After Grilling College Presidents, Congress Takes Aim At Their Funding

The two recent congressional hearings on campus antisemitism have been brutal affairs for the university presidents who were summoned to testify.

Now it appears the stakes are being raised. Congressional Republicans are expanding their inquiries, ready to take aim not just at presidential leadership but at universities’ funding, including their tax-exempt status, federal research grants, and even student financial aid.

At the first House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing last December, three university presidents often faced barbed questions about how their institutions were combatting antisemitism, ensuring campus safety and protecting free speech. Their answers were widely panned.

The fallout from their generally inept performance included the resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, followed shortly thereafter by Harvard President Claudine Gay’s announcement she was stepping down. MIT President Sally Kornbluth has managed to hang onto her job, but not without controversy and criticism.

At the second House Education Committee hearing in April, Columbia University President Nemat Shafik was in the committee’s crosshairs. While she and her colleagues seemed to give more sure-footed answers, she also has subsequently been engulfed by turmoil on campus and criticism of how she responded at the hearing.

Faculty and students have accused Shafik of not standing up for their free-speech rights, and Columbia has been rocked by protests over the war in Gaza, sparking a nationwide outbreak of campus demonstrations that have, at times, turned violent.

Now, the same committee has set its sights on three more university presidents and invited them to testify on May 23rd at a hearing titled “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic Colleges Chaos.” The scheduled witnesses are Yale University President Peter Salovey, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, and University of Michigan President Santa On0.

Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) left little doubt the hearing will likely continue the confrontational tone and adversarial theatrics of the earlier meetings. “The Committee has a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students,” Foxx said, in a news release.

At an April 30 press conference, where he was joined by nine Republican leaders and chairs of several house committees, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced they would initiate a “house-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.”

“Over the last few weeks we’ve seen absolute lawlessness and chaos on college and university campuses across America,” Johnson said. He argued, “it’s not right and everybody in this country knows it,” telling higher ed leaders that “if they don’t correct this quickly, you will see Congress respond in time.”

“You’re gonna see funding sources begin to dry up,” Johnson added. “You’re gonna see every level of accountability that we can muster.”

The funding sources Johnson might have in mind are now coming into clearer focus. Here are three possible targets.

The Tax Code

On March 21, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) sent letters to the presidents of Cornell University, Harvard, Penn and MIT demanding they detail the actions they’ve taken against individuals whose antisemitic activity may have violated campus policy. Smith suggested the tax-exempt status of nonprofit universities could be at risk.

“The focus of the Committee’s inquiry and questions is to understand what universities like yours are doing, if anything, to change course drastically and address what has gone unaddressed for years,” wrote Smith. “Doing so is essential to justifying the generous tax-exempt status that the American people have provided institutions like yours for decades.”

Research Funding

Another target could be the billions of dollars that federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health pump into universities to fuel their research enterprises.

House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) recently said that NSF funding is premised on the condition that colleges comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin.

“Schools like Columbia and UC Berkeley annually receive more than $50 million each in NSF grants,” Lucas said at the April 30 press conference. “It’s time we review whether universities that allow the harassment, assault or intimidation of their Jewish students are in compliance with their federal obligations.”

That sentiment was echoed by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), whose unit oversees federal agencies awarding billions of research dollars. “We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act,” McMorris Rodgers said.

Financial Aid

Federal lawmakers could target student financial aid administered by the Department of Education. Already in California and Texas, state legislators have proposed legislation that would withhold either state or federal financial aid from students who engage in violent campus protests. But Congress could also get into the act.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has opened investigations of dozens of universities following complaints of antisemitism and anti-Palestinian or anti-Arab discrimination. The complaints allege violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

If found in violation of Title VI, a university could see its federal funding — including student financial aid such as Pell Grants — pulled by the Department of Education. While such a nuclear option is highly unlikely, protracted and costly investigations still pose a substantial threat to universities.

Although right-wing politicians have long waged a battle against what they perceive to be ultra-liberal universities, the outbreak of fierce campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war has handed them a new cause, one that even some moderate and progressive politicians have been inclined to support.

For example, the House recently passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's expansive definition of antisemitism for enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws regarding education programs. The bill passed 320-91, with many Democrats joining Republicans to support the measure.

Although Americans’ confidence in the value of higher education has been sagging recently, this spring’s wave of campus protests has eroded support in colleges even further. As a result, conservative lawmakers appear poised to intensify attacks on elite institutions, exploiting what they may see as a golden opportunity for political gain.

This strategy was forecast last December when CNBC reported that Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told a group of business leaders about Republicans’ three-part plan to take on elite colleges.

First, conduct the antisemitism hearings with university presidents. Second, “is the investigation, the subpoenas, gathering all of the documents and the records from these universities to prove the point,” according to Banks. Third, once it’s proven, “that’s when we defund these universities by cracking down on not backing their student loans, taxing their endowments and forcing the administration to actually conduct civil rights investigations,” Banks added.

Now, universities are bracing for that kind of legislative pressure to escalate, exposing key aspects of their enterprise to substantial risks. If you thought members of Congress earned higher ed’s attention when they got in college presidents’ faces, wait until they start going into their schools’ pockets.