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The top leaders of three universities will head to Capitol Hill this month for something that’s beginning to sound familiar: a widely watched hearing on antisemitism that could, if history repeats itself, unleash more federal scrutiny and politicized attacks on higher education while heightening tensions on campuses nationwide.
The May 23 hearing, titled “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos,” will mark the third time in six months that Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee have summoned college leaders to testify about their responses to campus antisemitism and anti-war protests in support of Palestinians. The leaders of the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Michigan and Yale University are slated to testify. 

Republican senators questioned a top Biden administration official about the bungled rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, during a private meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday. According to the Education Department and the lawmakers, the meeting happened nearly a week after the federal agency said Richard Cordray, the chief operating officer at the Federal Student Aid office, plans to step down later this summer.

The Biden administration is ramping up its direct response to the college protests over the Israel-Hamas war, with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sending a letter Friday to college and university presidents condemning “abhorrent” incidents of antisemitism on campus and highlighting available resources. Cardona’s letter, sent via email, comes one day after President Joe Biden addressed the issue for the first time on camera Thursday, offering law-and-order-centric remarks at the White House that stressed the need to peacefully protest without causing chaos. The president had been criticized for not addressing the nation sooner, leaving his administration’s positioning on the issue to come through written statements and spokespeople.

Attorneys general from six Republican-leaning states — Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia — filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Education over its Title IX rule released last month. The nearly 800-page lawsuit follows three others already filed, totaling at least 15 states to have taken the administration to court so far over the new policy.  The latest filing echoes much in those that came before it. It claims the Education Department was “arbitrary and capricious” in finalizing the Title IX rule and that the agency acted outside of its power under the Constitution. 

Debates over what precisely constitutes antisemitism have ramped up since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in early October, as colleges nationwide have grappled with growing unrest among students and faculty. Now Congress is adding its voice to the conversation. The House voted 320 to 91 Wednesday to codify a broad definition of antisemitism into federal civil rights law—one that some in higher education worry could have a chilling effect on free speech on campus.