What Blockheads: UCLA Leader, Other College Leaders Flail in Congress

In politics, as in life, sometimes you don’t have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than the other guy.

Luckily for UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, the other guy – Northwestern University President Michael Schill – was not only slower but was metaphorically tied to a giant jar of honey by members of the House Committee on Workforce and Education during questioning at a hearing looking into campus antisemitism earlier today.

Though Block’s botched handling of the pro-Hamas encampment at UCLA resulted in the most arrests and, possibly, the most violence during the current wave of campus protests, was far from overlooked and he turned in a very, um, “malleable” performance, it was Schill who overall drew more ire and fire of the committee, at least from the Republicans members.

The hearing – part of a series being conducted by the committee into the wave of antisemitism that has been escalating in school across the country – saw Schill, Block, Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and, for whatever reason, the chief of the Phi Beta Kappa Society Frederick Lawrence asked a number of difficult questions, some, it appears, too difficult to answer.

Committee chair Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) quoted Ernest Hemingway’s famous bankruptcy line – “How did you go bankrupt?  Two ways: gradually, then suddenly” –  in her opening statement, saying it was an apt metaphor for the problem of antisemitism on college campuses.

“Over the course of years—decades even—universities gradually nurtured a campus culture of radicalism, in which antisemitism grew and became tolerated by administrators. The Committee has been steadfast in its dedication to attacking the roots of antisemitic hatred, including anti-Israel DEI bureaucracies and questionable foreign funding,” said Foxx.  “Then, suddenly, over the course of weeks—days even—universities burst into antisemitic chaos. October 7 ignited a powder keg of pro-terror campus fervor, a shocking spectacle for the American public.”

Though Schill was the main target of the committee, Block – who is retiring at the end of the school year – faced very pointed questioning and criticism.

As to the Royce Quad encampment, Block claimed he was following UC system guidelines that call for, among other things, using police as a last resort in protest situations.  His claim of “following guidelines” has been made before, just as it has been disputed vigorously by the chief of the UC system’s officers’ union.

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) showed a notorious video of a Jewish student being blocked from entering  a classroom building by pro-Palestinian protestors.  Block said after that occurred he “sent a memo” to the campus saying paths and doors and such cannot be blocked in any fashion.  He added that he “thought it stopped” after the memo went out.

In a tale from the opposite world, progressive squad member and Israel hater Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) also took Block to task for not doing enough to protect those pro-Hamas “peaceful protesters”  – protestors who called cops bastards –   who were “standing in solidarity” against genocide.

And Omar actually asked Block if the people blocking the Jewish student in Kiley’s video, if he thought they were actually blocking the student – Omar thinks not because “they were moving, too” (don’t worry – I didn’t get it either.)

She even mentioned in a praising tone the ethically egregious “investigation” by CNN that looked to identify counter-protestors and out them.

Omar’s line of delusional questions was actually a bit of a lifeline for Block when he said he “rejects the premise” of the question when asked “how did you fail the protestors?”

At hearing on the evils of antisemitism, it’s not a terrible thing to be attacked by an antisemite (allegedly….)

In response to a number of questions, one being was it okay that a professor offered extra credit and better grades to students if they joined the protest, Block said he was “unaware” of the situation though vowed to investigate.

Block did say he was aware of pre-encampment incidents such as Jewish student being chased with knives and faculty members being stalked but, again, assured the committee the school was investigating (as he said about most everything else, even though Democrat Rep. Kathy Manning (NC) told him she had emails from alumni dating back to 2014 expressing concern about growing antisemitism.)

In addition, even though public masking to hide one’s identity during a crime is actually illegal in California, Block explained that all of the masks being worn by the protestors are fine because – seriously – of Covid.  Really.

Block also ran into trouble in an area the other college leaders got stuck in as well: student discipline.

Schill from Northwest said no students or faculty had been expelled/fired in the wake of the protests, Holloway said 4 students were suspended, and Block was forced to admit that no student has been expelled or suspended as he tried to cling to the life raft of on-going “investigations.”

All three were also asked if they thought Israel was a “genocidal state.” Block and Schill said no but Holloway, the first time around, uncomfortably danced around the question, saying three times he recognized Israel’s “right to exist” but would not declare it was not a “genocidal state.”

Holloway eventually – when another committee member asked a similar question – said “no.”

But it was Schill who received the most intention, stumbled when asked if, in a similar situation involving KKK members protesting about black students, would he have acted more swiftly and more forcefully rather than engaging in negotiations and coming to agreements with the protestors? 

Schill said he would “not engage in a hypothetical,” leading Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) – the black congressman who asked the question – to the conclusion that, of course, he would have dealt with such a protest very differently.

The majority of the hearing was spent hammering Schill, who was accused of “caving” to protestors by signing what was called the “Deering Medow” agreement which, among other things, at least partially re-opened the door to possible divestiture in Israel-related companies (Schill denied this,) and to support Palestinian students and visiting faculty among other things.  The signing of the agreement was so egregious that all of the Jewish members of a campus antisemitism task force quit.

Schill was also confronted by the approximately $600 million the school has taken from the nation of Qatar – it’s where the Hamas leaders are currently holed up in luxury –  for its new campus there and the university’s journalism school having a longstanding contractual relationship with the pro-Palestinian broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Schill – after saying all of the Qatar campus money remained in Qatar –  said he was unaware of the journalism school relationship but he would “look into it.”

In response to Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) questions regarding Jewish students being spat on, harassed, and assaulted, Schill said any incident like that would be/have been investigated.

But that was not enough for some committee members, especially as Schill repeatedly refused to discuss the already public actions and statements of faculty, students, and pro-Hamas student groups.  

Schill also stumbled over his response to, oddly enough, the recent firing of the football coach. Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) noted an outside panel recommended the coach be suspended for two weeks for allegations of hazing in the program, something Schill agreed to but only three days later give in to “left wing pressure” and fired the coach.

Banks strongly implied that Schill’s actions during the coach incident and the encampment came showed him extremely vulnerable to such woke pressure, adding that Schill’s testimony was “embarrassing to your school” and, at the close of the hearing, Foxx said she “appalled by (Schill’s) condescension to and contempt for his students and this committee,” adding she believed at least portions of testimony to be “misleading.”

Oh and, for the most part, non-Squad committee Democrats (save Manning) said the Department of Education needed more money, the committee was wasting it’s time politicizing the issue rather than asking experts how to fix it, and something about Trump and Republicans being antisemitic-ish themselves.

But Block accomplished at least one thing today – he sparked a new protest and an attempt at creating a new encampment while he was testifying.

Good lord.