South Michigan News

Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg and Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee Chairman Burgess Owens have intensified their investigation into Sarah Lawrence College following allegations of a hostile, antisemitic environment on campus. A follow-up letter was sent to the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sarah Lawrence College requesting more information about Jewish students' safety.

The letter references earlier reports from March 27 regarding faculty and administrators allegedly contributing to antisemitic harassment at the college. "Reports indicate that Sammy Tweedy, a Jewish student who had been harassed and bullied throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, received violent and threatening text messages from members of Sarah Lawrence’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. This included a message telling him that he ‘should have been killed in Israel.’ He left Sarah Lawrence, in part because of the college’s ‘refusal to protect him.’ Multiple other students have also left Sarah Lawrence or considered doing so because of antisemitism on campus," Walberg and Owens wrote.

Additionally, they noted incidents involving a Jewish professor targeted due to his advocacy for Israel's right to self-defense. "These students reportedly waged a boycott campaign and pressured others individually not to take the professor’s class," stated Walberg and Owens.

Concerns were also raised about administrators' support for groups associated with Hamas: "[W]hen administrators and faculty show support for Hamas’ actions, or when they show support for student groups that support Hamas, Jewish students perceive these statements as threatening not only to the state of Israel but to the Jewish people more broadly."

The letter emphasized obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: "Title VI requires colleges accepting federal funds to promptly address and eliminate a hostile environment." The committee is investigating whether there is indeed such an environment at Sarah Lawrence College and how incidents have been addressed.

Walberg and Owens reiterated their request for documentation related to disciplinary actions concerning events like the November 2024 takeover at Westlands.

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