Rep. Burgess Owens, Sen. Mitt Romney look for ways to counter antisemitism on college campuses

Utah Republican Rep. Burgess Owens spearheaded a debate on the House floor Wednesday over his resolution that condemns support for Hamas at American universities following the Gaza-based terror group’s massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.

The resolution, Owens’ first to reach the floor since he entered office in 2021, comes amid numerous reports of student protests promoting messages that support Hamas and threaten Jewish members of campus communities. Such instances of antisemitism prompted Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Wednesday to call for a hearing on the rise of “targeted harassment” against Jewish college students.

As chairman of the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee, Owens introduced H.R. 798 on Oct. 19 with 52 original cosponsors, including Reps. John Curtis and Blake Moore of Utah. The legislation now has nearly 100 cosponsors and is scheduled for a floor vote on Friday. It is expected to advance with bipartisan support to a vote in the Senate.

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“This evil that’s happened to Israel, it’s allowing us to put a pause and understand what we’re up against within our own country, where our own kids are being turned against our own country. We cannot afford to continue to let that happen,” Owens said in an interview with the Deseret News on Wednesday. “It is a watershed moment for us.”

The two-page resolution introduced by Owens “condemns the support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations at institutions of higher education” and calls on the U.S. Secretary of Education to direct the Office for Civil Rights to investigate and take action against those who have created “a hostile environment for Jewish students, faculty, and staff.”

“What we’re doing right now is identifying the fact that we have an issue, we have a problem within our institutions,” Owens said. “The Ivy League has been a hotspot, and indoctrination center, for hatred, and we have to make sure we’re addressing that.”

What did Burgess Owens say about antisemitism at American universities?

Owens led Wednesday’s floor debate on his bill ahead of Friday’s vote. In his opening remarks, Owens outlined some of the recent, well-reported examples of antisemitic behavior on college campuses.

He referred to videos of an associate professor of history at Cornell University who repeatedly called Hamas’ brutal attacks on families, babies and the elderly “exhilarating” while speaking at a rally on Oct. 15.

Owens mentioned messages projected onto the wall of a George Washington University building on Oct. 24 that praised Hamas fighters by saying, “Glory to our martyrs,” and promoted the destruction of the state of Israel with the Hamas-slogan, “Free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

Owens then described a viral video from last week depicting Jewish students at Cooper Union College huddled together in a campus library as protesters attempt to break open a locked door.

“These hate-filled college students have no shame and no fear. Imagine the accountability they would face if they were chanting ‘Murder to the Blacks,’” Owens said on the House floor, explaining how the Jewish students were later secretly escorted out a back door.

“This is America 2023, not 1960. No students, regardless of race, creed, color or religion should ever have to use a back door of a campus library out of fear of their safety. Not now, not ever in the United States of America.”

In his closing remarks, Owens said events of recent weeks revealed in a stark way how some American universities have betrayed their values by allowing antisemitic protests to take place on their campuses.

“Many American universities are fundamentally adrift,” Owens said. “Instead of an environment of enlightenment, and one that unites diverse ideas, they have become incubators of hate. ... The poison fruits of a sanctioned ideology are now ripe for everyone to see.”

What can be done to counter antisemitism on college campuses?

On Monday, footage emerged from an Oct. 18 demonstration at Harvard Business School that shows a group of student protesters who are holding traditional Palestinian scarves taking turns pushing a Jewish student and prohibiting him from leaving. And on Tuesday, a Cornell University student was arrested for posting a series of threats to kill members of the school’s Jewish community.

Owens said these events are the outward manifestation of ideological rot on university campuses and pointed out the hypocrisy of institutions that call for the creation of “safe spaces” but do not apply the principle consistently to all groups or points of view.

“What’s happened over the last few decades is we have an indoctrination of an ideology that’s very divisive,” Owens told the Deseret News. “Many people are realizing how deeply embedded this divisiveness is.”

Owens said the portion of his resolution that calls for investigations and actions in response to pro-Palestinian protests means some students should be expelled, just as they would be if they threatened members of other minority groups.

“When you have people identified because of their religion or their culture, and threatened and intimidated, that should never ever happen on a college campus,” Owens said.

Romney urges Bernie Sanders to hold hearing on antisemitism

On Wednesday, Sen. Romney joined seven other Republican senators in sending a letter to Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, urging him to hold a hearing with federal officers to ensure the Biden Administration is fulfilling its legal duty to prevent and punish violent discrimination on campus.

“In the wake of the mass murder of Jewish civilians by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, there has been a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic incidents, including targeted harassment and violent attacks, directed at Jewish students on college campuses,” the senators wrote.

“It is our duty to ensure federal officials are doing everything in their power to uphold the law and ensure students are not excluded from participation, denied the benefits of, or subject to discrimination at school based on race, color, or national origin.”