Harvard, Penn presidents flip-flop on whether they'd protect Jewish students
The presidents insisted that the answer would depend on the 'context' of the call for genocide, an whether or not the speech extended 'into conduct.'
During a Tuesday hearing before the House Education and The Workforce Committee, titled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism,” the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology each individually refused to state that “calling for the genocide of Jews” would be considered a violation of their respective universities’ codes of conduct.
Instead, the presidents insisted that the answer would depend on the “context” of the call for genocide, an whether or not the speech extended “into conduct.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-R) asked all three university presidents repeatedly whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates university rules.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth each gave all manner of answers, none of which were “yes.”
After public backlash, Harvard University published a statement from Gay Wednesday to finally state that “Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”
Statement from President Gay: There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic…
— Harvard University (@Harvard) December 6, 2023
However, just one day before, when Harvard President Claudine Gay was asked whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” is an action that violates university policy, she repeatedly stated that it “depends on the context.”
Penn also addressed the PR situation Wednesday via a video statement from President Liz Magill, posted to X.
[RELATED: ANALYSIS: Harvard president Claudine Gay is a hypocritical fraud]
“There was a moment during yesterday’s congressional hearing on antisemitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies,” Magill states in the video. In fact, Magill was asked several times, and given several opportunities to clarify her answer.
A Video Message from President Liz Magill pic.twitter.com/GlPE3QZU4P
— Penn (@Penn) December 6, 2023
“In that moment, I was focused on our University’s long-standing policies, aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable. I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It’s evil, plain and simple,” she continues, latter adding “in my view would be harassment or intimidation.”
She went on to say that “For decades, under multiple Penn presidents, and consistent with most universities, Penn’s policies have been guided by the Constitution and the law.”