Topline
Harvard University President Claudine Gay testified in a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday morning she has seen a “dramatic and deeply concerning rise in antisemitism” on college campuses, including at Harvard, as tensions soar amid Israel’s war with Hamas—and school administrators face criticism for their handling of tense protests.
Harvard President Claudine Gay testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning over antisemitism on … [+]
Key Facts
At a hearing in front of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce featuring the heads of several universities, Gay said there has been a rise in antisemitism “around the world, in the United States and on our campuses, including my own,” adding “members of Harvard’s Arab and Muslim communities are also hurting” due to rising Islamophobia.
Gay said her role has been to “confront hate while preserving free expression,” calling the “free exchange of ideas” the “foundation on which Harvard is built” while “safety and wellbeing are the prerequisites for engagement in our community.”
University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, in her testimony, said the university has moved to “immediately investigate any hateful act,” saying “history teaches us that where antisemitism goes unchecked, other forms of hate spread and ultimately threaten democracy.”
The hearing comes as universities like Harvard and Penn face heavy criticism from donors, board members and some conservative organizations over largely pro-Palestinian protests, with donors including billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman arguing some protesters have repeated antisemitic rhetoric.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who chairs the committee, argued in a press release last month that college administrators have “largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow” in the wake of what she claimed was growing antisemitism.
In a speech on Tuesday, Foxx labeled Harvard “ground zero for antisemitism” after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, arguing that “after the events of the past two months, it’s clear that rabid antisemitism and the university are two ideas that cannot be cleaved from one another.”
Key Background
College campuses have become a focal point for heated debate since Hamas’ attack on Israel and Israel’s invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Just days after the Hamas attack, Harvard students from nearly three dozen student groups signed a letter placing sole blame on Israel for Hamas’ attack. That letter drew the ire of advocacy groups as well as Ackman, who called on Harvard officials to release the names of the signers in an effort not to hire them. Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman also said he would like to know their names “so I know never to hire these people.” Ackman later called on Harvard to suspend students at a pro-Palestinian demonstration who were videotaped ushering another student away (Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, which organized the event, said protest marshals “never physically engaged with” the student who was escorted out). Other protests have led to arrests, including at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where a student was arrested last month after campus police said he punched a Jewish student in the face, and at Cornell University, where a student was arrested over alleged threatening posts targeting Jewish students in an online messaging board. At Columbia University, school officials suspended the Ivy League’s chapters of its student groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, while billionaire Leon Cooperman suspended his donations to the school, and billionaire Henry Swieca resigned from the board of Columbia’s Business School, citing “blatantly anti-Jewish student groups and professors.”
Tangent
Some students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Harvard have faced scathing criticism from university officials over the use of the pro-Palestinian chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” referring to the area that currently encompasses both Israel and the Palestinian territories. Gay condemned the use of the phrase last month, arguing it bears “specific historical meanings that to a great many people imply the eradication of Jews from Israel.” The Anti-Defamation League has also called the chant antisemitic, though defenders like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) have argued it can also serve as an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence.”
Contra
In addition to Gay’s testimony, Harvard University also faces an investigation from the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, joining a growing list of colleges and universities to face federal probes over potential civil rights violations. The office also launched an investigation last month into Columbia University, Cornell University, Wellesley and five other schools over potential “shared ancestry” violations of the Civil Rights Act, a provision of the landmark 1964 act that prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin.
Further Reading
Harvard President Condemns Controversial Pro-Palestinian Slogan And Speaks Out Against Antisemitism (Forbes)
