WASHINGTON — In the face of bipartisan backlash, the president of Harvard University on Wednesday sought to clarify the answers he gave during a hearing in Congress this Tuesday when asked how he would respond to calls for the “genocide of the Jews.”
Claudine Gay, one of three college presidents who spoke before the House Education Committee about how they handled anti-Semitism on campus, issued a statement via the Harvard X account about an exchange that has sparked anger online — a tense back-and-forth between Gay and New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Stefanik had asked Gay the hypothetical question: “Does calling for the genocide of the Jews violate Harvard's rules on bullying and harassment?”
Gay replied: “The rules around bullying and harassment are quite specific and if the context in which such language is used amounts to bullying and harassment then we take action against it.”
Stefanik said this kind of response encouraged anti-Semitism.
“I asked a very specific question: Does calling for the genocide of the Jews violate your schools' bullying and harassment policies? Not a single university president could say 'yes,'” Stefanik later told the senior correspondent of the ABC News White House, Selina Wang.
Stefanik called for Gay and the other presidents, from MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, who gave similar responses, to resign.
In his statement Wednesday, Gay said, “There are some who have confused the right to free speech with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students.”
“Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group, are vile and have no place at Harvard,” he said, adding: “Those who threaten our Jewish students will be held accountable.” .
Harvard is among the schools under investigation by the US Department of Education over complaints of anti-Semitism and Islamophobic discrimination on campus.
During Tuesday's hearing, Stefanik, a Harvard alumna, also pressed Gay on whether admissions offers would be rescinded or disciplinary action would be taken against students or applicants who say “from the river to the sea” or “intifada”, both. terms that have been identified as anti-Semitic rhetoric by Jewish advocacy groups.
That language has been used in campus protests, which have intensified since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that killed more than 1,200 people. More than 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Gay did not directly answer Stefanik's specific questions and said generally that “actions have been taken” against students who have used those terms, but he also defended Harvard's free speech policy.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise joined the call for the presidents to resign. post on X Wednesday morning that “his hypocrisy is breathtaking.”
“It is disgusting that the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn refused to say that 'calling out the genocide of the Jews' is harassment and bullying. Let's be clear: it is,” Scalise wrote. “That shouldn't be hard for college presidents to say.”
Former UN ambassador and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said in a post on X that “the misunderstanding of these college presidents is disgusting”.
“Calling for the genocide of the Jews is no different than calling for the genocide of any other ethnic, racial or religious group. The equivocation of these college presidents is disgusting,” he said. “As POTUS, this will end or we will take away their tax-exempt status.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates also criticized university presidents for their responses.
“It's unbelievable that this has to be said – calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we stand for as a country.” Bates said in a statement.
“Any statement that advocates the systematic killing of Jews is dangerous and revolting, and we should all stand firmly against it on the side of human dignity and the most basic values ​​that bind us together as Americans.”
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