Reps. Ritchie Torres, Mike Lawler float bill putting antisemitism monitors on college campuses
New York Congressman Ritchie Torres introduced a bipartisan bill on Friday that would impose third-party antisemitism monitors on US colleges and universities that accept federal funding.
The South Bronx Democrat Torres introduced the COLUMBIA Act, co-sponsored by Rockland County Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, as anti-Israel protesters have harassed and intimidated Jewish students and faculty at the Morningside Heights campus for more than a week.
The College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability Act would permit the US Department of Education to appoint an outside observer to crack down on Jew hatred at any college or university that gets taxpayer money.
The monitor would issue quarterly reports and make policy suggestions to local, state and federal lawmakers to bring colleges and universities in line.
If they fail to comply, the schools — which would have to pay for expenses incurred by the monitorship — would lose all federal funding.
“Rising antisemitism on our college campuses is a major concern and we must act to ensure the safety of students,” said Lawler, who earlier this week tore into demonstrators supporting Hamas at Columbia’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
“If colleges will not step up to protect their students, Congress must act,” he added.
Torres had said in February he was considering such legislation following a roundtable with Jewish undergrads who described an alarming uptick in antisemitic assaults and harassment on campus.
“I think it has become indisputable that these institutions are systemically antisemitic,” the Democrat said Feb. 29.
In a Friday statement, Torres added that antisemitism remained at an all-time high — despite frequent reports of Title VI discrimination against Jewish students nationwide.
“My office and I have spoken with countless Jewish students from campuses across America who feel deeply unsafe, purely as a result of their religious and ethnic identity,” he said.
“This past week’s crisis at Columbia is not an isolated incident — it is the straw that has broken the camel’s back — and I am prepared to do something about it.”
Hundreds of protesters calling for the eradication of Israel have descended in recent days on schools across America, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard and the University of California-Berkeley.
The House Education and Workforce Committee is investigating Columbia, Harvard and others for not complying with anti-discrimination laws meant to protect Jewish students and harboring faculty accused of antisemitism.
The Education panel’s chairwoman, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), joined Lawler and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) at Columbia Wednesday for a press conference to call on the school’s president, Minouche Shafik, to resign in disgrace.
“The inmates are running the asylum,” said Foxx, denouncing Shafik for having misled her committee about investigating a faculty member who called Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre “awesome.”
Johnson warned that if the “threats and intimidation are not stopped” he would demand President Biden deploy the National Guard to restore order.
“The House has been investigating a number of these campuses — there is a nexus to federal funding,” the speaker added. “If these campuses cannot get control of this problem, they do not deserve taxpayer dollars. That’s a very serious issue.”
No Democrats have called for Shafik’s ouster or law enforcement crackdowns — but Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have condemned the antisemitic displays and rhetoric.
On Friday, pro-Israel protesters held a rally at Columbia and raised up signs depicting the roughly 130 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza more than six months after the Oct. 7 terror attack.
