Conservative groups wary of bipartisan House push for college antisemitism monitors

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Anti-Israel rally on Columbia campus

Anti-Israel demonstrators rally on Columbia University's campus in New York City on April 29, 2024. (Umar Abbassi for Fox News Digital)

Conservative and free speech advocacy groups are warily eyeing a new bipartisan push in Congress to hire antisemitism monitors for colleges and universities that receive federal dollars.

"These antisemitism monitors are not novel. For the last 10 or so years, college bureaucrats have created bias reporting systems, which have been used to cancel students accused of ‘wrongthink.' Not only are these systems unconstitutional, but they unnecessarily chill speech and punish innocent students. Combating antisemitism is important, but speech monitors are not the answer," said Gabriel Nadales, national director of Our America.

He said the proposal "will be used to silence honest voices and create more division among college students," adding, "Americans should fight bigotry without sacrificing free expression."

The COLUMBIA Act was introduced Friday by Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., amid a rash of anti-Israel protests on college campuses throughout the country.

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A student protester waves a Palestinian flag on the Columbia University campus in New York City on April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

The wave of progressive activism was sparked after more than 100 students from Columbia University and its sister school, Barnard College, were arrested this month at a tent encampment set up on campus in protest of the Manhattan Ivy League's investments in Israeli-linked companies.

Demonstrations at Columbia and elsewhere have faced bipartisan criticism for instances of antisemitism being displayed on campuses, causing Jewish students to fear for their safety.

Under Lawler and Torres' bill, the Department of Education would be able to "impose a third-party antisemitism monitor on any college or university receiving federal funding," according to a press release. The college or university would be responsible for footing the bill for the duration of the monitor's duties there.

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Reps. Mike Lawler, left, and Ritchie Torres introduced legislation on April 26, 2024, that would require universities to combat antisemitism or face the loss of federal funding. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images | Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Both Lawler and Torres have been leaders in pushing for more guardrails against antisemitism in Congress, but conservative groups like former Vice President Mike Pence's Advancing American Freedom (AAF) and the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) are concerned that it would not be sufficient as a lasting solution to antisemitism on campus.

"Universities don’t need six-figure hall monitors to tell us what we already know: antisemitism is rampant on woke campuses across the country," said AAF Executive Director Paul Teller, who also called on Columbia's president to step down. "Rather than outsourcing oversight and responsibility to white-shoed firms, colleges need to buck up and enforce the law: campuses should prioritize both protection of free speech and the security of all students."

MSLF General Counsel William Trachman said the bill, if passed, would be a "band-aid" on a larger pain point.

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"This is what happens when formerly elite schools like Columbia and Yale compromise their values and instead cultivate a radical left-wing culture on campus. Having antisemitism 'monitors' on campuses might alleviate some of the incidents we’ve seen lately, but it certainly won’t solve the larger problem that, today, American universities are less about learning and more about breeding an 'anti-oppressor' ideology within their student body," Trachman said.

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"And separately, unless the Department of Education is truly willing to pull all federal funds from schools like Columbia, adding more monitors to observe what we already know is happening is just a band-aid to paper over a gaping wound."

Asked for a response to the criticism, Torres told Fox News Digital, "If there are critics who find fault with the Torres-Lawler bipartisan proposal, I invite them to put forward proposals of their own. Nit-picking is far more convenient than problem-solving."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Lawler said, "Sitting back and critiquing genuine efforts to address the rampant antisemitism on college campuses is easy. Rolling up your sleeves and doing the work it will take to fix this problem is hard. Congressman Lawler is focused on the latter, while critics are focused on the former."

Fox News Digital reached out to Columbia University for comment.