announcer: sparklight supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. announcer: on the senate floor, majority leader chuck schumer and minority leader mitch mcconnell condemned acts of anti-semitism and vandalism on college campuses in the ongoing protests over the israel-hamas war. their remarks run about 15 minutes. sen. schumer: mr. president, i'd like to begin today by saying a few things about the protests at columbia university. smashing windows with hammers, taking over university buildings, is not free speech. it is lawlessness. and those who did it should promptly face the consequences that are not merely a slap on the rest. free speech, discussion, and even strong disagreement are fundamental american values and

campuses should be places where those values are cherished. campuses cannot be places of learning and argument and discussion when protests veer into criminality. and those who commit such acts are doing nothing to convince others that their cause is just. it is also unacceptable when jewish students are targeted for being jewish. when protests exhibit verbal abuse. systemic intimidation, or glorification of the murderous and hateful hamas for the violence of october 7. as i said in my speech here on the floor last november, and many times since, that is anti-semitism. it is loath full, it is unacceptable. sen. mcconnell: good morning. the most elite corners of american higher education have made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

unfortunately, they are still finding new ways to embarrass themselves with vile anti-semitic radicalism. beginning, of course, with yet more alarming declarations, like, burn tel aviv to the ground. freedom for palestine means death to america. the 7th of october is going to be every day for you. the student radicals behind hateful chants like, from the river to the sea, have proven to be incoherently ecumenical. they have chanted, long live

hamas. a suni terrorist group. and wave flags supporting the shia terrorist group hezbollah, and the secular let nes -- secular marxist leninist terrorist group, the populist front for the liberation of palestine. they have been joined on the picket lines by faculty members, for whom radical anti-semitism is merely an extension of their day jobs in postmodern indoctrination. last week, columbia's encampment was even visited by a member of congress, who accused some jewish students of being quote, pro-genocide. it's unclear whether the student

radicals or the shadowy groups organizing these disruptions are actual students, adversaries trying to corrode american society from within, or just unwitting pawns. what is clear is that basic comprehension of history, theology, and geography, is in very short supply in the ivy leagues. so-called elite universities are not just in the news for a well-documented decline in academic rigor. they are not drawing the nation's attention just because another generation of students has decided to test the limits of the first amendment with grotesque hate. no.

no, they are in the news because weakness and inaction from campus leaders has allowed universities to become cauldrons, cauldrons of criminal chaos. in recent days, an orthodox jewish student at yale was assaulted by organized hate mongers. at m.i.t., there's a so-called liberated zone of radicals occupying the very center of campus. at ucla, they have blocked jewish students from walking to class, or even entering the library. another california school is reporting millions of dollars in damages after radicals vandalized campus buildings. pain last night -- and last night brought yet more evidence

that administrators at columbia have utterly, utterly failed to bring order to their manhattan campus. in the wee hours of the morning, the mob that has disrupted daily life from a tent encampment on the quad, broke into a campus building with hammers and has barricaded itself inside. not long ago, columbia's president was sensibly calling in the new york police department to dispense and arrest these disruptors. this is a responsible thing to do, because the vast majority of students at columbia want to go to class, study for eexams, and lead productive lives. but then their resolve appeared to give out. the minority and their faculty

allies have used continued threats and intimidation to maximize the disruption and extend the reach of an odious ideology. the administration caved. the campus is now closed. but law enforcement remain outside the gates. and it remains to be seen whether administrators' latest threats of expulsion will actually be carried out. the situation at columbia is so bad that a prominent rabbi urged jewish students to leave campus out of fear for their physical safety. this is particularly discouraging at a university that, for decades, has been known as a welcoming home for jewish students, even when the rest of the ivy league

systematically discriminated against them. yesterday, a member of columbia's jewish community filed a class action lawsuit against the university, alleging sustained harassment sustained t and incitement of violence against jewish students. and the absence of leadership from administrators, the community has had to take protection of their basic rights on campus literally into their own hands. of course, today's campus radicals did not invent this brand of aggressive lawlessness. here in the united states, they trace their roots back to the 1960's. other countries, too, have their own histories of student intimidation violence. most notoriously the students in

germany. education never has anything to do with it, it is about dangerous, radical politics. but just as the roots of this hate acknowledge a mystery, neither is the way forward for college administrators. leaders at columbia might do of the administration over at princeton, which has upheld clear prohibitions on activity like forming encampments, and responded swiftly and severely to an attempt last night to occupy a campus building. they might also take a cue from our former colleague ben sasse. thus far, radicals at the university of florida have largely heeded, heeded his prohibition against unlawful disruptions because they know he

means it. and last night, those who failed to obey repeated warnings from campus police were promptly arr arrested. as an official statement put it, quote, the university of florida is not a day care, and we do not treat protestors like children. they know the rules. they broke the rules. and they'll face the consequences. it's not enough for administrators to lament campus disorder. strongly worded warnings only carry weight when they're backed up by action. the hateful ideas pouring out of campus encampments are not new to america's universities. the world's oldest form of hate has been alive and well in

higher education for quite some time now. from the vial boycott divest and sanction movement that began over a decade ago, to the establishment of outfits like the rutgers center for security, race, and rights, the forces of bigotry have been on the move. and those forces have powerful friends. president biden's nominee for the third circuit, adeel abdullah mangi, has long been a patron of the rutgers center. in fact, as new evidence indicates, he's played a much more active and enthusiastic role than he described to our colleagues on the judiciary comm committee. apparently, every progressive organization in the country is furious, furious that my

colleagues and i dared to call attention to these disqualifying facts. so let's get it straight. radicalism has no place in higher education or on the federal bench. unfortunately, the president doesn't seem to agree. while he defends mr. mangi and his radical associations, he refuses to render an unqualified rejection of campus anti-semitism. in fact, whip asked about it -- when asked about it, he seemed to say, well, there are good people on both sides. hard not to see this mealy-mouthed equivocation for what it is -- the president prioritizing the

feelings of his political supporters over moral clarity. anti-semitism is not a nuanced academic theory. it's not just one of many different viewpoints, as the white house press secretary seemed to suggest yesterday in reference to campus disruptions. it is not justified by political disagreements with israel and its government. it is not entitled to take over campuses and make life miserable for jewish students. luckily, some reasonable observers are getting mugged by reality. just as a growing number of democrats are rejecting mr. mangi's nomination, a growing number of ivy league alumni are rejecting the surging radicalism of their alma maters.

but that will only go so far. leaders must lead. administrators must take charge of their institutions. the basic objectives here couldn't be clearer. on campus, protect jewish community members. clear the encampments. let students go to class and take their exams. and allow graduations to proceed. here in washington, witt draw radical -- withdraw radical nominees, enforce the department of justice and education to investigate civil rights viol violations. if moral clarity does not pre prevail, in the ivory tower and the bidenmi