'Profound Moral Bankruptcy': University Presidents Don't Condemn Antisemitism in Congressional Hearing

What is going on with our colleges and universities?

They'd have no qualms forcefully condemning pretty much any conservative leaning group for any reason, but can't seem to bring themselves to condemn the rampant antisemitism they're allowing on their campuses.

🚨🚨🚨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

Watch the video (and there will be more further down in this post).

Now imagine how they'd screech about 'white supremacy' or 'racism' or 'transphobia' if any other ideology was doing on campus what the Left has been doing in earnest since October.

From CNN:

The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are facing questions from Congress Tuesday about their responses to alleged incidents of antisemitism on their campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

“Today, each of you will have a chance to answer to and atone for the many specific instances of vitriolic, hate-filled antisemitism on your respective campuses that have denied students the safe learning environment they are due,” said Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.

“As you confront our questions in this hearing, remember that you are not speaking to us, but to the students on your campus who have been threatened and assaulted and who look to you to protect them,” she said.

As chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Foxx invited Harvard president Claudine Gay, Penn president Liz Magill and MIT president Sally Kornbluth to testify.

“After the events of the past two months, it is clear that rabid antisemitism and the university are two ideas that cannot be cleaved from one another,” Foxx said.

For several hours, the presidents faced questions about their disciplinary actions toward students regarding acts of antisemitism, how their schools’ hiring practices ensure their faculty represent diverse viewpoints and how they are ensuring safety on campus.

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Several schools, including Harvard, face a Department of Education Civil Rights investigation over their tolerance of antisemitism on campus.

pic.twitter.com/d5Ne6kD0fx

Five chilling minutes in which Harvard President Claudine Gay, admits that certain statements are anti-Semitic and even call for clear murder against Jews.

However, when she is confronted with these statements being made on campus during protests and…

— Ella Travels (Ella Kenan) (@EllaTravelsLove) December 5, 2023

The entire tweet reads:

However, when she is confronted with these statements being made on campus during protests and demonstrations, she is unable to condemn them. A horrific display by the president of the most prestigious university in the world. What is happening in the United States?#Harvard #ClaudineGay

It says:

Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment?

The answers they gave reflect the profound moral bankruptcy of Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth. Representative @EliseStefanik was so shocked with the answers that she asked each of them the same question over and over again, and they gave the same answers over and over again. In short, they said:

It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews. This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide, which to remind us all is: “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”

The presidents’ answers reflect the profound educational, moral and ethical failures that pervade certain of our elite educational institutions due in large part to their failed leadership. Don’t take my word for it. You must watch the following three minutes. By the end, you will be where I am. They must all resign in disgrace.

If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour. Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world? Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context. To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest. On the bright side, our congressional leaders deserve accolades for showing tremendous leadership and moral clarity in their statements, by the questions they asked, and the respectfulness with which they conducted the hearing. It was a masterclass of how our government and democracy should operate. If you have time, please watch the entire hearing. 

Throughout the hearing, the three behaved like hostile witnesses, exhibiting a profound disdain for the Congress with their smiles and smirks, and their outright refusal to answer basic questions with a yes or no answer.

It really is something to watch.

This is seriously one of the most disturbing videos I’ve seen here in the past two months.
The lack of basic moral clarity in these institutions is truly horrifying.
The thought that these people are shaping America’s next leaders in a variety of fields is incredibly scary.

— Mor Hogeg (@MorHogeg) December 5, 2023

There is no moral clarity. There is no intellectual curiosity. The Ivy League has fallen.

to carry a sign or wear a shirt that says "There are only two genders" is agaisnt the code of conduct on these campuses, considered a threat to the existence of 'trans students'. ACTUALLY calling for the death of all Jews is not. let that sink in.

— Rani, Last of The Red Hot Boomers (@ShadesOfRani) December 5, 2023

Exactly. Any student who did this would be disciplined and expelled.

MIT won't even discipline students because they'll lose their Visas and be deported.

On calling for the genocide of Jews:

“If the speech becomes conduct, it can be considered harassment.”

Okay, good to know. If you kill a Jew at Penn or Harvard that maybe considered harassment.

MIT needs to have a committee review the context the murder

— JM Rothberg (@JMRothberg) December 5, 2023

Remember -- the Left says 'speech is violence', until it's antisemitism, then it might be harassment. At some point.

