Washington, D.C. - In case you missed it, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a senior member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, questioned Jewish professors from the University of California San Diego and Mt. San Antonio College on the failure of university leadership to keep Jewish students and community members safe and adequately address incidents of antisemitism on their campuses.
Watch her line of questioning here.
Read a full transcript of her line of questioning below:
Congresswoman Stefanik: Professor Golden, thank you for being here today. You describe in your written testimony the antisemitic harassment that a professor and students have directed towards you and how it has caused you to want to leave academia. Could you describe the overall atmosphere that Jewish faculty and Jewish students are facing at your college, and specifically what was the college administration's response to those antisemitic incidents directed specifically to you?
Mt. San Antonio College Professor Dafna Golden: Thank you. The administration has chosen the path of least resistance doing the bare minimum to appear to take antisemitism seriously. They’ve refused to adopt the widely accepted IHRA definition of antisemitism which could help them better identify and address these incidents. While I commend them for not capitulating to divestment demands, their overall response has been mostly lip service.
Congresswoman Stefanik: Professor Keating, I understand that UCSD had its own antisemitic encampment on campus for five days before it was dispersed by the police. It is reported that 64 individuals were arrested, 40 of whom were students. Could you describe this encampment and the antisemitic statements made by protesters there?
University of California, San Diego Professor Brian Keating: Yes, thank you, Congresswoman. The encampment sprung up over a course of a period of five days. It tripled in size in just a few days. The protesters were allowed to have their freedom of speech, their First Amendment rights recognized. In fact, there have been 2,500 attendees to pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protests on our campus alone, which have been majority peaceful. But this one was different. This one resulted in continued refusal to allow inspections by campus fire marshals. There were weapons found there, including a three foot long ninja sword that I displayed during my testimony. There were flammable materials found there. They would not let in inspectors. They would also not let in Jews or anybody identifying as a Jew wearing, for example, a Star of David or a Chai symbol, anything of that nature and it was incredibly intimidating. There were chants there globalizing the Intifada. There were leaflets passed out by the Revolutionary Socialists of America that said that freedom for Palestine means death to America as I displayed in my oral testimony as well. So this is an incredibly hostile environment not just for Jews, but for Americans and students who wanted to just have a peaceful day to go about their lives on campus and study or their employment.
Congresswoman Stefanik: I also want to ask you about policy changes that would address the rise of antisemitism on campuses across the country. Would banning the wearing of masks so that individuals at encampments can be identified help in this regard, and what other policy changes would help protect Jewish faculty and students?
Professor Brian Keating: I think so. I think banning masks is one step to doing so. I think it’s appropriate to wear religious garb of course but to completely cover your face, there’s absolutely no need to do that unless you’re involved in some activity that you’re either ashamed of or do not want to participate in, and so wearing masks and wearing full headgear and covering up your entire human personhood is demeaning and creates a barrier. Also, I should know that in the Students for Justice in Palestine constitution they adopt a strict policy of not negotiating with anyone who supports the State of Israel as a sovereign nation. They refused to negotiate or dialogue with “Zionists.” This organization currently is operating under a cease and desist order on campus. It didn’t prevent them from organizing a complicity walking tour where they targeted individual professors by name due to their national origin or at the fact that they were Jewish and doing research on studying say the biblical flood story. It had nothing to do with politics. It’s just because they happen to be Jewish and are conducting research in Israel. And the most reprehensible thing to me as a faculty member, it’s fine for students to exercise their rights, we all should do that. It’s part of our constitutionally granted rights. But for faculty to take a paycheck from a university that they claim is committing acts of genocide, is complicit in genocide, and to continue working there, and encourage students to get arrested and call students themselves complicit in the genocide themselves, and when students expressed their fear to the Academic Center Chair John Hildebrand, he ignored them, the Jewish students. And other people on an open call compared Jewish students fearing for their safety, he compared them to students during the segregation period who supported the KKK. This is unacceptable in a place of learning in my opinion.
Congresswoman Stefanik: Thank you for your bravery being here today. Thank you for standing up what is morally right, standing up for Jewish students, Jewish faculty, Jews around the world.
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