New York Gov. Kathy Hochul could easily put an end to pro-Palestinian protests at Cornell and other state colleges if she wanted to, Rep. Beth Van Duyne told Newsmax on Wednesday.
The Texas Republican spoke to "Newsline" one day after protesters smashed glass doors and spray-painted campus buildings on the first day of classes at Cornell in Ithaca, New York.
"If Governor Hochul was actually serious about it, she could do something today," Van Duyne said. "She could do what [Texas] governor [Greg] Abbott is doing, which is giving those universities access to state police and saying as soon as an encampment comes up, you call us and we'll take care of it.
"Which is why you have seen universities in Texas be able to handle this problem and prevent it, and you're not seeing it in places like New York."
Van Duyne said the House Ways and Means Committee, of which she is a member, is considering passing legislation "that actually fines universities that are not protecting their students. That looks at taking away their tax-exempt status if they're not going to protect and uphold the civil rights of their students."
Van Duyne added: "We're also looking at where they're getting their dollars. When you think about the hundreds of millions of dollars that are coming in from places like Qatar and some terrorist organizations into these universities, we're looking, investigating that, and making sure that that's transparent."
Van Duyne touched on the fact that many of the agitators who carried out violent protests last spring were never held accountable and noted that some faculty encouraged the behavior.
"When you hire radical professors that that spew antisemitism, anti-Jewish hate, of course, you're going to see this in their students," she said. "They're emboldening, empowering, pushing their students for this behavior."
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Kate McManus ✉
Kate McManus is a New Jersey-based Newsmax writer who's spent more than two decades as a journalist.
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