Harvard's president tries to save face after disastrous testimony, but no one is buying the damage control
Harvard president Claudine Gay is trying to save face after not saying Harvard's policies condemn students who call for a genocide of the Jewish people.
Appearing before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked Gay if students who call for a genocide of Jews violates Harvard's policies. Despite the straightforward question, Gay would say only that such speech is "at odds with the values of Harvard," but she refused to condemn it outright as violating Harvard's code of conduct.
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The outrage against Gay was swift, and she attempted to quell the backlash with a clarifying statement on Wednesday.
"There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students," Gay said. "Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account."
The statement went viral but did little to repair the damage she had caused.
Not only did people demand she immediately resign, but they questioned the sincerity of the statement because it was made in response to backlash — not under oath before Congress.
- "Let me be clear. No one is confused about this desperate attempt at cleaning up your pathetic antisemitic answers yesterday. You cannot undo the moral depravity and shame. And everyone in the world knows it," Stefanik responded.
- "Words not spoken YESTERDAY, on the record, on camera, when given ample opportunity," CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga noted.
- "'Let me be clear' — really? You had a whole day yesterday before the entire nation to be 'clear.' And you failed spectacularly! You think a single tweet, not subject to cross-examination or other follow up inquiry, fixes this? You are insulting the entire country!" former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman responded.
- "President Claudine,Why didn’t you say that yesterday? Or better yet on October 7th?" Israeli author Hen Mazzig asked.
- "As a Harvard alum, I say this with all due respect: F*@k Harvard!" Israeli journalist and Harvard alum Caroline Glick responded.
- "You should have said this yesterday, live, in-person and on camera. Not today, after your PR firm told you you needed to clean it up. It’s too late now. It’s not credible," former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who is Jewish, responded.
- "Then why didn’t you say this during your Congressional hearing yesterday?! STEP DOWN.You are a failure," StopAntisemitism, a non-profit organization, asked.
- "Why was Claudine Gay unable to say this at the hearing and it took universal outrage and condemnation for you to issue this clarification?" human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky asked.
Even the White House condemned Gay and the other university presidents who testified on Tuesday and waffled on lay-up questions about anti-Semitism.
"It's unbelievable that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
"Any statements that advocate for the systematic murder of Jews are dangerous and revolting — and we should all stand firmly against them, on the side of human dignity and the most basic values that unite us as Americans," he added.
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