Rabbi Moshe Hauer is calling on the White House and federal government to take a harder stance on combating campus antisemitism after the "anarchy" at Columbia University.
"What was very clear last week was basically a cry from the university leadership of Columbia and from the law school, the former law school dean, who's the head of the antisemitism Task Force, that they don't know how to draw the line between what is permitted and what is forbidden. And that task should not be on a task force of the community. That task, that definition, should be provided by the government of the country that tells them what's permitted, what's forbidden," Hauer told Fox News Digital.
He continued, "The Justice Department, the Department of Education, should be telling the schools where the line is, should be telling the schools what appropriate enforcement looks like. Meanwhile, they're left to figure it out for themselves. And that's helping to grow this problem, the absence of crystal-clear guidance from our government and moral support in that enforcement."
On Sunday, Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative (OU-JLIC) Director Rabbi Elie Buechler put out a recommendation for Jewish students to return home ahead of Passover.
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"The events of the last few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy," Buechler wrote. "It deeply pains me to say that I would strongly recommend you return home as soon as possible and remain home until the reality in and around campus has dramatically improved."
Hauer, as the Executive Vice President at the Orthodox Union, similarly put out a statement in support of Buechler and advised students to avoid the "anarchy" on campus to celebrate Passover.
"The anarchy inside and outside Columbia’s campus is disturbing, disorienting, and frightening for all of us to witness, but it has been downright dangerous for the Jewish students experiencing it. While OU-JLIC – like our campus partners in Hillel and Chabad – will continue to steadfastly support Jewish students on campus, we do not believe that it is the responsibility of the Jewish students either at Columbia or elsewhere to be heroes," Hauer wrote.
He echoed that sentiment to Fox News Digital, emphasizing that the events on campus do not represent free speech but intimidation.
"Those events represent anarchy. They represent the situation where there has simply been inadequate effective responses to open expressions of antisemitism. This is not free speech. Free speech is the right which everyone has, every Palestinian, everyone who is upset by the damage which has happened in Gaza to express their opinion, everyone who thinks that Israel doesn't have a right to exist to express their opinion," Hauer said.
"What's happening there is not people expressing their opinions. It's people intimidating, threatening and making the people in front of them, the Jewish people in front of them, feel unwelcome and unsafe. That's not free speech on campus. That's closing down free speech on campus. And the impact of it has been pretty terrible. And disorienting for even those who don't live anywhere near it."
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Columbia University has announced that some protesters have been arrested and suspended since the protests escalated. Though Hauer was hopeful there would be fewer points of conflict if Jewish students returned home, he remained uncertain about whether the situation could improve.
"We couldn't have guessed how quickly and drastically it would turn. So we're going to stop guessing. And we're going to just focus on getting people to do the right thing quickly and effectively," he said.
The White House later condemned the "blatantly antisemitic" protests "in the strongest terms" in a statement Sunday afternoon. Hauer was glad the White House responded to the situation, but called for a firmer response.
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"We need more than statements of sympathy. We need concrete and real enforcement, tools of enforcement, moral support for enforcement where police and campus administrators don't feel that they're going to be sued the next day for doing what the law really requires of them to do," Hauer said.
