2023-12-07 15:01:10
by Viviana Mazza
The presidents of the three universities received at the Congress: if their students call for the genocide of the Jews will they be punished? Evasive answers from all three: “It depends on the context”
FROM OUR REPORTER
WASHINGTON – A congressional hearing of the presidents of three prestigious American universities — Penn, Harvard and MIT — turned into a scandal yesterday, after all three responded evasively to a question: would their students be punished in the case which they call for the genocide of the Jews? “It is incredible that we must reiterate that any call for genocide is monstrous and antithetical to everything we stand for as a nation,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said last night. The case broke out after that New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik He stated that, during the protests, students from various universities expressed their support for the intifada.
Stefanik asked: “Does calling for Jewish genocide violate Penn University’s rules of conduct or not?” Liz Magill, a free speech lawyer who runs Penn University, responded: “If statements turn into conduct, then it can be abuse.” Stefanik insisted: «I’m asking specifically: call for the genocide of the Jews constitutes a form of bullying or abuse?”. Magill replied: “If it is direct and severe and pervasive, it is abuse.” Stefanik: «So the answer is yes». “It depends on the context, Congresswoman,” Magill said. To which, Stefanik exclaimed: «Is this your testimony today? Does calling for the genocide of the Jews depend on the context?
Josh Shapiro, Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, said that the responses of his state’s university president, Elizabeth Magill, were “unacceptable.” Progressive academic Laurence Tribe also agreed with Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who harshly questioned Harvard President Claudine Gay. “I’m not a fan of Stefanik but I agree with her this time,” the Harvard professor wrote on Twitter/X. “The hesitant and evasive response deeply disturbs me, and the same goes for many of my colleagues, students and friends.”
In their statements, Gay, Magill and Sally Kornbluth of MIT spoke out troubled by incidents of anti-Semitism on campuses
. When asked whether they support the right of the Jewish state to exist, all three said yes, but when it comes to disciplining students for statements about genocide, they tried to give answers that addressed the issue of freedom of expression from a legal. For Jewish students and donors, however, who viewed the pro-Palestinian protests with fear – notes the New York Times – these statements failed to clearly condemn anti-Semitism.
Last night a petition calling for Liz Magill’s resignation had collected three thousand signatures. Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman also described the testimony as “a significant failure.” The Arab American commentator on MSNBC TV Mehdi Hassan, however, while agreeing in defining the responses of the three principals as “stupid, robotic, offensive and insensitive”, declared that they should have contested the premise that saying oneself “in favor of the intifada” means «call for genocide». In the evening Magill apologized in a video: «At that moment, I was thinking about the university policies which, in compliance with our Constitution, say that freedom of expression in itself is not punishable. I did not think, but I should have thought, of the irrefutable fact that to call for the genocide of the Jews is to call for the most terrible violence that can be perpetrated by human beings. It’s pure and simple evil.”
Corriere della Sera is also on Whatsapp. It’s enough click here to subscribe to the channel and always be updated.
December 7, 2023 (changed December 7, 2023 | 2:58 pm)
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
#Harvard #Penn #MIT #terrible #hearing #genocide #Jews #time.news