Elise Stefanik recently went viral for her contentious exchange with university presidents at a congressional hearing on antisemitism. The verbal altercation happened on Saturday and seems to have caused the resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill. Not that Stefanik terribly minds.
She took to X with a post that reads: “One down. Two to go. This is only the very beginning of addressing the pervasive rot of antisemitism that has destroyed the most ‘prestigious’ higher education institutions in America.”
According to Stefanik, “The resignation of the president of @Penn is only the “bare minimum” of what needs to happen.”
She says, “These universities can anticipate a robust and comprehensive Congressional investigation of all facets of their institution’s negligent perpetration of antisemitism including administrative, faculty, funding, and overall leadership and governance.”
Magill’s resignation on Saturday comes after facing backlash for some of her comments at Tuesday’s five-hour House hearing. She and her counterparts at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were called out over the responses of their institutions to the rise in anti-Jewish hate.
There has been an increase since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. The contentious exchange took place at the House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on antisemitism on college campuses.
It saw Stefanik asking Magill, Claudine Gay of Harvard, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT if “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates the codes of conduct at their schools.
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The three university presidents consistently left the question unanswered. According to Magill, the decision would be “context-dependent.” She also added that “if the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment.”
Gay believed that when “speech crosses into conduct, that violates our policies.” While Kornbluth claimed she had not heard of students on her campus demanding the genocide of Jews.
Kornbluth says such rhetoric would be “investigated as harassment if pervasive and severe.” On Wednesday, Magill took to X with a two-minute video.
In it, she said: “I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.”
Following the hearing, the GOP-led committee started investigating the universities’ efforts to fight growing violence and threats against Jews on college campuses. Aside from Stefanik, others celebrating Magill’s resignation include House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.
She shared in a statement. “Three chances. President Magill had three chances to set the record straight when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated UPenn’s code of conduct during our hearing on antisemitism.”
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“Instead of giving a resounding yes to the question, she chose to equivocate,” Foxx added. “What’s more shocking is that it took her more than 24 hours to clarify her comments, and even that clarification failed to include an apology to the Jewish students who do not feel safe on campus. I welcome her departure from UPenn.”
Gay has apologized for her comments in her congressional testimony. Her apology came during an interview on Thursday with The Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper.
“Words matter. When words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret,” she added.
Meanwhile, Mark Gorenberg, the chair of the MIT Corporation, says he and the MIT Corporation executive committee completely support Kornbluth. He believes she has done excellent work leading their community and will keep supporting her until otherwise.
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