House set to vote on bipartisan resolution condemning antisemitism and university presidents’ congressional testimony
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Three presidents of elite universities appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Dec. 5. Since then, these presidents have faced intense backlash for their testimonies. And now the House is set to vote on a bipartisan resolution condemning their testimony on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., introduced the resolution along with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Reps. Jared Moskowitz, R-Fla., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., The Hill reported.
The three university presidents’ responses to Stefanik’s line of questioning drew attention, especially their answer to Stefanik when she asked if calling for the genocide of Jewish people violated their school’s conduct policies.
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University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill responded that “it is a context-dependent decision, congresswoman,” when Stefanik pressed her to answer the question.
Magill has since stepped down as president, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay also said that it depended on the context.
“Antisemitic speech when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation — that is actionable conduct and we do take action,” she said during the congressional hearing.
Afterward, Gay apologized for her testimony. “When words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret,” she told The Harvard Crimson.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth said that if the speech was “targeted at individuals, not making public statements,” then it could violate MIT’s policies.
“This is not a partisan issue but a question of moral clarify which is why our colleagues from across the aisle have come together with us to introduce a resolution condemning antisemitism as well as the morally bankrupt testimonies of the university presidents from Harvard, Penn, and MIT during last week’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing,” Stefanik said in a press release.
Also a supporter of the resolution, Gottheimer said, “I will always defend the right to free speech, even when what’s being said is incredibly offensive. But I won’t sit back when words and actions violate the law, instill fear, and put students in danger.”
The resolution “strongly condemns the testimony of University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, Harvard University President Claudine Gay, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth and their failure to clearly state that calls for the genocide of Jews constitute harassment and violate their institutions’ codes of conduct.”
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The fallout from the congressional hearing has included calls for the presidents to resign. As already mentioned, Magill resigned. The Harvard board signed a letter “reaffirm(ing) our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” The New York Times reported.
Mark Gorenberg, chair of the MIT Corp., affirmed his support for Kornbluth following the hearing as well and shared a publicly available note from the corporation. “She has done excellent work in leading our community, including in addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate, all of which we reject utterly at MIT. She has our full and unreserved support,” the note said.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has been among those making the call for the university presidents to resign, per The Wall Street Journal. “When I started out, this was all about antisemitism,” he said. “The much bigger issue is this ideology on campuses ... that has led to free speech being squelched.”
“As a result of President Gay’s failure to enforce Harvard’s own rules, Jewish students, faculty and others are fearful for their own safety even as the physical abuse of students remains unpunished,” Ackman wrote in a letter on Sunday, per The Wall Street Journal.
Some like Nico Perrino, from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, have a different take on what the university presidents said. He called for the elimination of speech codes on campus.
“In light of the sudden and convenient discovery of free speech scruples by the college presidents at yesterday’s hearing, we should hold the presidents to these scruples, and we should not lose sight of the bigger picture,” Perrino said. “Double standards are frustrating, but we should address them by demanding free speech be protected consistently — not by expanding the calls for censorship.”
The House vote on the resolution is expected to take place on Wednesday, per CNN.
“These are Ivy League university presidents that were asked a softball question: ‘Does calling for the genocide of Jews count as harassment under their school’s policies?’” Jared Moskowitz said. “That’s not a trick question, and it’s infuriating that these leaders of young people would try to equivocate with some nonsense about ‘it depends on the context.’”
