{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.budd.senate.gov/2023/11/01/budd-colleagues-urge-sanders-to-hold-hearing-on-antisemitic-attacks-on-college-campuses/", "Budd, Colleagues Urge Sanders to Hold Hearing on Antisemitic Attacks on College Campuses", "2023-11-01", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "Senate", "NC", "Ted Budd", "B001305", "www.budd.senate.gov", "budd", "https://www.budd.senate.gov/category/news/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) has joined a coalition letter led by Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee ranking member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) urging HELP Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to hold a hearing to ensure the Biden administration is upholding its legal responsibility to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment and attacks on college campuses in the aftermath of the Hamas-led massacre against Israel on October 7th.\n\nThe letter was also signed by: Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Mike Braun (R-IN), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).\n\nThe full text of the letter is below:\n\nIn the wake of the mass murder of Jewish civilians by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, there has been a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic incidents, including targeted harassment and violent attacks, directed at Jewish students on college campuses. As the Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, we urge you to hold a bipartisan hearing on ensuring safe learning environments for Jewish students, as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.\n\nIt is our duty to ensure federal officials are doing everything in their power to uphold the law and ensure students are not excluded from participation, denied the benefits of, or subject to discrimination at school based on race, color, or national origin. We need to engage in a direct discussion with Department of Education leaders Secretary Miguel Cardona and Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon about the actions they are taking to address anti-Semitism on college campuses.\n\nThe terrorist attack of October 7 was the largest murder of Jewish people in one day since the Holocaust. It led to a noticeable rise in anti-Semitic activity, specifically on college campuses. Under your leadership, the Committee has quickly organized and held hearings on other topics related to recent events. This issue certainly demands the Committee\u2019s direct attention and engagement from the Senate-confirmed Department of Education officials we oversee.\n\nThe examples of anti-Semitism after Hamas\u2019 attack are startling. In the shadow of our nation\u2019s capital, swastikas were drawn on dorm room doors and in bathrooms where Jewish students live and in the parking lot at a high school where Jewish students study. In Philadelphia, a hateful arsonist set a Jewish student\u2019s dorm ablaze. During the nationwide \u201cDay of Resistance,\u201d groups of pro-Palestinian students on the University of California Los Angeles campus shouted \u201cintifada,\u201d celebrating the violent act of Hamas towards Israelis. At Columbia University, posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas were torn down by a vandal who was charged with a hate crime after allegedly attacking an Israeli student with a stick.\n\nFaculty at universities have also made concerning anti-Semitic acts. A Stanford professor directed Jewish students to stand in a corner and asked Jewish students to identify themselves. He stated that \u201conly six million\u201d Jewish people died in the Holocaust and \u201ccolonizers killed more than six million. Israel is a colonizer.\u201d A professor and student advisor at University of California Davis went as far as posting on social media that Zionist journalists and their children should be identified and murdered.\n\nThis hearing should be focused on the Department of Education\u2019s anti-Semitism campaign over the last four months, its recent announcement to expedite processing of discrimination complaints under Title VI, the impact these actions have had, and how the Office of Civil Rights is ensuring safe learning environments for students in light of recent events. A non-government panel could share what it is like to be a student on campus, egregious examples of incited violence, and what institutions of higher education are doing to support students and maintain safe learning environments.\n\nFormer President Barack Obama stated, \u201cThe state of Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust, but in the survival of a strong Jewish state of Israel the Holocaust will never happen again.\u201d The prospect of the destruction of the state of Israel and more murders based on anti-Semitism are real. Let us be proactive on a bipartisan basis as we seek to ensure the civil rights of Jewish students are upheld and a safe environment for all students is maintained.\n\nThank you for your consideration of this serious issue. We look forward to your response and our staffs stand ready to make this important bipartisan hearing happen.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.budd.senate.gov/2023/11/01/budd-colleagues-urge-sanders-to-hold-hearing-on-antisemitic-attacks-on-college-campuses/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6381270252168179, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}