President Raymond Testifies Before Congress on Campus Antisemitism

By: Jackson Juzang, Sophia Furman, and Krish Gupta

On May 7, President Wendy Raymond of Haverford College appeared before the House Committee on Education and Workforce in a high-profile hearing titled “Beyond the Ivy League: Stopping the Spread of Antisemitism on American Campuses.” Alongside the presidents of California Polytechnic State University and DePaul University, Raymond faced over three hours of rapid-fire questioning and not-so-subtle job threats while defending Haverford’s disciplinary processes and campus climate. The hearing, which included several key members of Congress, unfolded in front of a packed chamber and thousands of livestream viewers. For those watching at Haverford, it wasn’t just a federal affair but a subject of public reckoning.

Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) led off with a statement critical of the hearing itself, warning that Republicans’ interest in fighting antisemitism was hypocritical amid the Trump administration’s efforts to gut the Department of Education’s civil rights offices—the very body tasked with investigating campus discrimination.

Next, a letter from the Haverford Chabad House was brought into the record, stating that Jewish students had been “outright attacked” on campus. Chair of the Committee, Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI), cited instances in which the College had engaged in dialogue with antisemitic conspiracy theories instead of condemning them outright. The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) failing grade of Haverford was also entered into the record. (Raymond noted in a May 2 campus-wide email that the school had been working with the ADL and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia to reassess that grade.)

Also under scrutiny was the College’s temporary Honor Code revision—specifically a version shared with administrators but not the student body. Honor Council Co-Chairs Caroline Yao and Luke Smithberg told The Clerk that they had long planned to revise the Honor Code but acknowledged that “the current federal landscape” was the impetus for pushing it through now.

One of the most jarring moments came courtesy of Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC), who recounted a meeting between Raymond and a Jewish student who had experienced antisemitism on campus. According to Wilson, Raymond responded to the student by giving him a book written by a Buddhist monk and telling him to “let it wash over.” In response, Raymond didn’t deny showing the book but emphasized: “My top priority is ensuring the well-being and safety of our students.”

Shortly after, Raymond entered a letter from Jewish faculty and staff at Northwestern into the record—one that criticized the way these hearings had been conducted and warned against presenting a “false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy.” It was received without objection.

By mid-morning, the hearing escalated into highly stylized political performances. Representative Carol Miller (R-WV) rolled in a large poster board showing photos from DePaul University’s encampments. Not to be outdone, Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) leveled her questions with a prosecutorial edge.

“Is calling for the genocide of Jews protected speech on your campus?” she asked. “No, of course not,” Raymond responded.

Stefanik pressed harder: “And what disciplinary action is taken or would be taken if someone made that call?”

“There have been no such calls,” Raymond said. “And we would use all of our disciplinary actions to follow through on any such call.” 

Stefanik then cited a September 30 protest in which a student group called for “the complete dismantling of the apartheid settler colonial state of Israel by all means necessary.” “What does ‘by all means necessary’ mean to you?” she asked.

Raymond’s reply: “Invoking that terminology is repugnant because of what it can mean. I will not defend that statement.”

Stefanik, who has emerged as a top Trump ally in recent years, gave Raymond little time to answer her questions. In no uncertain terms, she not only threatened to pull federal funding from Haverford but also brought up Raymond’s job security, saying, “Respectfully… many people have sat in this position who are no longer in the positions as presidents of universities for their failure to answer straightforward questions.” 

Things escalated again when Professor Guangtian Ha’s post on X, stating “Zionists are racist,” was brought up. Raymond confirmed that Ha remains employed but called the comments “repugnant” and said she was “very sorry” that someone on her faculty would express those views.

At one point, California House Democrat Mark Takano stormed out of the room. He was not the last to display frustration on either side of the aisle.

The Honor Code was dragged under the national spotlight as the hearing moved into its second hour. Representative Burgess Owens (R-UT) sharply criticized the Social Honor Code, stating, “It sounds like students have been taught how to be Marxist,” and suggesting that an “adult” should rewrite it altogether. 

The temperature rose again when Representative Randy Fine (R-FL) launched into a fiery hypothetical: “If a student is on your campus right now with a sign that says ‘No Blacks on Campus,’ what will happen to that student?”

Raymond paused. “There is no room for discrimination,” she replied, stopping short of saying the student would be expelled.

Fine wasn’t satisfied. He connected the scenario to a protest from September 30, 2024, when signs at Haverford reportedly read “No Zionists on Campus.” Raymond reiterated what had become her refrain: “Zionists are Jews and non-Jews. We do not tolerate discrimination.” 

Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) also commented on Professor Ha’s post on X, questioning whether Haverford distinguishes between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Raymond replied that the College supports all Zionist students, faculty, and staff and that antisemitism is unacceptable, but also noted that criticism of a nation-state is not inherently antisemitic. “Is that what you believe, that Israel should not exist?” Foxx fired back. “That is not at all what I said or what I meant here,” Raymond responded coolly.

