On Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) led their Harvard University alumni colleagues in a letter demanding that university President Claudine Gay condemn a statement released by 34 student organizations that blamed Israel for Hamas’ barbaric attacks.
The letter from the lawmakers comes after Gray released a statement on Friday defending the student organizations’ statements as “freedom of expression.”
“Our university embraces a commitment to free expression. That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous. We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views,” Gray claimed.
.@Harvard continues to disgrace itself on the global stage.
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) October 13, 2023
Antisemitism should be condemned and NEVER defended as “free expression.” Claudine Gay should resign. https://t.co/QpRjaJWzCy
In the letter, which was provided Townhall, the lawmakers pointed out that Gray did not issue a statement until days after Hamas’ attacks began. This came following public outcry. And, the university refused to denounce the student organizations’ antisemitic statement (via Congress of the United States):
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and began indiscriminately murdering, torturing, abducting, and raping innocent Israeli civilians. The Iran-backed terrorist organization slaughtered over 1000 people on the first day of their attack, the greatest loss of life for the Jewish community in a single day since the Holocaust. There is no justification for Hamas' barbaric behavior.
Following the indiscriminate Hamas terrorist attacks, over thirty student organizations at Harvard University released a letter stating that Israel was "entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." This should have warranted an immediate unequivocal condemnation from yourself and Harvard University leadership. Instead, you waited two days to release an initial statement that failed to even condemn the terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, much less address the antisemitism on your campus. Your original statement claims that Harvard is committed to fostering an environment of open dialogue and empathy. However, your delayed response makes it clear you are only committed to intentionally fostering an environment that allows rampant and dangerous antisemitism on Harvard's campus. Your failure to immediately repudiate the letter from the student organizations makes you and the entire Harvard University leadership complicit in creating an environment that enables antisemitism. After receiving significant public backlash for this weak statement, you released an updated statement three days later finally condemning Hamas, this is too little too late.
The letter then calls on Gray to investigate the origins of the school’s “unified hate and ignorance” towards Israel.
“The leadership at Harvard University should be ashamed,” Stefanik said in a statement. “Harvard leadership has still not denounced the students’ statement, this is morally sickening. Any voice that can defend the raping, killing, and kidnapping of innocent women and children has chosen the side of terrorism.”
“Sadly, there are few places on earth with more vicious antisemitism and hatred of Israel than American ‘elite’ universities,” Cruz added. “Harvard must decide whether it wants to be a true institution of higher learning or an incubator of bigotry and antisemitism whose students try to rationalize and justify child rape and mass murder.”
This week, Townhall identified the leaders of many of the student groups who issued the statement.