WASHINGTON – The presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offered more than an excuse Tuesday for violent antisemitic demonstrations on their campuses in the wake of Hamas’ slaughter of 1,200 people across southern Israel on Oct. 7 — even claiming such displays were part of a culture of free speech.
“Institutional antisemitism and hatred are among the poisonous fruits of your institutional culture,” said House Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (D-NC) in her opening statement.
“After the events of the past two months, it is clear that fanatical antisemitism and the university are two ideas that cannot be separated from each other.”
While many lawmakers criticized the elite university for allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to attack and intimidate Jewish students, Tuesday was the first time the school’s top leaders have been called on to respond.
“Today, each of you will have the opportunity to answer and make amends for the many specific examples of hateful and hateful antisemitism … that have denied students a safe learning environment,” Foxx said. “Do you have the courage to actually confront and condemn the ideology that drives antisemitism? Or are you going to offer flimsy excuses, shift the blame and another task force that shirks responsibility?”
Pro-Palestinian protest at MIT in October. AFP via Getty Images
The answer, for the most part, is the latter.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a Harvard alumna, led the Republican attack, asking the president of her alma mater, Claudine Gay, whether students “calling for the mass killing of African Americans is not protected speech” at the Ivy league school.
In response to the question, intended to draw comparisons to young protesters calling for a “global intifada,” Gay launched into an apparently scripted statement about Harvard’s “commitment to free speech.”
“It’s a yes or no question,” said an angry Stefanik, raising his voice. “Let me ask you this … you understand that the use of the term ‘intifada’ in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the State of Israel, including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews. Are you aware of that?”
Dr. Claudine Gay, President of Harvard University (left), and Liz Magill, President of the University of Pennsylvania (center-right). Getty Images
In response, Gay said “that type of hateful speech is personally repugnant to me” and acknowledged hearing “thoughtless, reckless and hateful language on our campus,” but claimed Harvard could not condemn the words.
“We are committed to freedom of expression – even unpleasant, offensive views [and] hate,” he said. “When the speech conflicts with behavior that violates our policy against bullying and harassment. The speech did not pass that barrier.”
Following that, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) — who drew backlash this week for demanding “balanced” criticism when asked about Hamas rape in an interview — gave Gay a chance to expand on her answer, but the Harvard leader declined.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alumna, led the Republican attack. Reuters
“Thank you for the opportunity, but I am satisfied that I have communicated our deep commitment to freedom of expression,” he said.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) again tried to get specifics from Gay later, asking if “students who bully Jewish students just because they’re Jewish will be expelled?”
“You’re describing behavior that appears to violate our policies against bullying and threats and harassment, and if that happens, we’ll respond to that through our policies,” Gay responded.
But when confronted with reports that pro-Hamas protesters who occupied Harvard University Hall for 24 hours went unpunished despite intimidating Jewish students, Gay would only say that the school had “a disciplinary process underway.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal came under fire this week for demanding “balanced” criticism when asked about Hamas rape. Reuters
MIT President Sally Kornbluth also spoke about free speech, acknowledging that while students “have suffered with recent chants and demonstrations,” MIT has a responsibility to “make sure that we protect the diversity of speech and viewpoints for everyone.”
“Meeting that goal is challenging and the results can be very uncomfortable, but it’s essential to the way we operate in the United States,” he said. “Those who want us to shut down the language of protest are in effect, arguing the speech code, but in practice, the speech code does not work.”
MIT President Dr. Sally Kornbluth talks about free speech. Getty Images
“Our campus actions thus far have protected student safety, minimized disruption to campus activities, and protected the right to free speech,” he added, but said MIT “intensified our central efforts to combat antisemitism, an important subject in this hearing.”
But earlier on Capitol Hill, MIT student Tahlia Khan gave a very different account during a press conference by House Republicans, saying a postdoctoral fellow at the school told her that “Jewish Israelis want to enslave the world in a global apartheid system. [and] falsely claiming that Israel harvests Palestinian organs.”
“The DEI officer in his department responded by telling us that nothing he said was hate speech,” Khan said of what happened after his group complained, “and that the organ harvesting conspiracy theory had been ‘confirmed.'”
Telling the story of a friend’s son at Penn who was “physically afraid to go to the library at night,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) asked the school’s president Liz Magill why such a learning environment would be allowed to continue .
Penn President Liz Magill said she was “deeply troubled” to hear about a student being afraid to go to the library at night. Getty Images
“I’m saddened to hear that, and the safety and security of our campus and our students in particular is my primary concern,” Magill responded.
Although he did not answer the question, he asked to speak to the student, stating he was “very troubled”.
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