When the House Committee on Education and the Workforce called the presidents of Harvard, M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania to testify last December, the focus was on how the leaders were dealing with the rising number of antisemitic incidents on campus.

But over the last several weeks, as pro-Palestinian encampments sprang up on campuses across the country, the committee indicated that its interest had subtly shifted, from the larger issue of antisemitism on campus to the encampments…