Subpoenaed by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, the presidents of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania appeared at a hearing on the same day to answer questions about anti-Semitism on campus. The hearing lasted five hours.
According to the New York Times, all three presidents said they were appalled by anti-Semitism and were taking action against it on campus. "When asked if they support Israel's right to exist, they answer unequivocally 'yes.'" Principals also said they have seen an uptick in incidents of Muslim hate on campus and are working to combat such hate.
The hearing was acrimonious when it came to the question of whether to shield students who participated in anti-Semitic activities. CNN reported that New York Republican Congressman Stephen Nick asked Harvard President Gay whether he would discipline students who made "hate speech" during the protest. Gay twice responded by saying, "Our University is committed to free speech," to the annoyance of the heckler.
The New York Times reported that Stefanik also had a dispute with Magill, the president of the University of Pennsylvania. Stefanik asked, "Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate the rules or code of conduct of the University of Pennsylvania?" Magill replied: "If speech becomes behavior, it can amount to harassment." Stefanik then questioned him again, to which Magill replied that it would depend on the circumstances. Hearing this, Stefanik exclaimed: "That's your testimony today? Does calling for the genocide of the Jews depend on the circumstances?"
The White House said in a statement: "Any suggestion of the systematic killing of Jews is dangerous and repugnant - and we should stand firmly against it." While not mentioning the hearing, the statement appeared to implicitly criticize the university for not denouncing "anti-Semitic" statements and incidents on campus more strongly.
The New York Times said Magill was at the center of a long-running dispute with members of Congress. According to US media reports, Pennsylvania Governor Rick Shapiro slammed Magill's remarks as "shameful" and "unacceptable." He even spoke directly to Penn's board of trustees, saying a "serious decision" should be made about Magill's performance. As of Saturday, more than 1,500 Penn alumni, patrons and students have called for the president's resignation. The chief executive of US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Peter Abel, lashed out at the three principals on social media. Business Insider reported that he called it "one of the most shameful moments in the history of American academia."
On the evening of the 6th, Magill apologized for her testimony. According to the Financial Times, Magill said he was wrong to be too legalistic in his response to questions. Gay also issued a statement, saying: "Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community or any religious or ethnic group are despicable, and they have no place at Harvard."According to Qatar's Al Jazeera television reported that late on the 6th, Harvard University's Palestine Solidarity Committee and the University of Pennsylvania Anti-occupation student organization and several other Jewish groups issued a joint statement saying that they strongly oppose the support for Palestinian assertions as "anti-Semitic" and criticized the hearing for not really combating "anti-Semitism." The Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee also strongly condemned the hearing on Instagram, calling it an attempt to divert attention from the genocide in Gaza and saying "we will not be silent."
Tensions have risen on college campuses across the United States since a new round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out. Hundreds of protests have taken place on university campuses in recent weeks, some of which have even turned violent. The U.S. Department of Education has launched an unprecedented number of investigations into hate incidents on college campuses, with Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and six other universities and four K-12 school districts under investigation.
