The presidents of Harvard, MIT and Upenn testifying about
anti-Semitism on college campuses and this exchange is getting a
lot of attention this morning.
Watch. Calling for the genocide of Jews does not constitute
bullying and harassment.
I have not heard calling for the genocide for Jews
on our campus.
Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn's rules?
It is a context dependent decision Congresswoman.
So the answer is yes,
that calling for the genocide of Jews
violates Harvard Code of Conduct.
It depends on the context.
It does not depend on the context.
The answer is yes, and This is why you should
resign.
These are unacceptable answers across the board.
Wow, Shabbos Kestenbaum is a second year grad student at
Harvard.
He joins me now. Shabbos.
Why is this so tough for these elite university presidents
like yours there?
Claudine Gay at Harvard. Are they scared of the students
or do they truly believe this in their heart?
That's a great question. I'd like to believe it's because
they're scared.
And it's not because they actually are these anti-Semitic villains
that we are fearing that they are.
But let's be absolutely clear,
this was a softball question of do you condemn the
rising rhetoric and violence against Jewish students and none of
them would condemn it.
If Claudine Gay had a heart,
she would resign and if the Harvard Board of trustees
had a brain,
they would fire her. She's an absolute disgrace to this
university.
She has let down Jewish students repeatedly,
and Harvard is simply not a safe place for Jewish
students anymore.
There is a moral rot at the center of all
of these Ivy League universities,
and I want to make it absolutely clear.
If you're a Jewish parent of a 12th grader,
you are not to allow a Harvard admissions representative within
50 feet of your child until clogging gay is gone
or until they've clearly articulated what they're going to do
to defend Jewish students on campus.
Because as of now, they've said nothing.
Chavez, you voted for Bernie Sanders twice.
You volunteered for Jabala Bowman and you marched for DLM.
Do you feel completely abandoned by the progressive left?
Saying that I feel completely abandoned by the progressive left
is an understatement.
I will never vote for for them again.
They have totally betrayed the Jewish people.
They have shown that sloganeering,
that caving into the mob is significantly more important than
Jewish lives.
As my last name, Kestenbaum,
signifies, my family's originally from Germany.
They survived Kristallnacht. They know exactly how the Holocaust happened.
It happened with words. That's how it first started.
And we are seeing that,
those words, that violent rhetoric,
and we are seeing the total moral abdication of universities,
those who are supposed to be the arbiters of morality
and values in our society,
betray us. And whether it's the Democratic Party,
whether it's Harvard University, or whether it's our progressive friends
or those who we thought we were friends,
Jewish people are sick and tired of being pushed aside,
of being thought of as less than,
and we're simply not going to take it anymore.
We're angry and we're done.
Sorry about that. Here's another telling exchange between Elise Stefanik
and Claudine Gay
What action has been taken against students who are harassing
and calling for the genocide of Jews on Harvard's campus?
I can assure you we have robust What actions have
been taken?
I'm not asking underway. I'm asking what actions have been
taken against those students,
given students rights to privacy
and our obligations under FERPA.
I will not say more about any specific cases other
than to reiterate that processes are ongoing.
Would she be giving the same response if,
I don't know. Students on Harvard's campus call for the
genocide of African Americans.
Not only would she not be giving the same response,
but Harvard historically has not given the same response.
Last year, there was a homophobic incident.
Within 24 hours, that student was expelled.
Harvard condemned it immediately. When it comes to Jewish students,
there's this double standard. There's the Jewish exception whereby we
don't have to take it seriously for whatever reason it
is.
The congresswoman also asked Claudine Gay why is it that
Harvard,
which was at
1.25% Jewish, is now only 5 to 8%
Jewish? And her answer was,
well, we don't really take statistics on that.
Which, number one, is not true?
But #2 represents again the moral rot at the center
of Harvard University,
where they don't take the lives of Jewish students seriously.
And I would also add that when she talks about
that,
discipline is being swiftly carried out and there will be
consequences.
The congresswoman mentioned how a group of students put apartheid
labels and saying that Israelis murder Palestinians on Israeli products.
And she said, well, swift action is being undertaken.
That happened two years ago and nothing has happened.
The students who illegally occupied universities,
all the students who called for globalizing the intifada,
the students who call for freeing Palestine from the river
to the sea,
they are doing it as she was giving testimony.
They are doing it today.
They will do it tomorrow because they know that there
are no consequences.
They know that the university is going to coddle them.
They're going to give them burritos and twizzlers as they
did previously.
And Jewish students do not have a voice on campus.
And it is disgusting. I think this goes beyond Jewish
students.
If you're a stellar student,
I really think you need to question whether or not
you should go to an Ivy League school.
If this is the environment,
and this is coming from somebody who went to Dartmouth,
I don't know if I'd go there again.
If this is the environment on Ivy League campuses,
Shabbos, thank you for your fight here.
Please keep it up.