Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is calling on the Biden administration to review university harassment policies during a period of rising antisemitism on college campuses stemming from the war between Israel and Hamas.
Rosen sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona asking him to complete a “comprehensive review” of the policies and address the “failure” of university leadership to protect Jewish students.
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“I write with significant concerns about rising antisemitism at institutions of higher education and the failure of college and university leadership to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination,” Rosen wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News.
“Jewish Americans across the country were horrified by last week’s hearing in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where three leading university presidents failed to unequivocally state that calling for the genocide of the Jewish people would inherently violate their schools’ respective harassment policies or codes of conduct,” she wrote.
Her letter comes after a recent congressional hearing in which presidents from several institutions, including Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, avoided questions on whether calling for the “genocide of Jews” violates the code of conduct.
Rosen said in light of the testimony, she urges the Education Department to review college and university harassment policies and codes of conduct to “ensure they comply with federal civil rights requirements for institutions of higher education.”
Harvard announced on Tuesday that President Claudine Gay would remain in her role, with the Harvard Corporation stating it “unanimously stands in support” of Gay. More than 700 Harvard faculty members signed a petition backing Gay, showing their support for the embattled president in a letter to the Harvard Corporation.
UPenn President Liz Magill resigned on Dec. 9 for similar comments that she made in the congressional testimony.
Rosen called the comments that Magill and Gay made “troubling” in her letter.
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“While all three presidents and their respective universities quickly went into damage control mode in the aftermath of the hearing – and one president even resigned her post – excuses and apologies don’t change the fact that leaders of some of our nation’s top schools refused to publicly acknowledge that calling for the genocide of Jews is harassment,” Rosen said, adding that this “lack of moral clarity fails students across American college campuses.”
“At a time when Jewish students are experiencing rising antisemitism, schools have a legal responsibility to protect their students from discrimination and harassment,” Rosen added.
