Harvard, MIT, Penn varsities refuse to condemn call for violence on Jews
The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday refused to condemn call for violence on Jews when they were being grilled by the Congress about their responses to alleged incidents of antisemitism on their campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, shared a post on X narrating how things unfolded during the congressional hearing on antisemitism where Harvard president Claudine Gay, Penn president Liz Magill and MIT president Sally Kornbluth had been invited to testify.
In a long post on X, Ackman said the three presidents were asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violate (your university’s) code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment ?
The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today’s congressional hearing on antisemitism:
Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment?
The… pic.twitter.com/eVlPCHMcVZ
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) December 5, 2023
He said the answers they gave reflected 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,” Ackman wrote on X.
“In short, they said: It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews,” he wrote.
“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,” he wrote.
“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,” he opined.
He urged the users to watch the three minute video of the hearing which he shared along with his post.
“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,” he wrote.
“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,” he expressed.
He, however, praised the congressional leaders 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,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, responding to Ackman’s post, economist Sanjeev Sanyal, who is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, said that the decline and collapse of elite universities in the US is near complete and the closing of the Western mind was surprising quick.
“The decline and collapse of elite universities in the US is near complete. They still have an edge in STEM but for social sciences and humanities, there is no pretence left. The closing of the Western mind was surprising quick. Wonder if this happened to us in the 12th century,” wrote Sanyal.
As chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina invited Harvard president Gay, Penn president Magill and MIT president Kornbluth to testify.
“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,” Foxx was quoted as saying by CNN.
“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 added.
She said 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.
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.
(source-Firstpost)
