Donors, alumni and otherwise, need to stop funding these places. We are worse off for having people be “educated” at these places for far more reasons than just this issue...this is just the latest showing of how far downhill “Big Education” has gone.
Pennsy Gov calls for resignation of U of Penn president
Accusations of college antisemitism went from bad to worse with one House hearing
yahoonews.com, Lexi Lonas, Thu, December 7, 2023
College leaders seeking to fend off accusations of failing to protect their students from rising antisemitism have instead shot themselves in the foot.
For weeks the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were drowning in criticism of not taking the problem seriously enough after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and a House hearing this week put them further into treacherous water.
The opportunity for the presidents to make the public feel confident in their steps has turned into calls for their resignation after all three tried to sidestep a question on if a call for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment.
That blow came towards the end of the four-hour House Education Committee hearing, when Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) got an opportunity to question all three presidents for the sixth time, after other Republicans yielded her their time.
Harvard President Claudine Gay said such a genocidal call could violate the school’s policies “depending on the context.” Sally Kornbluth, the head of MIT, said the calls would need to be “pervasive” and would warrant an investigation.
Penn board of trustees convenes after school president’s House comments
Penn President Liz Magill got into a longer back-and-forth with Stefanik on the issue, with it ultimately coming to a head when Magill testified: “If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment.”
“Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide?” Stefanik retorted.
The pushback was swift and strong, with the White House calling it “unbelievable that this needs to be said: Calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country.”
On Thursday, Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) announced “a formal investigation into the learning environments at Harvard, UPenn, and MIT and their policies and disciplinary procedures.”
“The testimony we received earlier this week from Presidents Gay, Magill, and Kornbluth about the responses of Harvard, UPenn, and MIT to the rampant antisemitism displayed on their campuses by students and faculty was absolutely unacceptable,” Foxx said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) called on Penn’s board of directors to convene “soon” to have a “serious discussion” on if Magill’s comments represent the “values” of the university.
“That was an unacceptable statement from the president of Penn,” Shapiro said. “Frankly, I thought her comments were absolutely shameful. It should not be hard to condemn genocide.”
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