Democrats Mock Harvard President for Citing Commitment to Free Speech During Anti-Semitism Hearing: ‘Harvard Ranks Last’ on Free Speech
Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Seth Moulton (D-MA), two alumni of Harvard University, mocked President Claudine Gay for citing the school’s supposed commitment to free speech as an excuse for anti-Semitism on campus at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
After GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Gay agreed that speech calling for a globalized “intifada” constituted hateful language against Jews during a heated back-and-forth, Gay insisted that Harvard embraces “a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.”
“We embrace a commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression, even of views that are objectionable,” she reiterated after being grilled by Stefanik.
Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Seth Moulton (D-MA), two alumni of Harvard University, mocked President Claudine Gay for citing the school’s supposed commitment to free speech as an excuse for anti-Semitism on campus at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
After GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Gay agreed that speech calling for a globalized “intifada” constituted hateful language against Jews during a heated back-and-forth, Gay insisted that Harvard embraces “a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.”
“We embrace a commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression, even of views that are objectionable,” she reiterated after being grilled by Stefanik.
Auchincloss and Moulton were unimpressed by the explanation.
“Harvard ranks last out of 248 universities for support of free speech. But when it comes to denouncing antisemitism, suddenly the university has anxieties about the First Amendment. It rings hollow,” observed the two Democrats in a statement released on Wednesday.
The Biden administration also joined in the pile-on, issuing a statement calling it “unbelievable” that it felt compelled to weigh in on the issue after Gay and other university presidents’ equivocated on anti-Semitism.
“Calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country,” declared White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates. “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.”
The rating referred to by Auchincloss and Moulton was the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) 2024 College Free Speech Rankings.
FIRE director of polling and analytics Sean Stevens said that “this year, Harvard completed its downward spiral” in the rankings “in dramatic fashion, coming in dead last with the worst score ever: 0.00 out of a possible 100.00.”
“What’s more, granting Harvard a score of 0.00 is generous,” continued Stevens. “Its actual score is -10.69, more than six standard deviations below the average and more than two standard deviations below the second-to-last school in the rankings, its Ivy League counterpart, the University of Pennsylvania. (Penn obtained an overall score of 11.13.)”
By: Isaac Schorr
Source: Mediaite