Haverford College threatened with federal funding cuts at hearing on antisemitism

Haverford College President Wendy Raymond seemed to get the worst of the grilling during a Wednesday congressional hearing on the handling of antisemitism on campus, largely because she was reluctant to answer questions about discipline, especially in specific cases.

The other two college presidents testifying before the Republican-led Committee on Education & the Workforce, from DePaul University and California Polytechnic State University, provided statistics on groups and students that were suspended or otherwise disciplined for antisemitic conduct since Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked Israel.

Raymond did not. After repeated questioning, she acknowledged there were cases in which discipline occurred.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a Democrat who represents parts of Western Pennsylvania including Pittsburgh, and U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican who represents parts of the Lehigh Valley, had different messages in their speeches during Wednesday’s committee hearing.

Lee argued that Republican lawmakers leading the hearing are more interested in controlling speech and “villainizing higher education” than combating antisemitism. She noted the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which was tasked with investigating antisemitism.

“We shouldn’t fall for it,” she said.

As the hearing approached the three-hour mark, two lawmakers threatened the loss of federal funding to Haverford College, asserting that the president’s testimony hasn’t been transparent about discipline for antisemitism.

“I suppose it’s your First Amendment right to be evasive, but it’s also our right to decide that such institutions are not deserving of taxpayer money,” said U.S. Rep. Robert Onder, a Republican from Missouri.

As a small liberal arts college, Haverford isn’t as dependent on federal funding as a large research university like the University of Pennsylvania. Its exact amount of federal funding wasn’t immediately available.

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R., Calif.) said “a group of antisemites on campus” called to boycott donuts from a “Jewish bakery” that were going to be offered at Haverford College’s commencement, saying that the students said “say no to blood donuts.”

He asked Raymond if the college abided by that boycott, and if students ate the donuts at last year’s graduation events.

She said the donuts were purchased and made available at commencement.

Congressman Kevin Kiley (R., Calif.) grilled Haverford College President Wendy Raymond about several incidents on campus, from flyers and basketball to donuts, during Wednesday’s hearing.

Kiley quoted an Israeli professor who said ”the student body is led by Hamas apologists and tainted by antisemitism” and asked Raymond that statement reflects reality.

“I think that Professor [Barak] Mendelsohn has the right to express himself as he wishes, and I do not think that expresses the overall reality at Haverford,” Raymond responded.

U.S. Rep. Mark Harris, (R., N.C.) questioned Haverford College President Wendy Raymond about an email that he said was sent to the Haverford community days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The email highlighted “tragedies across the globe,” that took place since the semester began and mentioned earthquakes in Morocco and Afghanistan, wildfires in the U.S. and Canada, and a two-year long war in Ukraine, Harris said. He said it only made a “passing reference” to what was described as “the outbreak of war in Israel and Gaza that had taken place just 48 hours before.”

“We all know in this room Oct. 7 was not a mutual ‘outbreak of war’ between two counties,” Harris said. “In fact it was a terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.”

With the hearing underway for about an hour, Haverford College President Wendy Raymond was grilled by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik — the same New York Republican who asked former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill the fateful question that ultimately led to her resignation — about whether students and faculty were disciplined for antisemitic speech.

“You were the one university president who failed to lay out if any disciplinary action has been taken, if any suspensions or expulsions, so I am asking you, was there any disciplinary action taken,” Stefanik asked Raymond, referring to a response she gave earlier in the hearing.

“Disciplinary action can include expulsion,” Raymond began.

Haverford College President Wendy Raymond addressed a protest of an Anti-Defamation League antisemitism workshop on Haverford College’s campus in her written remarks that supplemented her testimony.

When an official from the ADL presented the “Antisemitism 101” talk in October, several inside stood and talked over him in the presence of college administrators and protesters outside banged on the windows and on cowbells and pots.

The ADL said the college “did not condemn this incident” as part of a 2025 “report card” in which the organization gave the college a failing grade.

Under questioning from the committee chair probing antisemitism on college campuses, Haverford College President Wendy Raymond was asked almost the same question that ensnared University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill — and she answered it in a very different way,

“Does praising the murder of Jews violate any Haverford policies,” asked U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.), the chair of the Education & the Workforce committee said during the hearing being held in Washington D.C.

“Of course it does,” Raymond shot back. “There’s no place for that ever anywhere.”

Haverford College President Wendy Raymond was the only one of three presidents who did not initially answer when asked how many students have been suspended and expelled for antisemitic conduct since Oct. 7, 2023.

“We don’t publicize those numbers and we use suspension and expelling as normal parts of our disciplinary process,” said Raymond, who was asked to answer first.

“But you don’t have numbers to give us, so we assume there have been none,” responded U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.), who chairs the committee.

Haverford College President Wendy Raymond gave introductory remarks at the hearing shortly after 10:30 a.m., in which she said Haverford condemns antisemitism and that universities are facing unprecedented times.

“In the past few years we have been tested like never before,” she said. “The horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel caused unfathomable pain on our campus and around the world. Moreover, the ongoing war and loss of innocent lives in Israel and Gaza have left many shaken.”

She said while she was inspired by how the Haverford community came together after the attack, she has also seen events that are “inconsistent with out values.”

The 36-member, Republican-led congressional Committee on Education & the Workforce includes four members from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

They are: Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Lehigh Valley Republican; Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, a Republican who represents north central Pennsylvania, including Centre County where Pennsylvania State University is located; Rep. Donald Norcross, a South Jersey Democrat; and Rep. Summer Lee, a Democrat from Southwestern Pennsylvania whose district includes Pittsburgh.

Also on the committee is Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, whose question at a December 2023 hearing to the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology turned into a viral moment. Stefanik had asked whether calling for the genocide of Jewish people would violate Penn’s code of conduct. “It is a context-dependent decision,” Penn President Liz Magill had answered. She resigned days later amid a bipartisan backlash.

In advance of the congressional committee hearing on antisemitism Wednesday, Haverford College’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors released statements from a group of professors critical of the committee’s proceedings.

“We condemn the biased framing and leading questions that GOP members of this committee have previously used to undermine university leaders,” Gustavus Stadler, professor of English, said. “Moreover, we find their focus on alleged antisemitism cynical, opportunist, and nefarious, particularly in the face of their own past antisemitic statements and failures to condemn antisemitic statements by their colleagues.”

Haverford’s president Wendy Raymond is scheduled to testify before the committee, along with two other presidents.

While much attention was on antisemitism complaints at the University of Pennsylvania over the last year and a half, the much smaller Haverford College was weathering a storm of its own.

A group called Jews at Haverford, including several students, filed a federal lawsuit alleging the college was indifferent to complaints about antisemitism. Haverford investigated an Israeli-born professor for his remarks and more than once he has had to assure his wife he would not kill himself because of the attacks on him, according to the lawsuit. And when an official from the Anti-Defamation League came to campus to give an “Antisemitism 101” talk, protesters outside banged on the windows and on cowbells and pots, and several inside stood and talked over him — in the presence of college administrators.

Haverford, a 1,472-student, highly selective liberal arts school on the Main Line, was the only local college to receive an F on the most recent report card by the ADL for its response to antisemitism — a rating given to less than 10% of schools nationwide. The ADL’s methodology for categorizing antisemitism has been questioned, and critics have argued that criticism of the state of Israel and its government have been wrongly conflated with antisemitism.