House Education chair presses Cardona to resign over response to antisemitism

Rep. Virginia Foxx is calling on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to resign after he declined to condemn a chant used by pro-Palestinian protesters as antisemitic.

Foxx, the House Education and the Workforce Committee chair, slammed Cardona’s remarks to a group of Jewish reporters on Tuesday after he did not outright say whether the phrase “from the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered antisemitic by college officials.

"Three months after October 7 and the disgusting antisemitic demonstrations that followed, there is no excusing Secretary Cardona’s cowardly evasion of the antisemitic character of the phrase ‘from the river, to the sea,’” Foxx (R-N.C.) said in a statement.

“Jewish students deserve to know that their Education Secretary understands the hate they face and has the necessary courage and clarity to confront it,” she added. “It is time for the Secretary to resign."

An Education Department spokesperson, in response to Foxx, said Cardona has consistently said calls for genocide should never be tolerated and college leaders must act when students feel unsafe.

"He and the Department are acutely aware that many find the chant threatening and antisemitic," the spokesperson said. "Students should never feel unsafe on campuses, and the Department’s Office for Civil Rights will continue to investigate universities to ensure they address a hostile learning environment to ensure the safety of all students.”

Cardona is the latest education leader to be caught in intense scrutiny by Republican lawmakers over the handling of antisemitism on college campuses. Remarks from Harvard University’s Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill on antisemitism at a December House hearing led to their resignations after an intense public pressure campaign.

Republican lawmakers said the chant, along with campus protestors’ calls for “intifada,” equated to calling for the genocide of Jews. Magill and Gay faced backlash for evading a question on whether these chants violated their schools’ codes of conduct.

The secretary told reporters that calls for genocide are “not tolerable,” according to Jewish Insider, but also said “it’s difficult for me to make a statement here” about the chant. He said the department investigates each case and he believes “antisemitism can include anti-Zionist statements.”

“If there are students who are feeling that statements by students are being referred to genocide, or they’re feeling unsafe on campus, it is a responsibility of a university leader to get involved,” Cardona said.

Foxx’s statement on Tuesday also included other criticisms, including the Education Department's turbulent FAFSA rollout and audits that Republicans say the agency has failed.