Leah touched upon this for VIP, but it’s worth repeating. University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill faces a massive backlash for her appalling testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce last week. Magill, along with Harvard President Claudine Gay and MIT head Sally Kornbluth, all refused to condemn or say that calls for genocide against Jewish people constituted harassment. They went the academic route of trying to contextualize the subject, which did not go over well. This isn’t an academic subject: people calling for an entire race or ethnic group to be annihilated isn’t a tough call.
We now know that calling for the genocide against Jews isn’t necessarily against the code against bullying and harassment at @Harvard and @Penn
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 6, 2023
Let’s see how things are at MIT…
Turns lot that calling for genocide of Jews is OK as long as it’s only “public statements” pic.twitter.com/SY2cdEuhmC
Magill immediately went into crisis mode, releasing a video hours later where she, reading from notecards, attempted to clean up her mess. Have you noticed what was missing from the two-minute video? It’s the rather conspicuous lack of an apology. Yes, in most cases, you should apologize, never apologize, or cave to the mob, but that's over matters of free speech, expression, and offering a different political opinion. Genocide is not a legitimate political opinion. Is it free speech? Sure, but it is usually accompanied by violence or physical altercations, as we've seen in various videos. As the president of an Ivy League institution, there are higher standards, no? Magill knew the correct answer and refused. That's her call, and she might lose her job over it. What we're seeing with this surge in antisemitic activity is merely recycled Nazi propaganda with an Islamic face.
Cleanup on aisle Penn. https://t.co/aKY6nA7Bx8
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) December 7, 2023
This is what a crisis response drafted by an expensive PR team looks like: https://t.co/5TPtiSrpPb
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) December 7, 2023
This pathetic PR clean up attempt by @Penn shockingly took over 24 hours to try to fix the moral depravity of the answers under oath yesterday. And there was not even an apology. By the way, the questions were asked over and over and over again. No statement will fix what the… https://t.co/eETggoBWsl
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 7, 2023
Yesterday she was smirking with glee as she explained that calling for the genocide of Jews on campus is allowed. Today she’s panicking, desperately attempting damage control.
— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) December 7, 2023
We won’t forget your testimony Liz. You should RESIGN IN DISGRACE! https://t.co/QhUQuZ0uWT
And why should she if her faculty are all about enabling terrorists and promoting antisemitic tropes:
UPenn - JUST when you think things cannot possibly get even worse here, Anne Norton, distinguished Professor of Political Science:
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 8, 2023
- liked a post that stated "Playing the victim is what Jews are best at"
- shared a post calling the brutal rape of Jewish woman "alleged"
-… pic.twitter.com/Lxo6ov9afk
Magill has already cost the school a $100 million donation. The board of trustees has held emergency meetings to decide the best action in the wake of this public relations fiasco. As of now, they want her to resign.
At Harvard, "fatphobia" constitutes violence.
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 7, 2023
But "globalize the intifada" requires context.
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/tEvg9IVVXS
.@Harvard president: “it really depends on the context” pic.twitter.com/nzuVUiqf4v
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 8, 2023
