Ivy League university presidents were called to testify before the Republican-led House Education Committee on Tuesday regarding hate speech policies related to antisemitism. This has become a controversial topic of discussion ever since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war and subsequent rise of pro-Palestine protests led by student groups.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) questioned MIT President Sally Kornbluth, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, and Harvard President Claudine Gay about whether it is wrong in the eyes of their schools’ speech rules to call for the genocide of Jews. They all wavered in their responses, each of them replying with a variation of “it depends.”
Kornbluth, herself Jewish, was asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violates her school’s Code of Conduct. She said only if it is targeted at individuals, but not if it is used to make “general statements.”
Magill was asked the same question. She said, “if the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment, yes.” Stefanik pressed her to answer it more clearly, and fearfully asked her what such “conduct” would look like. “It is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman,” Magill replied.
Stefanik grew irate: “It’s a context-dependent decision, that’s your testimony today? Calling for the genocide of Jews is dependent upon the context? That is not bullying or harassment? This is the easiest question to answer ‘yes’ Ms. Magill! So is your testimony that you will not answer yes?”
“If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment,” Magill insisted. Stefanik gave her one more chance to answer the question. “It can be harassment,” she repeated.
Then Stefanik turned to the Harvard President. “And Dr. Gay, at Harvard, does calling for the genocide for Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no?”
“It can be, depending on the context,” Gay replied. When asked to elaborate, she said when it is “targeted at an individual.” Stefanik asked if that means the answer to her question is “yes.” “Again, it depends on the context,” Gay said, refusing to say yes.
Learn the benefits of becoming a Valuetainment Member and subscribe today!
🚨🚨🚨Presidents of @Harvard @MIT and @Penn REFUSE to say whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” is bullying and harassment according to their codes of conduct. Even going so far to say it needs to turn to “action” first. As in committing genocide.
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND… pic.twitter.com/hUY3SgoOOi
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) December 5, 2023
In November, the presidents of Columbia University and Barnard College put out a joint statement to their student bodies in which they condoned activism on campus for the Palestinian cause and condemned harassment that Palestine supporters have faced. “The deliberate harassment and targeting of members of our community by doxing, a dangerous form of intimidation, is unacceptable,” the memo said, referring to the trucks that have blasted activists’ names around campuses among other things.
In November, billionaire founder of the Pershing Square hedge fund Bill Ackman sent a lengthy letter to Harvard President Gay in which he outlined a list of changes to hate speech rules on campus that he saw as improvements. He requested that the president of his alma mater suspend students involved in groups that expressed favorable views of Hamas and called for the decolonization of Palestine. He specifically asked Gay to suspend a student that allegedly physically assaulted an Israeli student, and called for the suspension of another student who posted anti-Zionist and antisemitic messages in the Harvard’s Slack channels.
It would seem his efforts were unsuccessful, as the Congressional testimony led him to call for the firing of Gay. “The world will be able to judge the relative quality of the governance at @Harvard, @Penn, and @MIT by the comparative speed by which their boards fire their respective presidents,” he wrote on X.
The world will be able to judge the relative quality of the governance at @Harvard, @Penn, and @MIT by the comparative speed by which their boards fire their respective presidents.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) December 6, 2023
A spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania told CNN on Thursday, Dec. 7th that the school held an emergency meeting on Wednesday over the answers given by President Magill. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) called Magill’s testimony “shameful” and ask the school’s board to reconsider whether she is fit to be president of the institution. It was not clear from initial reporting if UPenn officials were going to fire Magill. Her remarks were widely seen as disastrous by people in elite positions, even despite her attempt at backpedaling her answers on X.
The three presidents’ remarks were met with criticism from the White House, with Biden administration spokesman Andrew Bates issuing a statement on their testimony. “It’s unbelievable that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country,” Bates wrote.
Add comment