UC Berkeley’s top leader on Tuesday [today] will face an influential congressional committee that is aligned with President Trump’s political goal of reshaping higher education by punishing campuses he sees both as bastions of leftist ideologies and as institutions that have tolerated anti-Jewish hate. Chancellor Rich Lyons’ appearance marks a significant moment for the university, which is under multiple federal investigations over allegations it has violated the civil rights of Jewish students and faculty. The committee Lyons will face has grown from relative obscurity to one of the most rattling in the wake of U.S. campus protests over the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in Israel and Israel’s war in Gaza.
Grillings by the Republican-led group of representatives have led to the dramatic downfalls of the Harvard and University of Pennsylvania presidents and arguably contributed to the resignations of presidents from Columbia, Northwestern and Rutgers universities. The Trump administration has accused these and other mainly elite campuses of allowing antisemitism to fester amid pro-Palestinian protests since 2023. Lyons, who became chancellor a year ago, is the first UC leader to face the House Education & Workforce Committee during the Trump presidency as the White House has moved to dismantle major parts of Harvard’s operation over antisemitism allegations and has pulled billions in research funding from it and other selective universities...
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