Condemning Antisemitism on University Campuses and the Testimony of University Presidents in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEFANIK. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Foxx for chairing last week's important hearing.

There is a reason that last week's hearing with the university presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT made history as the most watched congressional testimony in history with over 1 billion views. That is because their testimony was the most morally bankrupt testimony in the history of the United States Congress.

When asked the very specific question, ``Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your] code of conduct when it comes to bullying and harassment?'' the world watched and the world heard their answers in horror as the president of Harvard, the now-former president of Penn, and the president of MIT equivocated, dehumanized, and failed to answer yes. Anyone with a sliver of decency, humanity, and morality knows that the answer to that question is yes.

President Kornbluth of MIT said that such depravity would only be considered harassment depending on the ``context.''

When pressed during her questioning, Penn's now-former President Magill's response was shocking to the extreme: ``If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment.''

Finally, Harvard President Gay's answer was the same: ``It depends on the context.''

It was pathetic, amoral, and inhumane, and by God, the world heard it. As I said in the hearing, it does not depend on the context.

As attacks against Jewish students have skyrocketed on campuses across America, we clearly have tremendous work ahead of us, Mr. Speaker, to address this rot of anti-Semitism that is now rooted in our once-premier higher education institutions, and we will not be deterred by this important work.

This is why I rise today in support of my bipartisan resolution condemning the rise of anti-Semitism on university campuses around the country and the morally bankrupt testimony of those university presidents.

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Ms. STEFANIK. Mr. Speaker, it is only a first step, but it is an important step. I commend my colleagues, Congressman Moskowitz, Majority Leader Scalise, and Congressman Gottheimer, for joining to lead this historically important, bipartisan effort to stand for moral truth.

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