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  • 7/15/2025
At today's House Education Committee hearing, Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) questioned Dr. Rich Lyons, Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Robert M. Groves, Interim President at Georgetown University, and Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Chancellor at the City University of New York.

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00:00I recognize the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Fine.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to be honest.
00:05I find the testimony today both disgusting, dishonest, and to be gaslighting.
00:09And I'm going to point it out here.
00:11We've heard that we unequivocally denounce anti-Semitism,
00:14unwavering support for our Jewish students.
00:16We have a zero-tolerance policy, and we will not put up with a call for violence.
00:20So let's explore that.
00:21I'd like to start with Dr. Rodriguez.
00:24Emmanuel Ness, the chair of your political science department,
00:26said he supports, quote, resistance by any means necessary, which includes violence.
00:32How can you say those statements that you support your Jewish students?
00:35Shut up and get out of here.
00:36Gentleman will suspend.
00:38Gentleman will suspend.
00:39Get out of here, you loser. Come on.
00:41By the way, to be clear, I hold you all responsible for this.
00:45It is the attitude that you have allowed on your college campuses
00:47that make people think that this is okay.
00:51That is why this happens, because you have someone like Emmanuel Ness
00:54that says resistance by any means necessary.
00:56And I assume this person still works at your school.
00:59Is that correct?
01:00Are there any calls for violence?
01:03Microphone, please.
01:04Any call for violence against Jewish members of our community
01:08is entirely unacceptable.
01:10So why does this person still work there?
01:12Any individual or faculty that has a complaint of breaking our rules,
01:19we will investigate them and take the appropriate disciplinary action if warranted.
01:23Corinna Mullen at John Jay College said,
01:27after October 7th, the right of Palestinian armed resistance is just,
01:32and just last month was film chanting,
01:34up, up, up with freedom, down, down, down with Zionist scum.
01:38This is a professor that teaches your Jewish students.
01:41How can you say you have an unwavering, zero-tolerance policy
01:46when this person teaches at your school?
01:48I believe that that faculty member is no longer teaching with the university.
01:55Any call for violence, any call for supporting Hamas or terrorism
01:59is entirely unacceptable, and we made those statements several times.
02:03At Berkeley, you're next.
02:05You created in the fall of 2024,
02:07you named Osama MacDeezy the inaugural chair of a new endowed program
02:10in Palestinian Arab Studies.
02:12On October 7th, MacDeezy described the Hamas attack against Israel
02:16as, quote, resistance.
02:17Why would you give a job?
02:20See, I understand freedom of speech,
02:22but you get to decide who to hire.
02:24Why would you give a position to someone who said
02:27October 7th was justified?
02:29Why?
02:29Why?
02:33Osama MacDeezy, Professor MacDeezy, is a fine scholar.
02:37He was awarded that position from his colleagues
02:41based on academic standards.
02:43Great.
02:43So on February 5th, 2024, this great academic,
02:46you're showing the problem, said, quote,
02:49I could have been one of those who broke through the siege on October 7th.
02:53This is what you think is good,
02:54and then we're surprised when people come in here and behave this way.
02:58I'm going to move on to Georgetown.
03:00You've got a campus in Qatar.
03:02I note when my colleague, Vice Chair Owens,
03:06said what would happen with a KKK student on campus,
03:09you said, yes, but.
03:10That's the problem with all of this.
03:12We believe that we should deal with racism, and we should,
03:15and I did a lot in the Florida legislature to do with that,
03:17but there should not be a but after it when it comes to anti-Semites.
03:21So at your school in Qatar, you had October 24th, 2023, an event titled,
03:28Decolonization is Not Just a Theory.
03:30It was an exhibition of armed resistance in Africa in solidarity with Palestine.
03:36What does Decolonization is Not Just a Theory mean to you,
03:40and what does it mean to Georgetown?
03:41I don't have knowledge of that exhibition.
03:47This was a student-led event, Congressman.
03:50All right, so Mike, I have 90 seconds left, and I'm going to end with this.
03:53I have a 17-year-old who will be applying to school next year.
03:58He's in Washington interning right now.
04:00And how in good conscience could you tell my son, who is Jewish,
04:04who's the reason I wear this kippah,
04:05how could you tell my son in good conscience that he would be safe at any of your schools?
04:10I'll give each of you 20 seconds to try to answer that question.
04:14I would deeply hope he would feel safe, and there's a reason for this at Georgetown.
04:19If Jewish students don't feel safe, if they have fear,
04:24if it's not just hurtful to them,
04:26it destroys our mission of interfaith dialogue.
04:32They don't feel safe right now.
04:34Your turn.
04:36I have spoken to many students.
04:38We have recruited actively in the Jewish community at CUNY.
04:43I've actually began a program of extending,
04:46a program that we have of recruiting in the high schools to the yeshivas,
04:50which is college now.
04:52And again, we have listened.
04:53I have met with the students, gone to Hillel,
04:56listened to their concerns,
04:57and I've told them that we need to do better.
04:59We have made the changes,
05:01and we're showing the results.
05:03And listening and being committed to their safety
05:05is something that I wake up every day to do.
05:08I don't even need an answer from Berkeley,
05:10given the answer to that question about that professor.
05:13I would tell you this.
05:14The Jewish students on your campus,
05:16they do not feel safe today,
05:18and you all should be ashamed about that.
05:20With that, I yield back.
05:21I thank the gentleman,
05:25and I recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin,
05:28Mr. Grothman.
05:29First of all, just a quick general statement.
05:33This has been talked about the third or fourth.
05:36I puppet one.

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