The MIT, Harvard and UPenn leaders refused to outright say calling for genocide violated their codes of conduct
UPenn student torches university's president over antisemitism hearing: She got it wrong again
UPenn student Eyal Yakoby joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss President Liz Magill's refusal to say whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the university's code of conduct.
The presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) shocked and angered social media users with testimony given during a congressional hearing on antisemitism.
The school leaders arrived at Capitol Hill on Tuesday to answer questions about rising antisemitism on their campuses before the House Education and Workforce Committee.
During the hearing, MIT President Sally Kornbluth was asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the private land-grant research university's codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment.
"If targeting individuals, not making public statements," Kornbluth replied.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth, UPenn President Elizabeth Magill and Harvard President Claudine Gay gave testimony before Congress on Tuesday, December 5. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch/Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg)
When asked again, Kornbluth said she had not heard calls for the genocide of Jews on campus.
"But you've heard chants for intifada," Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said, a reference to the Arabic word "uprising" or "shaking off." The term has been used to describe periods of Palestinian resistance against Israel, often in the form of terrorism.
"We have heard chants which can be antisemitic depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people," Kornbluth said.
The MIT leader noted that such incidents would be investigated as harassment if found to be "pervasive and severe."
UPenn President Elizabeth Magill was then asked the same question. She told Congress that if the speech turned into conduct, it would be considered harassment.
Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University, during a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. (Haiyun Jiang/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
She added that it was a "context-dependent" situation that would constitute bullying and harassment if it was "directed," "pervasive," and "severe."
Magill was asked repeatedly if she would answer "yes" that calling for the genocide of Jews constituted harassment.
"It can be harassment," she eventually said.
The question was then posed to Harvard President Claudine Gay, who also said it could depend on the "context" and if it targets specific individuals.
The responses from the university leaders were met with outrage online.
Barstool Sports owner and founder David Portnoy released a lengthy statement on the testimony to his website, admitting he "couldn't keep his mouth shut" after watching the video from Congress. He said the responses from the school left him "speechless" and "irate."
Liz Magill, President of the University of Pennsylvania, testifies before the House Education and Workforce Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 05, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
"SERIOUSLY WHAT F---ING World AM I Livening IN," Portnoy wrote. "Hey how about this? I think we should MURDER the deans of MIT, Harvard and Penn and their entire families too. How about that? I doubt they'd love people chanting that."
He added that the video made him want to puke and suggested that no other minority, religious, or ethnicity would face open intimidation without the perpetrators being kicked out of the school or thrown in jail.
Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square, said the response from university leaders could be "the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress."
"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 wrote on X.
He also urged the presidents to "resign in disgrace."
"Academia has lost its moral authority," the Campaign Against Antisemitism said.
The owner of X, Elon Musk, also weighed in on the testimony, writing, "let me help them out here: Calling for the genocide (death) of anyone obviously constitutes harassment."
Musk, who graduated from UPenn, said the university was "not like this" when he attended.
MIT, Harvard and UPenn did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Nikolas Lanum is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
