Three top American University presidents threw away a chance to call a spade a spade and outrightly denounce calls for the “genocide of Jews” on their campuses as harassment and bullying.
During a congressional hearing before the Committee on Education & the Workforce on Tuesday, Harvard University President Claudine Gay, MIT University President Sally Kornbluth, and University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill were asked if students’ call for death to Jews should constitute a violation of their respective campus’ codes of conduct regarding harassment or bullying.
The three could, however, not provide an answer, even though they were asked the question multiple times.
🚨🚨🚨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
For a question that warranted a “yes” or a “no,” the officials insisted on saying it depends on context and that the campuses would take action if the speech became conduct. Magil said that the speech can only be considered harassment if it turns into conduct.
That statement drew the ire of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) who responded, “‘Conduct’ meaning committing the act of genocide? The speech is not harassment? This is unacceptable.”
Stefanik then spoke directly to Gay, asking him to state whether students calling for the genocide of Jews are guilty of violating Harvard’s rules on harassment and bullying. “It can be, depending on the context,” Gay responded.
When the congresswoman asked her to clarify, Gay said, “Targeted as an individual; targeted at an individual.”
“It’s targeted at Jewish students. Jewish individuals. Do you understand your testimony is dehumanizing them?” Stefanik retorted, emphasizing that “dehumanization is part of anti-Semitism.”
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, college students across the U.S. have held protests on campus in which they chanted “intifida,” “genocide of Jews” and other anti-Semitic statements.
The president’s failure to condemn such actions has drawn widespread criticism. During the fourth Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called their lack of strong stance “disgusting.”
“You know, if this had been the KKK that was doing protests on those campuses, every one of those college presidents would have been up in arms. This is just as bad. The idea that they would go and allow that kind of pro Hamas protest, or agree with the genocide of Jews, and try and say that they needed context on that — there is no context to that,” she stated.