WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Tuesday announced an investigation into the federal funding for universities where students have protested the Israel-Hamas war, broadening a campaign that has placed heavy scrutiny on how presidents at the nation's most prestigious colleges have dealt with reports of antisemitism on campus.
Several House committees will be tasked with a wide probe that ultimately threatens to withhold federal research grants and other government support to the universities, placing another pressure point on campus administrators who are struggling to manage pro-Palestinian encampments, allegations of discrimination against Jewish students and questions of how they are integrating free speech and campus safety.
The House investigation follows several recent high-profile hearings that precipitated the resignations of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. And House Republicans promised more scrutiny, saying they were calling on the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan to testify next month.
“We will not allow antisemitism to thrive on campus, and we will hold these universities accountable for their failure to protect Jewish students on campus,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson at a news conference.
Nationwide, campus protesters have called for their institutions to cut financial ties to Israel and decried how thousands of civilians in Gaza have been killed by Israel following the deadly attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Some organizers have called for Hamas to violently seize Israeli territory and derided Zionism. Jewish students, meanwhile, have reported being targeted and say campus administrators have not done enough to protect them.
After Johnson visited Columbia last week with several other top House Republicans, he said “the anti-Jewish hatred was appalling.”
Republicans are also turning to the issue at a time when election season is fully underway and leadership needs a cause that unites them and divides Democrats. The House GOP's impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden has fallen flat and the Republican conference is smarting after a series of important bills left GOP lawmakers deeply divided. Democrats have feuded internally at times over the Israel-Hamas war and how campus administrators have handled the protests.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a floor speech Tuesday that it was “unacceptable when Jewish students are targeted for being Jewish, when protests exhibit verbal abuse, systemic intimidation, or glorification of the murderous and hateful Hamas or the violence of October 7th."
Rep. Pete Aguilar, the No. 3 House Democrat, at a news conference Tuesday said that it was important for colleges “to ensure that everybody has an ability to protest and to make their voice heard but they have a responsibility to honor the safety of individuals.”
“For many of Jewish descent, they do not feel safe, and that is a real issue,” he said, but added that he wanted to allow university administrators to act before Congress stepped in.
But the Republican speaker promised to use “all the tools available” to push the universities. Johnson was joined by chairs for six committees with jurisdiction over a wide range of government programs, including National Science Foundation grants, health research grants, visas for international students and the tax code for nonprofit universities.
Without Democratic support in the divided Congress, it is not clear what legislative punishments House Republicans could actually implement. Any bills from the House would be unlikely to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
But so far, the House hearings with university presidents have produced viral moments and given Republicans high-profile opportunities to denounce campuses as hotbeds of antisemitism. In December, the presidents of Ivy League universities struggled to answer pointed questions about whether "calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate each university’s code of conduct.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican who posed the question in the December hearing, said it became the highest-viewed congressional hearing in history. She also cast the campaign against antisemitism as part of a broader conservative push against what they say is overt liberal bias at elite American universities.
“Enough is enough,” she said. “It is time to restore law and order, academic integrity and moral decency to America’s higher education institutions."
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is also requesting that the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan appear at a hearing on May 23 that focuses on how they handled the recent protests.
“As Republican leaders, we have a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of duty to your Jewish students,” said the committee chair, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx.
At a hearing of the committee earlier this month, Columbia University’s president took a firm stance against antisemitism. But at the same time, a protest was underway on Columbia's campus that would soon set off others like it nationwide. The university began suspending students this week in an attempt to clear the protest encampment on campus.
The university is also facing federal legal complaints. A class-action lawsuit on behalf of Jewish students alleges Columbia breached its contract by failing to maintain a safe learning environment.
Meanwhile, a legal group representing pro-Palestinian students is urging the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office to investigate whether Columbia's treatment of the protesting students violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called on university administrators to “take charge."
“On campus, protect Jewish community members. Clear the encampments. Let students go to class and take their exams. And allow graduations to proceed,” he said.
Protesters make signs in an encampment area on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus,Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Milwaukee. The Pro-Palestinian rally is calling for the University to cut ties with Israel and for peace in Gaza. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Student protesters camp on the campus of Columbia University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. Early Tuesday, dozens of protesters took over Hamilton Hall, locking arms and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building. Columbia responded by restricting access to campus. (Pool Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media on the Low Library steps on Columbia University's campus in New York on Wednesday April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday as Spain announced the official withdrawal of its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as “nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist.”
