House Republicans are eyeing the tax-exempt status of universities as a way to ensure administrators will stop campus antisemitism.

At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Thursday titled “Crisis on Campus: Antisemitism, Radical Faculty, and the Failure of University Leadership,” Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) called into question the tax-exempt status of universities that do not properly respond to campus antisemitism and commit possible Title VI civil rights violations.

This week, the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT were dressed down by lawmakers for their refusal to unequivocally condemn expressions of antisemitism on their universities’ campuses.

Critics lambasted pro-Palestinian student demonstrators as antisemitic for chanting phrases such as “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”—both of which have been used by supporters of Hamas to call for the eradication of Israel—arguing that they are calls for the genocide of Jews.

Harvard president Claudine Gay issued an apology for her remarks on anti-Semitism during congressional testimony earlier this week.

"I am sorry," Gay told the Harvard Crimson on Thursday. "Substantively, I failed to convey what is my truth."

Under questioning from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), Gay refused to say whether calling for violence against Jews would violate Harvard's policies against harassment and bullying, saying it "depends on the context."

The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology emphasized the importance of free speech on campus when pressed during a Tuesday congressional hearing on how antisemitism was allowed to run rampant at their respective institutions, which have in recent years failed to defend the First Amendment on countless occasions in the name of protecting marginalized communities.

The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are facing questions from Congress Tuesday about their responses to alleged incidents of antisemitism on their campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

“Today, each of you will have a chance to answer to and atone for the many specific instances of vitriolic, hate-filled antisemitism on your respective campuses that have denied students the safe learning environment they are due,” said Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.

Harvard University President Claudine Gay testified in a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday morning she has seen a “dramatic and deeply concerning rise in antisemitism” on college campuses, including at Harvard, as tensions soar amid Israel’s war with Hamas—and school administrators face criticism for their handling of tense protests.