Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) have sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, criticizing the Department of Education (DOE) for allowing federal funds to be utilized by universities promoting extremist, anti-Israel views.
The senators emphasized that since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel, which killed more than 1,200 people, occurrences of harassment and violence against Jewish students on college campuses had increased.
They accused the Department of Education of allocating taxpayer funds to activities that may be contributing to the rise of antisemitism rather than countering it.
According to the lawmakers, the Department would provide $283 million in foreign studies grants through the Title VI National Resource Centers (NRC) and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) programs beginning in 2020.
More than $22.1 million of this cash is believed to have gone to Middle East studies programs at Columbia University and Georgetown University, where professors with severe anti-Israel views have been listed in grant applications.
Senators voiced concern over the use of public funding to support Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad’s courses. Following the Hamas strike, Massad released an article calling it “a stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance.”
The letter questions the use of public funds to support a professor who, in their opinion, encourages terrorism and disseminates anti-Israel propaganda.
Blackburn and Lummis asked that the Biden-Harris administration stop using taxpayer funds to support professors who advocate hostility toward Israel, a critical US ally in the Middle East.
They warned that such spending would contravene congressional regulations stated in Title VI, which tries to guarantee that public funds are used in conformity with US national interests and legal requirements.
The senators want to know if these federal grants are consistent with the intent of the law and want to look into how the money is disbursed.
