College Presidents Testify at Congressional Antisemitism Hearing

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Facts

  • Harvard President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) President Liz Magill, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth on Tuesday testified to Congress about their responses to an alleged increase in antisemitism on their campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war.1
  • Gay testified that she has observed a 'dramatic and deeply concerning rise in antisemitism' at Harvard and other colleges and claimed she has been balancing confronting hate with preserving a free exchange of ideas on her campus.2
  • When asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) if calling for the genocide of Jews violated the schools’ code of conduct, each of the presidents said it would depend on the context of the speech and that action would be taken if the speech turned to conduct.3
  • These responses received condemnation from the White House on Wednesday, after which, Gay appeared to backtrack , clarifying that 'Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group...have no place at Harvard.'4
  • Since the war began on Oct. 7, rallies and protests — calling for a cease-fire and/or a return of hostages taken by Hamas — have broken out on campuses, with some leading to vandalism and threatening messages toward both Jewish and Muslim students and student groups.5
  • In response to these protests, universities have faced criticism from donors, conservative organizations, and board members, some of whom have accused those protesting against Israel’s policies of crossing over to antisemitic rhetoric.2

Sources: 1CNN, 2Forbes, 3Daily Wire, 4The Hill and 5NewsNation.

Narratives

  • Right narrative, as provided by Washington Free Beacon. The hypocrisy of these elite, left-leaning college presidents is appalling. When it comes to defending the free speech of conservative professors and guest speakers, they’re nowhere to be found. But when it’s time to do something to clean up the blatant antisemitism on their campuses, that’s when they play the free-speech card. They should be removed from their jobs if they’re not going to make their campuses safer.
  • Left narrative, as provided by The Nation. The reason these elite, left-leaning college presidents were called to testify before a Republican-led committee is that they’re easy fodder for the GOP to throw into their culture war. These schools are doing what they can to prevent threats and violence. Republicans certainly know hypocrisy well when you consider their response to the alleged denial of free speech rights to conservatives on campuses is to demand free-speech rights be stripped from students.