At today's House Education Committee hearing, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) questioned college presidents about antisemitism on college campuses.
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00:00From Michigan, Ms. McLean.
00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:04And I happen to agree with my colleague.
00:06Actions speak louder than words, and we need action.
00:10And that's what I hope that we see here today,
00:13not just in the week leading up to this hearing,
00:17we all of a sudden find a conscience and start action.
00:22So let me start with you, Dr. Manuel.
00:24On October 18th, 23, DePaul's students for Justice in Palestine
00:29held a rally calling for the Intifada Revolution,
00:33encouraging terrorist attacks to be perpetuated against Jewish civilians.
00:38On the same day, Jewish student leaders contacted DePaul administrators,
00:43expressing feelings of increasingly,
00:46saying they were increasingly scared that the safety
00:49and for the safety of the Jewish community.
00:52Does that ring a bell?
00:53Okay.
00:54The following day, October 19th, 2023,
00:56pro-Hamas rallies on campus resulted in the physical assault of a Jewish student.
01:02Sound familiar?
01:04Six months later, on April 29th, 24,
01:07a pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas mob
01:10occupied DePaul's Lincoln Park campus.
01:14So there was an encampment on April 29th, correct?
01:18Correct.
01:19Did you remove it or disable it on that day?
01:23No, we did not.
01:24Okay.
01:24Why?
01:27Representative, we learned an awful lot.
01:32I'm not asking what you learned.
01:34I'm asking why you made the decision,
01:36because I'm going to refer you to your policy that you have in place.
01:40Why didn't you follow your policy?
01:43Our immediate instinct was to work with our students.
01:46How did that go?
01:48Not very well.
01:48You want to ask Michael how that went?
01:50Yeah, it did not go very well.
01:52And I apologize for that.
01:53Your apologies are a little hollow.
01:55On May 10th, you issued a statement.
01:59So the encampment's still there, April 29th.
02:01It's now May 10th.
02:03On May 10th, you issued a statement titled Quad Safety Concerns.
02:08So you knew there was a safety issue, hence issuing the statement.
02:12Here was the statement.
02:12You urged all members of the DePaul community to avoid the Quad.
02:19Well, that's great.
02:20Again, hey, let's make sure that we attack the law-abiding citizens,
02:26but not deal with the problem of the encampment.
02:30So you knew yourself there was a problem, but decided not to remove it.
02:37Why?
02:38So at that moment, we realized that the security and safety of everybody was in jeopardy.
02:44That is the moment that we decided to work with CPD.
02:48And it took you six days?
02:50Our public safety officer.
02:51I mean, no, it took you six days because you knew it was dangerous.
02:55You didn't remove it on the 10th.
02:56You didn't remove it until six days later.
03:00So it took you six days to coordinate an effort to remove an encampment?
03:06It took us the moment we realized we went to CPD and asked for their problem.
03:09Which was when?
03:10When did you realize you had a problem?
03:12We started working with CPD from the first day so that they were aware of those situations.
03:15Okay, so three weeks.
03:16It took you three weeks?
03:19It took us from the time you mentioned until the 16th or 17th to coordinate with CPD to get that.
03:25Do you think that's acceptable?
03:26I do not.
03:27Okay, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
03:30So I don't think the issue is more policies.
03:33I think the issue is action.
03:36So the people that are in charge, would you say that that is an acceptable amount of time for action?
03:42I would agree with you that we need to do better.
03:44Great.
03:45So would you agree with me also that almost three weeks from the 29th to the 16th is not an acceptable time for security to take action to disassemble an encampment?
03:59Would you agree with me on that?
04:00I would.
04:01Thank you very much.
04:02So who has been fired or who has been replaced?
04:06Because that doesn't seem real tough to me.
04:09Anybody?
04:10What we have learned.
04:11Anybody been replaced?
04:12There has been turnover.
04:15I'm not asking turnover.
04:17What consequences happened for the people who were supposed to be in charge?
04:22The development of our accountability.
04:24Any consequences?
04:25Yep.
04:26Just were there.
04:27Let's start with a simple.
04:28Let's start with a simple one.
04:30Any consequences?
04:32To student groups?
04:33Yes.
04:33No, not just.
04:34I'm talking to the people who didn't follow your procedures of three weeks.
04:41Because let me just read it, just in case you don't know your policy, but let me read it.
04:45This is from your policy.
04:47may not impede passage in or out of any facility, may not involve activity that is violent or otherwise threatens the safety of demonstrators or any members of the community,
04:58may not interfere with business or academics of the university.
05:02These are your policies.
05:04Did anyone get, like, reprimanded for that?
05:09What I mentioned is that we have done significant review and learned from this.
05:13You don't need to do review.
05:15Did anyone, was anyone held accountable other than Michael and his friend that sustained a concussion and a broken wrist?
05:24So what actions changed?
05:27Because you've got great policies and you've got great lip service.
05:30The problem is you need action.
05:34And unless you, as the president of the university, is willing to take action, not lip service, I can talk about working out all day long,
05:41but there's a lot of difference between me working out and me talking about it.
05:45So my question is, if there is another encampment on it, are you taking...