GOP senators press Biden officials to ‘restore order’ to college campuses

GOP senators on Tuesday sent a letter to Biden administration officials demanding they “restore order” to college campuses amid contentious pro-Palestine protests. 

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and 26 other Senate Republicans sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Attorney General Merrick Garland telling them to “restore order to campuses that have been effectively shut down by anti-Semitic mobs that are targeting Jewish students.”

The letter comes as multiple schools, including Columbia University, New York University and Yale University, have seen students create encampments on campus in support of Gaza.  

The students are demanding their schools divest from Israel and those associated with the current war, but the protests have faced bipartisan accusations of antisemitism and calls to violence.

“You need to take action to restore order and protect Jewish students on our college campuses. President Biden issued a statement on Sunday, purporting to condemn the outbreak of anti-Semitism. If that statement was serious, it must be accompanied by immediate action from your departments,” the senators wrote in the letter.  

Columbia announced this week it will transition to hybrid classes for the rest of the semester due to the unrest.  

The letter comes a day after Cotton and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called on Biden to send the National Guard to break up the protests.  

The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education and the Department of Justice for comment.