Presidents from three of the nation’s top universities refused in a House Education Committee hearing on Tuesday to admit that student calls for Jewish genocide following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel violate their codes of conduct.
The New York Times framed the hearing as a Republican-led performance to “Try to Put Harvard, M.I.T. and Penn on the Defensive About Antisemitism.” The questioning from several GOP legislators, however, showed presidents at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard have little to no remorse over their slow response, silence, and staunch refusal to punish students for flaunting antisemitic and anti-Western sentiments.
The repeated failure of the college presidents to condemn or punish the antisemitism plaguing higher education institutions even led Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, to call for their resignation.
🚨🚨🚨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
College students across the U.S. have spent the last two months leading protests against Jews and signing statements signaling solidarity with Hamas after the terrorist group murdered 1,200 people in Israel.
The only accountability any students endorsing Jewish genocide and the end of Israel ever received came from private activists. Top donors pulled out of their funding agreements with Ivy