Even as Raymond defended institutional values, the criticism remained fierce. Representative Walberg, echoing frustrations heard throughout the morning, stated bluntly that Haverford’s failure to share student disciplinary data left the committee unconvinced that action had been taken. “All of your schools have been hotbeds of [anti]semitism,” he said. “How many students at your schools have been suspended and how many have been expelled for antisemitic conduct since October 7th, 2023?”

Raymond said the College does not collect that data as the committee had asked. Notably, the presidents of DePaul and California Polytechnic State shared statistics, which the committee emphasized when further pressing Raymond.

As the hearing proceeded, the politics of the Republican-led investigation came to the forefront. Representative Rick Allen (R-GA) opened his remarks by referencing Genesis and calling Jerusalem “the center of the universe.” Representative Owens claimed that students are being “taught to hate by their college professors” and that “the KKK would’ve loved the environment that we’re now seeing on too many of our colleges.” Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) claimed that Black Lives Matter has “deep antisemitic roots” and questioned Raymond on whether she thought it was a violent movement.

Other Republicans, such as Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI), persistently sought information about the presence of conservative students on college campuses. He said, “Universities in this country have become fanatical left-wingists, and I don’t know what we can do about it as a country.” The hearing became partisan, with Republicans and Democrats taking turns either taking swings at the college presidents (with Raymond being the favorite target) or taking swings at the committee itself, respectively.

Many Democrats, including Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee (D-PA), tried to push back and offered sympathy to the grilled college presidents, particularly Raymond. Lee accused her colleagues of exploiting antisemitism to launch bad-faith attacks on higher education. Omar addressed her colleagues’ investigative tactics, noting that the hearings were a “hallmark of an authoritarian government.” Omar warned that congressional overreach into university affairs risked setting a dangerous precedent for free expression and academic independence. She read a quote that asked, “Who has the right to have rights?” The rhetorical question from political theorist Hannah Arendt landed as both a challenge and a caution, framing the hearing not just as a response to antisemitism but as a broader referendum on civil liberties.

Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) alluded to several on-campus events when attacking Haverford, including a post on X written by Political Science Associate Professor Barak Mendelsohn, which alleged that Haverford’s student body is run by “Hamas apologists.” Kiley also mentioned that Raymond explained the disappearance of Chabad posters on campus by claiming that the wind took them down. “An odd kind of wind only goes after one particular type of poster,” said Kiley. He also referenced a student boycott of doughnuts served at commencement that were made by a Jewish bakery, badgering Raymond on whether they were served to students at commencement. Raymond, in a series of responses consistent with her careful deflections and restrained demeanor throughout the hearing, simply stated, “We purchased and enjoyed those doughnuts.”

Representative Bob Onder (R-MO), in addition to asking President Raymond to define Zionism, read her a quote he attributed to Vice President for Institutional Equity and Access Nikki Young: “Blacks and gays have, in the past, not felt safe on campus. It is now the turn of Jewish students to experience that feeling.” 

Raymond responded by calling the citation inaccurate. “That does not sound like the Dr. Young I know, who is committed against antisemitism, as am I.” Onder did not respond to her comment. (Allegedly, Young’s actual quote was, “historically at Haverford, members of the LGBT community had to be closeted; members of the Black/Brown community had to be quiet about anti-Black racism; and now Jewish students need to condemn ‘genocide’ rather than reporting antisemitism.”)

After the hearing, Vice President and Chief of Staff Jesse Lytle emailed a formal statement to The Clerk. “This week, President Raymond appeared before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to address the critical issue of antisemitism,” Lytle wrote. “We appreciate the thoughtful questions and engagement from Committee members and remain committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment for all.” Lytle emphasized that the hearing marked “an important step in the ongoing dialogue” and added that the College looks forward to “continuing our work in partnership with Congress and our campus community to combat hatred in all its forms.”

Another voice at the hearing was Mr. David Cole, the Former Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). As the fourth person called to testify, Cole was asked to clarify the parameters of the law. He took fault with the committee’s “lumping together criticism of Israel, which is protected speech, with antisemitism.” 

Cole drew parallels between the college campus antisemitism hearings and the 1954 McCarthy trials, which sought to identify communist spies. He justified this claim by saying that legislators were not concerned with following the Constitution in both cases, which compels legislators to discern the difference between protected speech and discrimination. “History will show that this committee followed and repeated that same mistake,” he said. 

In his closing statements, Walberg responded to the remarks made in the hearing. He claimed to oppose all kinds of discrimination and always support free speech. He said that the suggestion that the antisemitism hearings were McCarthy-like is “radically false.” Notably, he thanked the presidents of DePaul and California Polytechnic for their answers and commitment, but did not mention President Raymond, signing off with a foreboding smile.

“We’ll be watching.”

Zhao Gu Gammage contributed reporting from Washington.

Correction: Clarifications about representatives’ home states and political parties were added.