1/
The response to the Oct 7 Hamas attack exposed universities for the morally and intellectually bankrupt institutions they are.

They have been hijacked by activists who are using them as vehicles to advance left-wing ideology, rather than using them to seek truth and educate. https://t.co/vK83a0CBGa

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

This is a great thread, so we'll share it:

2/
As John Searle pointed out in 1999, in the humanities departments of our most prestigious universities the dominant view is that the United States is inherently evil.

And this is what they teach the next generation of professors, lawyers, teachers, and political leaders. pic.twitter.com/elaphyC6GK

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

3/
Searle also pointed out that the result of this is "unthinking left wing orthodoxy" by people who see their role in the university as being to carry out a left wing political agenda.

And we are now seeing the fruit of this on university campuses and in the larger society. pic.twitter.com/xh8oEucVCW

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

4/
1993 Searle pointed out that Marxism was "refuted by events" which had discredited it. So m
Marxism retreated to literature departments where people who wanted to use culture as an instrument for "social change" (AKA advancing leftist ideology) used it as an interpretive lens. pic.twitter.com/w1OrNQHJU7

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

5/
Searle went on to show that the activists no longer believed in objective truth, and believe that thebpurpose of educstion is not to pursue truth. The activists think education is always primarily political and ought to be used to inculcate leftist ideology into students. pic.twitter.com/MlgFuBOdSx

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

6/
So how did this happen?

How were unjversities takr over so easily?

One reason Searle provides is that academics are timid and weak. They refuse to stand up for the truth and thus are easily defeated by activists who will run them over to gain power. pic.twitter.com/y68FYgOPt8

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

7/
Many of us have been screaming about this for years, and nobody believed us.

Now the truth can no longer be hidden or ignored and stench of the moral and intellectual rot in our universities is being exposed for the world to see.

Now let's do something about it.

/fin

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) December 6, 2023

All of this.

The rot runs deep and must be excised.

This is absolutely insane. Seize the endowments and never hire anyone associated with these places… https://t.co/YLnhHI02po

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) December 5, 2023

The Ivy League students of today are the policymakers of tomorrow.

That should terrify all of us.

I really don’t even know what to say here. I am just appalled that these three people can be this morally bankrupt and run a major university. I find it heartbreaking. But on a secondary note, being this ill-prepared to speak, to handle a question, to hold your own under… https://t.co/x5lZx0F2em

— David L. Bahnsen (@DavidBahnsen) December 6, 2023

The full tweet says:

I really don’t even know what to say here. I am just appalled that these three people can be this morally bankrupt and run a major university. I find it heartbreaking.  But on a secondary note, being this ill-prepared to speak, to handle a question, to hold your own under examination - they’re not rhetorically, intellectually, or morally qualified for their jobs.  Everyone must watch this whole video.

This is as damaging of an exchange in a Congressional hearing as you might ever see.@RepStefanik has done our country a profound service by exposing the rank hypocrisy of university administrators when it comes to enforcing their own rules to protect Jewish students. https://t.co/c0Xs5uTUPc

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 6, 2023

Expose them. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Calling for genocide is not bullying or harassment unless and until genocide is committed is one hell of an argument. https://t.co/4KsUQA0KxR

— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) December 6, 2023

But remember 'speech is violence', unless it isn't.

Heads they win, tails you lose.

I appreciate that there might be legal reasons why this question is being answered in this way. But you cannot tell me in good faith that if these presidents responded in the same way to a similar question about black Americans that there would not be a world historical meltdown. https://t.co/WOjGs253QZ

— Tyler Austin Harper (@Tyler_A_Harper) December 6, 2023

The legal reasons are likely that they're facing lawsuits and federal civil rights investigations, and have not equitably applied their codes of conduct and discipline to acts and statements of antisemitism. That won't hold up well during the suits or federal investigations.

How hard is it to say that calling for the genocide of Jews is bullying and harassment?

Stunning that these university presidents can't give the right answer to a simple question.

Can you imagine being a Jewish student on these campuses? @MIT @Penn @Harvard https://t.co/OqRZFEIbzs

— Rep Josh Gottheimer (@RepJoshG) December 5, 2023

Very hard, apparently, when you're in charge of Harvard, Penn, and MIT.

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