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2023 United States Congress hearing on antisemitism

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On December 5, 2023, the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. The committee called a few university leaders to testify, including the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1]

Committee chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led the hearing.

In the widely televised hearing, the presidents answered questions about their schools' policies, including those on antisemitism.[2][3] After the hearing, the committee called for the resignation of the presidents, and announced a Congressional investigation "with the full force of subpoena power" into the same issues.[4]

Four days later, on December 9, 2023, Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, submitted her resignation, partly in response to backlash resulting from the hearing.[5][6] Less than one month later, on January 2, 2024, Harvard University's president Claudine Gay resigned from the office, following the hearing on antisemitism and allegations of plagiarism.[7] MIT president Sally Kornbluth received a statement of support from the institute's board of trustees and continued to serve as the institute's president.[8]

Background

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, there were multiple anti-Israel protests at university campuses in the United States, which supporters of Israel allege to have had antisemitic undertones.[9][10] Many universities were criticized for supposedly failing to adequately condemn the Hamas attacks[10] and ensuing alleged antisemitic rhetoric, including Penn and Harvard.[11][12][13][14][9] This became a conservative talking point, described by some commentators as adding to more general right-wing attacks on higher education.[15][16]

Hearing

The Committee invited the presidents of four major universities to testify about antisemitism on their campuses.[17] Those able to attend included Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, Claudine Gay of Harvard, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT.[6] The three presidents were joined by Pamela Nadell, a professor of history at American University.[18] It was later reported that Minouche Shafik of Columbia University was invited to testify before the committee, but she declined due to a "scheduling conflict" with pre-planned speeches at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai.[19][20]

Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led the hearing on December 5, and noted that the rise of antisemitism on college campuses is disturbing and threatening to Jewish students, faculty, and staff.[21] The presidents were each asked whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" violated their rules of bullying and harassment.[2] During the hearing when Kornbluth, who is Jewish, said she had not heard any calls for genocide, Rep. Elise Stefanik claimed that chants of "Intifada" (Arabic) may be considered a "call for the genocide" of Jewish people.[22] Each president replied that the answer at their institution depended on context.[23][24]

In a specific exchange, Stefanik asked Harvard president Gay: "At Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no?", Gay answered, "It can be, depending on the context."[23][3]

Reactions and further developments

Immediately after the hearing, Stefanik and other members of the committee called for the three presidents to resign, later publishing a written letter calling for their resignation signed by 70 members of Congress.[3] The following day, the committee announced a Congressional investigation "with the full force of subpoena power" into the same issues.[4]

The responses of all three presidents drew public criticism for being evasive.[2] Gay released a statement noting that some "have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students."[25] White House spokesman Andrew Bates said, "Calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country."[2] Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, said he found the responses by Magill "unacceptable."[2] Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, noted that though the university presidents' answers were "legally correct", it was frustrating "to see them discover free speech scruples while under fire at a congressional hearing," rather than in a more principled way.[2]

Magill, who had already been under pressure in October over the university's initial response, resigned as president of Penn four days after the hearing.[26] A few days later, a series of allegations of plagiarism were levied against Gay by conservative activist Christopher Rufo and journalist Aaron Sibarium, followed the next week by an announcement by the Committee that it would open an additional probe into the allegations.[27] Gay resigned as president of Harvard on January 2, 2024.[7][28] Both resignations were widely reported as political victories for the right.[29][15][30] After Gay's resignation, Stefanik declared this was "just the beginning of the reckoning", and that "Republicans will carry out a 'long overdue' cleansing of higher education".[31][32]

