The Other McCain

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‘Context Dependent’: Ivy League President Belatedly Realizes Maybe She Answered That Question About Genocide Wrong

Posted on | December 8, 2023 | 1 Comment

Congresswoman Stefanik: “Ms. Magill at Penn, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no?”
President Magill: “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. Yes.”
Congresswoman Stefanik: “I am asking, specifically calling for the genocide of Jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment?”
President Magill: “If it is directed, and severe, pervasive, it is harassment.”
Congresswoman Stefanik: “So the answer is yes.”
President Magill: “It is a context dependent decision, Congresswoman.”
— Dec. 5, 2023

For years I’ve been saying The Ivy League Is Decadent and Depraved, and perhaps some people thought this was mere hyperbole. Then came Tuesday, when the reality could no longer be denied — the decadence and depravity on live TV — and now even CNN can’t ignore it:

UPenn President Liz Magill
under fire over her testimony
on antisemitism: ‘An utter disgrace’
The growing chorus of donors, politicians, business leaders and other prominent figures calling for the immediate ouster of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has reached a crescendo after her disastrous testimony at a House hearing earlier this week.
During Tuesday’s House hearing, Magill, along with the presidents of Harvard and MIT, did not explicitly say that calling for the genocide of Jews would necessarily violate their code of conduct on bullying or harassment. Instead, they explained it would depend on the circumstances and conduct.
Magill had already been under fire prior to Tuesday’s hearing after multiple incidents of antisemitism on campus in recent months — and what critics have said was a tepid response to those incidents. . . .

(Note the phrasing “what critics have said” — as if there were no objective standard as to what constitutes a proper response to “multiple incidents of antisemitism on campus.” Just try to imagine if these “incidents” had been the work of neo-Nazis, instead of left-wing Hamas supporters, and think of how the administration at Penn would have responded. But I digress . . .)

After the fallout from Tuesday’s hearing, Magill attempted to clarify her message on Wednesday, posting a video on X in which she said she should have focused on the “irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate.”
Magill said Wednesday that Penn’s policies “need to be clarified and evaluated,” adding that in her view: “It would be harassment or intimidation.” . . .

(Again, she is evasive. One cannot imagine Penn tolerating a neo-Nazi march on its campus, but when the Jew-haters at Penn are anti-Israel “progressives,” the university president must not condemn it outright.)

A bipartisan group of more than 70 members of Congress on Friday sent a letter to board members of Harvard, MIT and Penn demanding Magill and her counterparts at the other two universities be dismissed.
“Given this moment of crisis, we demand that your boards immediately remove each of these presidents from their positions and that you provide an actionable plan to ensure that Jewish and Israeli students, teachers, and faculty are safe on your campuses,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The university presidents’ responses to questions aimed at addressing the growing trend of antisemitism on college and university campuses were abhorrent,” the lawmakers added.
Former US Ambassador Jon Huntsman Thursday night called on Penn’s board of trustees to remove Magill. . . .
Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, was a 1987 graduate and former UPenn trustee. In October, he blasted Penn’s response to antisemitism on campus and promised to halt his family’s donations to the university. The Huntsman family has been such prominent supporters of UPenn that the Huntsman name is on the main Wharton School building. . . .
Stone Ridge Holdings CEO Ross Stevens, a major donor to Penn, sent a letter on Thursday to Penn threatening to take steps that would cost the Ivy League school approximately $100 million if Magill stays on as president.
Stevens, a Penn alum and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings, argues he has clear grounds to rescind $100 million worth of shares in his company that are currently held by Penn. . . .
The Wharton Board of Advisors, comprised of a powerful group of business leaders, including NFL owner Josh Harris, former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau, Blackstone exec David Blitzer and BET CEO Scott Mills, has called for Magill’s immediate ouster.
“As a result of the University leadership’s stated beliefs and collective failure to act, our Board respectfully suggests to you and the Board of Trustees that the University requires new leadership with immediate effect,” the Wharton Board of Advisors wrote in a letter sent directly to Magill.
The letter, which appears to have been sent Wednesday, specifically cites Magill’s testimony.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, called the testimony “catastrophic and clarifying” and said Magill’s attempt to clean-up her testimony “looked like a hostage video, like she was speaking under duress.” . . .

It’s difficult for the media to do their usual “Republicans pounce” trick when even Democrats like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are outraged.

Exit question: How many votes will Democrats lose next November because of the anti-Israel eruptions at elite universities? See, this is what’s really rattled the liberal media — the prospect that some Jews have become so disillusioned about their left-wing “allies” since Oct. 7 that they may just walk right out of the Democratic Party coalition. Who was the intended audience of all that “Trump is Hitler” messaging from Democrats, really? And now these stupid college kids have screwed it up with their pro-Hamas protests. What a splendidly ironic outcome!

UPDATE: Magill has resigned.



 

Category: The Ivy League Is Depraved and Decadent

Comments

One Response to “‘Context Dependent’: Ivy League President Belatedly Realizes Maybe She Answered That Question About Genocide Wrong”

  1. BREAKING: Penn’s Magill Resigns : The Other McCain
    December 9th, 2023 @ 6:14 pm

    […] hours after I blogged about this (“‘Context Dependent’: Ivy League President Belatedly Realizes Maybe She Answered That Ques…), now the University of Pennsylvania’s embattled President Liz Magill has […]