New York Lawmakers Propose Conditioning Federal Funding on Anti-Semitism Monitoring

Two New York lawmakers are proposing legislation that could make federal funding to universities conditional on stricter monitoring of anti-Semitism on campus.

Reps. Ritchie Torres (DN.Y.) and Mike Lawler (RN.Y.) plan to introduce the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability Act (COLUMBIA) in the wake of pro-camps, protests and arrests. Palestine on college campuses across the country.

The bill would allow the Department of Education to create a third-party monitor for anti-Semitic activities on college campuses that receive federal funding. The legislation was first reported by Jewish Insider.

Torres said in a statement announcing the bill that campus anti-Semitism since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7 is “at an all-time high” and “American universities are not capable of dealing with it when left to their own devices.” own.”

Torres said there is “blatant violation[s] of civil rights for Jewish students” happening in schools across the country, and the federal government “cannot allow this to continue unchecked.”

Protests at Columbia University in Manhattan have been going on for more than a week. More than 100 protesters were arrested for setting up camps with dozens of tents. The school later moved all of its classes to a hybrid learning style for the remainder of the semester.

Students from many other schools across the country began protesting and creating camps like the one in Columbia. Torres said the Columbia protest will not be “an isolated incident,” saying it is instead the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and that he is “prepared to do something about it.”

He urged his House colleagues to join him, saying Jewish students feel unsafe because of their religious and ethnic identity, which is a “flagrant violation of Title VI.”

“Jewish students have told my office that they feel completely abandoned by university administrations and that they see Congress as the only path to accountability and safety,” his statement said.

In the statement, Lawler said he was proud to work with Torres on the legislation.

“If colleges do not act to protect their students, Congress must act,” Lawler’s statement said.

Lawler and other New York House Republicans this week called on the president of Columbia University to resign.