The hearing was portrayed in the cold open of the December 9 episode of Saturday Night Live Season 49, in which Chloe Troast played Stefanik.[33] It was also satirized in an episode of the Israeli comedy show Eretz Nehederet, with a guest appearance from American comedian Michael Rapaport.[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ma, Annie (December 12, 2023). "How the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT testified to Congress on antisemitism". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Saul, Stephanie; Hartocollis, Anemona (December 6, 2023). "College Presidents Under Fire After Dodging Questions About Antisemitism". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Hensley, Sarah Beth (December 6, 2023). "Harvard's president answers backlash over response to calls for 'genocide of Jews'". ABC News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Watson, Kathryn (December 7, 2023). "House panel opening investigation into Harvard, MIT and UPenn after antisemitism hearing". CBS News. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Choma, Russ (December 10, 2023). "Penn President Resigns Over Disastrous Anti-Semitism Hearing". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on December 17, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Levy, Marc (December 9, 2023). "Liz Magill, UPenn president, resigns after antisemitism testimony draws backlash". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Korn, Melissa; Belkin, Douglas. "Harvard President Resigns After Plagiarism Allegations, Campus Antisemitism Backlash". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 2, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  8. ^ Cochran, Lexi Lonas (December 8, 2023). "MIT board announces support for university president after backlash to House testimony". The Hill. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Belkin, Douglas; Ellis, Lindsay (October 11, 2023). "Blaming Israel for Hamas Attacks Sparks Backlash Across U.S., Exposing Deep Rifts". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 13, 2023. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Hartocollis, Anemona; Saul, Stephanie; Patel, Vimal (October 10, 2023). "At Harvard, a Battle Over What Should Be Said About the Hamas Attacks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 13, 2023. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  11. ^ Marcus, Josh (October 10, 2023). "Letter from Harvard group holding Israel 'responsible' for war with Hamas sparks backlash". Independent. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  12. ^ Egan, Matt. "Harvard student groups issued an anti-Israel statement. CEOs want them blacklisted". CNN. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  13. ^ Halpert, Madeline (October 10, 2023). "Growing backlash over Harvard students' pro-Palestine letter". BBC News. Archived from the original on October 11, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  14. ^ Ables, Kelsey (October 17, 2023). "Donors are latest to punish Harvard over response to students' Israel critique". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 21, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Kazanjian, David; Steinlight, Emily; Committee, AAUP-Penn Executive (December 19, 2023). "We Must Protect Higher Ed". ISSN 0027-8378. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  16. ^ "Jews Shouldn't Celebrate the Resignation of Harvard University's President". Haaretz. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  17. ^ Karni, Annie (December 12, 2023). "To Testify or Not to Testify in Congress? Your Job Could Hang in the Balance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 19, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  18. ^ Hicks, Maggie (December 3, 2023). "In 5-Hour Hearing, Republican Lawmakers Chastise College Leaders for Campus Antisemitism". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on December 23, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  19. ^ Bernstein, Noah. "Shafik declined to testify before Congress, citing a scheduling conflict. But Columbia remains under national scrutiny". Columbia Daily Spectator. Archived from the original on December 26, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  20. ^ Karni, Annie (December 12, 2023). "To Testify or Not to Testify in Congress? Your Job Could Hang in the Balance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 19, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  21. ^ "Virginia Foxx on House Investigation of Elite Schools over Rampant Antisemitism". House Committee on Education & the Workforce. December 9, 2023. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  22. ^ Haslett, Cheyenne; Hensley, Sarah Beth (December 5, 2023). "Presidents of universities grilled on efforts to counter antisemitism on campus". ABC News. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  23. ^ a b Damiano, Mike; Burns, Hilary (December 6, 2023). "University presidents' responses to genocide question at congressional hearing draw furor". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  24. ^ Jackson, Herb (December 13, 2023). "Transcript: What Harvard, MIT and Penn presidents said at antisemitism hearing". Roll Call. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
  25. ^ "White House condemns university presidents after contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism". NBC News. December 6, 2023. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  26. ^ Saul, Stephanie; Blinder, Alan; Hartocollis, Anemona; Farrell, Maureen (December 9, 2023). "Penn's Leadership Resigns Amid Controversies Over Antisemitism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
  27. ^ "House Republicans investigating plagiarism allegations against Harvard President Claudine Gay". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  28. ^ "Harvard president Claudine Gay's resignation letter in full". The Guardian. January 2, 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on January 2, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  29. ^ McHugh, Calder (January 2, 2024). "How the Right Toppled Harvard's President". POLITICO. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  30. ^ Alafriz, Olivia (January 2, 2024). "Republicans claim victory for Harvard president's resignation". POLITICO. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  31. ^ Christenson, Josh (January 2, 2024). "Harvard President Claudine Gay resignation 'just the beginning of reckoning': Stefanik". New York Post. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  32. ^ "New York Post: Harvard President Claudine Gay's resignation 'just the beginning of reckoning' amid House antisemitism probe: Stefanik". Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. January 2, 2024. Archived from the original on January 11, 2024. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
  33. ^ Herbert, Geoff (December 10, 2023). "'SNL' mocks Elise Stefanik hearing with college presidents on antisemitism". Syracuse.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  34. ^ Kornick, Lindsay (December 13, 2023). "Comedian Michael Rapaport stars in Israeli 'Harry Potter' parody of college presidents' antisemitism testimony". Fox News. Archived from the original on January 1, 2024. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
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