Republican Senators request a plan from Cardona to safeguard Jewish students

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter on Wednesday to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona requesting that he provide information on the plans to protect Jewish students who are facing a dramatic increase in antisemitic violence and harassment following Hamas’ massive terrorist attack on Israel last month, the Arkansas Republican’s office said in a press release.

Cotton sent the letter along with two GOP colleagues, North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, insisting that “school administrators, at institutions of all levels, have a duty to protect their students from these kinds of threats. Schools that, by their inaction, enable threats and harassment against Jewish students are subject to losing their access to federal funds.”

The senators bemoaned that “antisemitism on college campuses has sharply escalated after Hamas’s murderous attack on Israel on October 7. Jewish students in the United States are facing extreme antisemitic violence and harassment, while school instructors look the other way or even praise Hamas’s terrorist attack. This is true on both college campuses and in K-12 schools.”

Cotton and his colleagues insisted that “the Department of Education must take immediate action to protect Jewish students” and asked that Cardona “provide a briefing as soon as practicable regarding your plans to protect Jewish students and hold accountable those who attempt to foment antisemitic violence in our schools.”