University of Michigan President Santa Ono has been called to testify before a Republican-led congressional committee to address how colleges are addressing antisemitism on campus amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations, though the conditions for him to answer questions have been changed.

Ono was slated originally to appear May 23 before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce for a hearing titled “Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos." But committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., this week announced a new lineup of college presidents to appear at the hearing due to the "shocking concessions to the unlawful antisemitic encampments" on the campuses of Rutgers and Northwestern universities.

Northwestern President Michael Schill, Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway and Michael Drake, president of the University of California, Los Angeles will now appear before the committee May 23.

Ono, along with Yale University's president, Peter Salovey, will be required to appear in Washington, D.C., at a later date for "transcribed interviews," which a committee aide said will not be conducted during a live hearing.

"Yale and Michigan are by no means off the hook," Foxx said in a statement, adding that Salovey and Ono will testify or "or risk deposition and subpoena."

UM officials did not respond to questions about the committee's request for Ono to testify.

Ono spoke to The Detroit News in December, days after the president of the University of Pennsylvania resigned after testifying before the committee, and was asked if calling for the genocide of Jews is protected speech. He said such speech would be "problematic" at UM.

"It would be contrary to our views here at the University of Michigan, and there is no place for that at the University of Michigan," Ono said. "Certainly, free speech is a cornerstone of all public institutions, but calling for the genocide of any people is problematic."

The call for Ono to testify comes as tensions have erupted on campuses across the nation amid the Israel-Hamas war, with protesters calling for Palestinian statehood, a cease-fire in Gaza and for universities to shed investments with ties to Israel.

At UM, pro-Palestinian students disrupted an honors convocation in March, set up an encampment on the Diag April 22, and carried Palestinian flags during graduation last weekend at Michigan Stadium. Police arrested one nonstudent over the weekend after chaos broke out between protesters and police outside a dinner UM officials held for honorary degree recipients.

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