the president of Rutger's University today defended the actions he took to end a pro Palestinian encampment after weeks of protests Jonathan Holloway today testified before a congressional committee that he stood behind his decision to use negotiations rather than police force to break up the demonstration Holloway was grilled alongside the hands of other large public universities as part of a series of hearings looking into how colleges have responded to allegations of anti-semitism GOP committee members today accused Holloway and others of caving to protesters demands by striking deals with them even scorning them for allegedly tolerating anti-Semitism on campus senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the details Rutger's president Jonathan Holloway shared a congressional hot seat with two other current University presidents as House Republicans again criticized how colleges across the US handled the pro pales Ian encampments on campus ruter negotiated with protesters who agreed to leave as final exams got underway Dr Holloway you accepted eight of the 10 encampment demands including an egregious amnesty deal to Ru for students and faculty involved in the encampment I'd like to know what sort of message you think that sends to your Jewish students Rucker's agreement ended the confrontation peacefully but under questioning from Jersey Democrat Don Donald Norcross Holloway said he did come close to calling in police on the new brunwick encampment final day we had 125 police mustard ready to go um by early afternoon why did it take so long to remove the encampment even after the deal was done we extended the timeline to 4:00 and that was a matter of public safety sir Holloway also said the University's investigating language and actions whether protesters violated rules of conduct and it's taking action I report that we've suspended four people uh and then um 19 others are under have experienced other levels of dis disciplinary um consequence over 3 hours of testimony Democrats noted universities must find a balance between free speech and a welcoming campus Republicans on the house committee on education and the workforce which has held multiple meetings on Pro Palestinian campus protests claim it's creating a lingering fear among current and prospective students Republican Aaron Bean said an Israeli family told him they're now afraid to send their daughter to ruers I'm very sorry to hear that the family feels this way well they're scared they see the video that we see of of students which is what happened at UCLA and others across uh America and they see very little consequences of breaking the laws and the policy because no one seems to be held accountable are you going to hold people accountable Mr President May thank you ma'am uh yes sir absolutely uh one thing I want to make clear is that in any instance of of the kind of language Behavior you've been talking about we've responded immediately with uh whether it's student affairs police sometimes campus police sometimes State Police even the FBI to help us Holloway was asked whether he'd closed down the rer center for security race and rights which critics call anti-semitic he said no although he disagrees with their statements in a post on x csrr called Israel's government quote genocidal you think Israel's government's genocidal um uh sir I don't uh have an opinion Holloway later changed his answer to no the Israeli States not genocidal through it all the Ruckers Community watched some called the hearing a Witch Hunt they're manufacturing lies and weaponizing painful riffs in our community as part of an assault on higher educ there seems to be this presumption that saying nasty things about the state of Israel and what they are doing in that region is the same as saying nasty things about Jews and it's just not true others welcomed Holloway's stated commitment to work with the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups on campus this summer to address security concerns and I think it was a catalyst for perhaps the work that really needs to be done here um to com back bias and anti-Semitism she says it's going to take a long time to rebuild trust I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight news [Music]