforcement onto its campus to clear out encampments Tuesday. Police arrested hundreds of protesters there and at the public City College of New York a mile northeast.
The House coalition is necessary, Johnson said, because colleges and "woke university presidents" have failed to sufficiently stop the spread of antisemitism.
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, chair of the education committee, said the investigation will give everyone affiliated with federally funded universities "a healthy dose of reality."
"College is not a park for play acting juveniles or a battleground for radical activists," Foxx said in a statement.
Some critics of the student protests have alleged they’ve been spurred by individuals unaffiliated with the colleges where they take place.
Turmoil in Congress could impede Johnson's priorities, including this coalition, as he could face a vote next week seeking to remove him as House Speaker.
