The GOP-led House passed a resolution on Wednesday condemning anti-Semitism and the controversial testimony of three college presidents on the topic.
A final tally showed 303 members voting in support of the bipartisan measure, 126 members voting against it, and three lawmakers voting “present.” Two others did not vote. All the members who opposed the measure were Democrats except for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who introduced the resolution with Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), cheered the measure’s passage by heralding it as a “historic bipartisan effort to stand for moral truth.”
The resolution called out Harvard University President Claudine Gay, MIT University President Sally Kornbluth, and now-former University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill. Each president dodged on the question of whether calling for the genocide of Jews on campuses violated their schools’ policies on bullying and harassment during a hearing last week held by the Committee on Education & the Workforce.
As stated in the resolution, Gay insisted that it “depends on the context”; Kornbluth said it would only constitute harassment if it were “targeted at individuals”; and Magill stated, “It is a context-dependent decision.”
“The world is watching as Members from both sides of the aisle stand resolutely with the Jewish people to condemn antisemitism on university campuses and the morally bankrupt testimony of the Harvard, MIT, and Penn university presidents during last week’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing,” Stefanik added in a post to X. “It is disappointing and revealing that 128 Democrats chose to vote against condemning antisemitism on college campuses and the pathetic and abhorrent testimony of the university presidents.”
After last week’s hearing, the presidents faced intense backlash and started issuing statements attempting to clarify their positions. Magill resigned over the weekend under pressure from the board of Penn’s Wharton business school and Stefanik’s resolution suggested the others should “follow suit.” So far, Harvard and MIT are sticking behind Gay and Kornbluth.
Some of the opponents of the resolution took issue with what they suggested was a double-standard on decrying anti-Semitism within the GOP and calls for the ouster of the remaining university presidents. Bemoaning what he called a “gross overreach,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said, “Congress should not meddle in the hiring and firing of college presidents.”
Though the vote on the resolution is done, lawmakers have indicated they are not ready to let the issue go. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, recently announced an investigation into Harvard, MIT, and UPenn over “rampant anti-Semitism displayed on their campuses.”