U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) spoke on the Senate floor calling for the Senate to pass a resolution she led with Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to condemn antisemitism on college campuses and the administrators who enabled attacks on Jewish students. Following her remarks, Senate Democrats doubled down on their support for pro-Hamas protests and blocked this effort.
Ernst’s full remarks:
“Mr. President, I rise in support of this resolution and to condemn the rise of antisemitic hate speech and violence we are seeing at colleges and universities throughout our country.
“Like so many parents and grandparents, I want our children to be allowed to freely express their thoughts and their views.
“But what we are seeing right now, goes way beyond that.
“This is not free speech. It’s violent, abusive discrimination. And it has to stop.
“Six months ago, I sent a letter alongside my colleague and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senator Cassidy, urging the Biden administration to protect college students from targeted attacks on campuses.
“I spoke to antisemitic incidents, including vandalism of fraternity homes and club meeting spaces, dorm room doors being set on fire, and professors making examples of Jewish students by placing them in a corner to emulate the Palestinian experience.
“Today, exactly 214 days since Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel, the Biden admin has finally released guidance clarifying that fostering a hostile environment on campus is in fact a violation of the Civil Rights Act, something I’ve been saying all along.
“In the past month alone, we’ve seen Jewish students physically blocked from entering their academic buildings with protesters surrounding them chanting ‘Death to America.’
“We’ve seen protesters holding the Nazi salute as Jewish students walk through campus.
“We’ve watched protesters take hammers to the windows of academic buildings, all the while claiming to be ‘peaceful.’
“To date, we have seen 80 different schools play host to these protests. And more than 50 of those schools have required law enforcement presence, resulting in arrests.
“Folks, the fact that we needed twenty pages of examples, modeled on students’ real experiences, to tell us that these actions are unacceptable is absolutely ridiculous.
“Secretary Cardona needs to take a hard look at the number of Title VI complaints his team has received in the past six months.
“He claims schools are ‘mitigating’ the violence and discrimination—but I have yet to see real solutions for the students too scared to even walk across the quad to the cafeteria.
“Mr. President, this antisemitism is un-American – wholly unacceptable, and we should be unified in our intolerance to it.
“I call on President Biden and Secretary Cardona to remove federal funding from these schools that are allowing Jewish hate on their campuses.
“And I call on the Senate to stand united in the face of this abhorrent behavior—and to say with one voice wholeheartedly: we condemn antisemitism.
“Never Again is right now.”
