Americans don’t look to Congress for moments of riveting moral clarity, but that’s what Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, delivered on December 6th. The occasion was a sleepy hearing of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Testifying before the committee on the upsurge of antisemitism on college campuses were three leaders at the pinnacle of elite American education: University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, MIT President Sally Kornbluth, and Harvard President Claudine Gay.
Stefanik was stewing. She had been trying for the entire hearing to get the college presidents on the record condemning shocking reports of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel practices, only to be politely, smugly swatted away with legalisms and bureaucratic prattle.
The October 7 Hamas mass murders in Israel kicked off a new wave of antisemitism, but conservatives have long been pointing to increasing intolerance at America’s elite institutions, particularly when it comes to the treatment of right-leaning intellectuals. Harvard leads the way. Nearly a decade ago, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Harvard graduate, warned in a speech to the graduating class that “on many college campuses, it is liberals trying to repress conservative ideas, even as conservative faculty members are at risk of becoming an endangered species. And perhaps nowhere is that more true than here in the Ivy League.” A new study by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranked Harvard dead last for free speech out of 248 schools surveyed. The “speech climate” at Harvard, the study noted, is “abysmal.”
Professor Gay, the Harvard president, has been complicit in the war against conservative thought for years. The Wall Street Journal notes she had roles opposing law professor Ronald Sullivan for working on the defense team of a serial sex offender (Harvey Weinstein) and data science professor David Kane, who had the gall to invite controversial “Bell Curve” author Charles Murray to Harvard. Professor Kane’s contract was not renewed. You don’t have to be a fan of Weinstein or the “Bell Curve” to recognize a grievous assault on free academic discourse here.
In recent weeks, as well, Professor Gay has come under scrutiny for allegedly plagiarizing the work of legal scholar Carol Swain and others. Harvard brushed off the plagiarism charges, saying it found only “a few instances of inadequate citation” and no “research misconduct.” Swain is irate, telling media outlets that Gay “plagiarized my work as well as several other people.”
Representative Stefanik, also a Harvard graduate, has been fighting the culture wars from Congress. Her goal at the hearing seemed simple: get the university presidents to condemn campus upheaval, particularly the calls for the genocide of the Jews. Mass murder, genocide—bad. It doesn’t seem complicated.
But the university presidents had another view. Genocide is a matter of “context,” they explained. The genocide of the Jews is a “context dependent decision,” in the words of U. Penn President McGill.
It was a fascinating C-SPAN moment. To a conservative observer, decades of the academic Left’s proselytizing Marxist moral relativism—the dominant mode of thought in American higher education for a generation—came rushing to the witness table and out of the mouths of the presidents. And to even a casual observer, it was clear that Rep. Stefanik was struggling to keep her head from exploding.
Some key moments:
ELISE STEFANIK: Ms. Magill, at Penn, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, yes or no?…
LIZ MAGILL: It is a context dependent decision, Congresswoman.
ELISE STEFANIK: It’s a context dependent decision? That’s your testimony today? Calling for the genocide of Jews is, depending upon the context, that is not bullying or harassment?…
LIZ MAGILL: If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment, yes.
ELISE STEFANIK: Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? The speech is not harassment. This is unacceptable, Ms. Magill. I’m going to give you one more opportunity for the world to see your answer. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s code of conduct when it comes to bullying and harassment, yes or no?
LIZ MAGILL: It can be harassment.
ELISE STEFANIK: The answer is yes. And Dr. Gay, at Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no?
CLAUDINE GAY: It can be. Depending on the context.
ELISE STEFANIK: What’s the context?
CLAUDINE GAY: Targeted as an individual, targeted as — at an individual, severe, pervasive.
ELISE STEFANIK: It’s targeted at Jewish students, Jewish individuals. Do you understand your testimony is dehumanizing them? Do you understand that dehumanization is part of antisemitism? I will ask you one more time. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no?….
CLAUDINE GAY: Antisemitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct, that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation. That is actionable conduct….
ELISE STEFANIK: So, the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard code of conduct, correct?
CLAUDINE GAY: Again, it depends on the context.
ELISE STEFANIK: It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes. And this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board.
The response to the Stefanik moment was swift. U. Penn President Magill resigned. But MIT and Harvard circled the wagons. The MIT governing board noted its “full and unreserved support” for President Kornbluth. Harvard’s leadership issued a public letter expressing its “confidence” that President Gay “is the right leader to help our community heal.”
Here at Judicial Watch, we’re investigating antisemitism on college campuses, including the role of oil-rich, antisemitic, Hamas-supporting Qatar in funding American universities. We won’t quit. Nothing good came from the Hamas massacre in Israel, a story that is still unfolding. But at least it seems to have exposed the depth of the problem with American education here at home.
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Micah Morrison is chief investigative reporter for Judicial Watch. Tips: mmorrison@judicialwatch.org
Investigative Bulletin is published by Judicial Watch. Reprints and media inquiries: jfarrell@judicialwatch.org
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