Cal Poly San Luis Obispo President Jeffrey Armstrong is set to testify before Congress on May 7 as part of a federal investigation into antisemitism on college campuses.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce claims Cal Poly violated the Civil Rights Act by failing to protect Jewish students. The committee points to threatening graffiti and claims that a professor harassed Jewish students during a protest with an Israeli military veteran.
Lawmakers will question Armstrong on how Cal Poly is handling these cases and ask for records on campus policies and disciplinary actions.
To receive federal funding, schools must follow the civil rights act banning discrimination based on race, color or national origin. Tyler Coward, counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech group, said the hearing could help clarify whether Cal Poly followed the law– but he’s also wary.
“We’re concerned the precedent here is for certain members of Congress to start demanding censorship of ideas that they themselves find to be offensive, and speech being merely offensive, and nothing more, is protected by the First Amendment. There’s no categorical exception,” Coward said.
Coward said Congress overstepped during similar hearings in Dec. 2023, when the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT faced tough questions about Gaza war protests.
In one exchange, Representative Kathy Manning of North Carolina accused the schools of failing to keep Jewish students safe.
“The fear Jewish students are facing is real and is justified,” Manning said. “Jewish students are trying to get an education, while entrances to their classes are blocked by protests outside and inside classroom buildings.”
Lawmakers at that time demanded the universities discipline the student groups involved.
Coward said he hopes congress won’t cross the line in the same way during Armstrong’s hearing.
