The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on the surge of campus antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on March 27, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the committee’s chairman, announced.

The hearing, scheduled for 10 a.m. ET, is titled, “Antisemitic Disruptions on Campus: Ensuring Safe Learning Environments for All Students,” according to an announcement from Cassidy. Witnesses’ names have not been made public yet. 

Cassidy has been pushing for a hearing on the issue of antisemitism on college campuses since November 2023. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the committee’s chairman in the last Congress, declined those requests. The Louisiana senator, who is up for reelection this cycle, organized a bipartisan roundtable on the issue that month as a result of Sanders’ refusal to allow for a full committee hearing. 

“Since the October 7 terror attacks, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D., chair of the HELP Committee, has led Senate Republicans in combating antisemitism on college campuses. Specifically, he is leading the Protecting Students on Campus Act, legislation that empowers students to file civil rights complaints if they experience violence or harassment on college campuses due to their heritage,” the announcement stated.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told JI in May that Sanders had conveyed to him that he planned to hold a hearing on antisemitism and Islamophobia, but such a hearing never materialized. Lankford and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), the chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, had also been calling for a HELP hearing on the issue of antisemitism. 

Asked by JI at the time about what he had told Lankford, Sanders replied, “The issue of bigotry on campus is something that we are concerned about,” before abruptly entering a senators-only elevator. His team declined future requests for comment.

Lankford and Rosen organized their own bipartisan roundtable in July, which featured six Jewish students from around the country.

The issue of a HELP hearing was also raised on the campaign trail last year. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), then a candidate, hammered former Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) for his reticence when it came to publicly condemning Sanders’ inaction. 

Next Thursday’s proceedings will be the second hearing specifically focused on antisemitism in the Senate since Oct. 7, 2023. The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), held a hearing on the issue earlier this month. No Senate committee held hearings solely focused on the subject in the last Congress.