Congress Investigates UCLA over Weak Response to Antisemitism

UCLA protest (Getty)

The U.S. House of Representatives has asked the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to submit documents about the institution’s response to antisemitism on campus, after a recent violent pro-Palestinian “encampment.”

House Education and Workforce Committee chair Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has been leading investigations into a number of universities in the wake of radical protests on campus, many of which have included radical anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric, and reports of harassment against Jewish students and faculty since the October 7 terror attack.

Foxx has turned her attention to UCLA, where Jewish students were prevented by a pro-Palestinian “encampment” from entering public areas of campus and were unable to reach their classes, in some cases. The “encampment” also assaulted journalists. On April 30, a group of about 100 pro-Israel vigilantes attacked the barricades around the “encampment”; it was only after the mélée that university and state and local authorities called in law enforcement.

Inside Higher Education reported Thursday:

The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee wants the University of California, Los Angeles, to turn over a batch of documents ahead of next week’s hearing about campus antisemitism.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is one of three university administrators set to testify at the May 23 hearing, titled “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos.” According to the letter sent Wednesday, the committee is investigating UCLA for “its inadequate response to antisemitism and failure to protect Jewish students.”

Among other requests, the committee wants all documents and communications among campus leaders since April 24 that concern the encampment, communications between university administrators and students in the encampment and communications between UCLA officials and area law enforcement agencies. Any responsive documents are due by May 21.

On Thursday, the committee reported that Harvard University had been “unresponsive” to requests for information.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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