Conservative college students complained in a congressional hearing Wednesday about attempts to silence their viewpoints on campuses, while Jewish students described the increasing threats they face at school, especially following the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

In a House Judiciary Committee hearing focused on free speech on college campuses, Amanda Silberstein, a Jewish student at Cornell University, said she has seen antisemitic tropes from classmates on social media, anti-Israel signage and graffiti on campus, and a professor publicly justify Hamas’ attacks on Israel last month.

Last week, a junior at Cornell was arrested and charged with posting threats to kill or injure Jewish students, including at the school’s Kosher dining hall.

Silberstein said she is now afraid to call attention to her Jewish identity. 

“I never thought twice about putting on my Jewish star every day, about opening my computer with my Hebrew keyboard in class,” she said. “But today, I do think twice about that. And the thought of being persecuted for who I am, being looked at differently and being discriminated against crosses my mind multiple times a day.”

Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said antisemitism incidents on college campuses were already on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war and have only intensified since. 

He told stories about students being barred from student government associations and even book clubs and a sexual assault survivors group because they were Zionists or supporters of Israel.

“In many cases, we saw this not just as toxic, hostile environments but as specific actions to exclude Jewish students who have that as a part of their identity,” he said.

The hearing on free speech, however, did not feature any pro-Palestinian witnesses. The event was disrupted several times by pro-Palestinian protesters who were then escorted out, with one shouting: “Palestinian students deserve to speak on the genocide of their families. Stop silencing Palestinian students!”

Those who did testify painted pro-Palestinian speech on campuses as generally threatening to Jews. 

Marcus testified that what his organization is seeing is that intense, anti-Jewish speech is “almost always” accompanied by hateful conduct. He also said those who promote the same views as Hamas could potentially be running afoul of the law by providing material support for a terrorist group. 

Silberstein said that at Cornell she is “confronted daily with shouts to ‘free Palestine from the river to the sea.’”

“It is a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that encompasses the entire state of Israel,” she said. “It is a Jew-hating, genocidal mandate seeking to deny the Jewish right to self-determination in Israel. It is a call to exterminate all Jews.”

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said it was “ironic” that the committee held a hearing on free speech the morning after the Republican-led House censured Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the only Palestinian American in Congress, over her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war.

“MAGA Republicans and others censured the only Palestinian voice in the House of Representatives because they didn’t like what she had to say,” Johnson said. “She didn't threaten anybody. She did not advocate for violence.

“We're not setting a very good example here in Congress.”

Meanwhile, two of the witnesses — Anti-Defamation League President Stacy Burdett and American University Jewish studies Director Pamela Nadell — applauded the Biden administration’s national strategy to combat antisemitism, with Burdett urging Congress to fund it. 

“We don't have the luxury right now to be partisans of anything but our safety,” Burdett said. “And right now, the national strategy is the best blueprint for action I have seen in 30 years of writing blueprints for action. The clock is ticking for us and for Jewish students.”

On Tuesday, the Biden Education Department warned schools and colleges in a letter that they must take immediate action to stop antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses, citing an “alarming rise” in threats and harassment.

The hearing started with a former and a current college student, both members of the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom, describing the harsh treatment they and others have received on their campuses when trying to promote their political views.

Connor Ogrydziak, a recent graduate from the University of Buffalo, student government representatives cut microphones during a question-and-answer segment with Lt. Col. Allen West, a former Republican congressman, and members of the YAF chapter were then chased by a mob across campus, with one board member being physically attacked. 

“With silence from the university and charges not pressed by the Erie County District Attorney's office, I've since been left to consider the precedent this sets for those who plan to protest future events on campus,” Ogrydziak said. “ … If those were who were involved in this mob were able to result to fear tactics and violence without consequence, what is keeping a pattern of this despicable behavior from being set and executed repeatedly?”

A March appearance at the University of Buffalo by conservative commentator Michael Knowles, who has expressed anti-gay and anti-transgender views, was met with further protests. Less than three weeks later, the school’s Student Association Senate voted to change its rules to no longer recognized the YAF chapter as a student group. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization, has filed a lawsuit on YAF’s behalf. 

“Regardless of what side of the political aisle you reside on, it should be common ground that no student deserves to be threatened, mistreated or silenced on campus due to their personal beliefs,” Ogrydziak said. “Conservative students currently face a relentless uphill battle for representation on campus.”

Jasymn Jordan, who attends the University of Iowa, said she has been called a Nazi, a white supremacist and a bigot at her school. 

“Some individuals even expressed that I made them uncomfortable and feared that I might commit a crime against them simply because I'm Black and hold conservative principles,” she said, crying.

Jordan also said chalk advertisements promoting events featuring conservative speakers were often erased by students and replaced with derogatory messages. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the committee, was sympathetic. He said that as an undergraduate at Columbia University he was “shouted down” by one organization for not being liberal enough.  

“I hold no truck with trying to silence conservative voices or any other voices,” Nadler said. “And on college campuses or anywhere else, freedom of speech is of fundamental value. And I would just say that this is not new.

“I am sorry for your experience,” he added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.