Spain said its ambassador to Argentina would remain indefinitely in Madrid, where she had been recalled for consultations Sunday in response to comments made by President Milei during a contentious weekend visit he made to the Spanish capital. In a fiery speech defending free market capitalism at a far-right rally in Madrid, Milei accused the Spanish prime minister’s wife of corruption and described socialism as “cursed and carcinogenic."
Following Milei's refusal to apologize, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told reporters Tuesday that “Argentina will continue without an ambassador," speaking with a measure of incredulity that Milei would treat Spain this way.
“We are facing a unique case, not only unique for this government, but unique in the history of international relations,” Albares said. “There is no precedent for a head of state going to the capital of another country to insult its institutions.”
Milei — who has found himself embroiled in diplomatic quarrels across the region and has referred to his opponents as “human excrement” — has never been seen as the most tactful occupant of Argentina's highest office.
He continued lashing out at Spain on Tuesday, telling the local La Nación news channel that the Spanish decision was “nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist."
“Socialists are capable of doing anything,” he added. But he did not immediately retaliate. When asked whether Argentina would do the same, Milei said: “I am not going to be such an idiot.”
The surprise move escalates a long-running diplomatic spat between the socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Milei's libertarian administration. Sánchez first incurred Milei's wrath when he backed his left-wing opponent in last year's presidential election and declined to congratulate Milei on his victory.
Tensions mounted amid a barrage of insults in recent weeks as Sánchez's Cabinet ministers alleged Milei had taken narcotics during a TV appearance and Milei accused Sánchez of pursuing policies that “only bring poverty and death.”
Defying the norms of presidential behavior, Milei snubbed all Spanish government officials on his first visit to Spain as head of state last week and instead met only Sánchez's fiercest critics, members of the hard-right, anti-immigrant Vox party that hopes to make gains in June’s European parliamentary elections.
Analysts said that Milei's diplomatic saber-rattling serves a bigger political agenda.
“Milei might be sensing that the socialist party has short legs, and so he's trying to prepare Argentina to get a really close ally when Spain gets a right-wing government, in the same way he's betting on Trump,” said Sebastián Mazzuca, an Argentine political scientist at Johns Hopkins University. “Milei is taking gambles, taking risks.”
The foreign minister, Albares, complained Milei had used his visit to poke Spain in the eye, breaking diplomatic protocol that Latin American countries and their former colonizer have long observed.
At the Vox party rally Sunday, Milei delivered his typical anti-socialism talking points and mocked Sánchez for taking a break from public view last month over corruption allegations brought by an activist group against his wife, Begona Gomez. The private group, which files lawsuits to promote far-right causes, accused Gomez of using her position to influence business deals.
Gomez has not been indicted or called in for questioning. Spanish prosecutors have recommended the case be thrown out.
The fallout with Spain, a significant investment partner for Argentina, could have lasting political and economic consequences for President Milei, who has promised to rescue the country's long-troubled economy through austerity.
Spain is Argentina’s second-biggest foreign investor after the United States, with Spanish companies investing 140 million euros ($152 million) in the country in 2022. Some 495,000 Spaniards live in Argentina, according to Spanish government statistics, while 97,000 Argentines reside in Spain.
Over the weekend, Milei also met with Spanish business executives. One of them, Antonio Garamendi, president of the main Spanish business council, said he “profoundly rejected” Milei's “off-key remarks” about the Spanish government in an interview with major local radio station Ser.
“Milei is trying to prove that commercial relations are a market issue that goes on one track and political issues are on another track,” said Mazzuca, the political scientist. “I don't know if that's going to work.”
Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.
A portrait of the Kings of Spain hangs on a wall at the Spanish restaurant Paxapoga in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday as Spain announced the official withdrawal of its ambassador. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
People have lunch at the Spanish restaurant Paxapoga in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday as Spain announced the official withdrawal of its ambassador. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A coat of arms decorates the door of the Spanish restaurant Paxapoga in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday as Spain announced the official withdrawal of its ambassador. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
People jog past Spain's embassy in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday as Spain announced the official withdrawal of its ambassador. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
FILE - A man walks dogs past Spain's embassy in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, May 20, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday, May 21, 2024, as Spain pulled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as “nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist.” (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello, File)
FILE - Argentina's president Javier Milei gestures as he delivers a speech on stage during the Spanish far-right wing party Vox's rally "Europa Viva 24" in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A diplomatic crisis between historic allies Spain and Argentina expanded Tuesday, May 21, 2024, as Spain pulled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and Argentine President Javier Milei lambasted the move as “nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist.” (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
