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For years, conservatives have struggled to convince American voters that left-wing higher education is not only wrong but dangerous. Universities and their students, they argue, are increasingly susceptible to radical ideas – political correctness in one decade, increased “social justice” in another, “woke-ism” more recently – should not be dismissal of common doctrines or harmless vigilance.
The proof they were looking for seemed to have finally arrived this fall, as the campuses were disrupted by protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and opposition, sometimes violent, speeches against Jews. It came to a head last week on Capitol Hill, as the presidents of three top universities struggled to answer a question about whether “calling for the murder of Jews” would violate the school’s policies, and Republicans said the attack on the opposing campus is a sign of the dangerous ideas they have long warned against. On Saturday, amid the crisis, one of those presidents, M. Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned.
For Republicans, the emergence of anti-speech and timid responses of some educational leaders provided a long-sought opportunity to distort the political literature and cast freedom or their organizations as hatred and intolerance. . “What I’m describing is a terrible tragedy that comes from admitting the basic ideology of the left,” said representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, in court, adding said, “Antagonism and hatred is one of the poisons of your organization’s culture.”
The strength of the criticism was emphasized by many Democrats who participated in the attack.
The three college presidents were condemned by a spokesman for President Biden. He was heard by other Democratic leaders, such as the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, who joined the call for the impeachment of Ms. Magill. Some of the prominent business leaders who have the union said they don’t understand what is really happening in higher education.
“For a long time I have said that antisemitism, especially on the American left, is not as bad as people say,” wrote Sam Altman, the head of the computer intelligence company. OpenAI and the biggest Democratic donor, on X. “I want it. I’m just saying I was very wrong.”
Just as activists in the aftermath of the October Hamas attack divided progressive Jews from some of their longtime allies, Israel’s opposition to the lot in recent weeks has been increasingly drawn to the Democratic Party. They have turned prominent politicians and leaders against the institutions they used to send their children to or give commencement speeches.
The #MeToo movement has even broken, as prominent feminists, such as former Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, have questioned why advocacy groups and organizations dedicated to women’s rights as evidence emerged that Hamas attackers on October 7 used rape girls as weapons of war.
On the presidential campaign trail, where Republican contenders dismissed their criticism of college woke-ism this summer after realizing it limited appeal to a broader political spectrum, it came back the subject before the debate last Wednesday.
“If you don’t think Israel has a right to exist, then protest,” said Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, who suggested that the try to enact new federal laws regarding anti-Israel statements if elected president. “We’re going to change the information so that every government, every school, can show the information for the thing.”
The Republican backlash came after several years in which conservatives began to embrace an anti-people ideology based on their own brand of ideology: the so-called replacementism. the theory, which holds that Western elites, sometimes controlled by Jews, want to replace and destroy white Americans, in part by encouraging unrestricted immigration. The doctrine has helped inspire many gun violence in the United States in recent years, even if its central issues are more widely voiced in Republican politics. Last week, while attacking Ms. Haley’s opposition to the Republican stage, another candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, expressed the change of belief as a “main statement of the position of the Democratic Party.”
But for many on the right, the cautious and uncertain responses from the three college presidents in court on Tuesday – Ms. Magill, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – were very different from those long-standing leftist institutions. – sensitive wings about race and gender.
All three organizations in recent years have condemned or condemned speech or behavior that incites anger from the left. In 2019, Harvard revoked the tenure held by Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a Black law professor, after students protested his membership in the legal group. a former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. In 2021, MIT canceled a scientific lecture planned by the star geophysicist Dorian Abbot, referring to his criticism of affirmative action. The University of Pennsylvania’s law school is seeking disciplinary action against a tenured professor, Amy Wax, citing student complaints. about his comments regarding the educational status of colored students, and other motivations.
The Civil Rights and Expressions Act, which promotes free speech in American society, situation hundreds of colleges for their protection of student rights and open research. Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania sit at the bottom.
“The same authorities who now clothe themselves in the cloak of free speech are so willing to punish all kinds of unpopular things on their campuses,” said Alex Morey, the director of the basis of the campus rights declaration. “It’s completely false.”
Controversy over the protests could further fuel Republican efforts to shut down and restrict public universities, especially if the GOP controls state legislatures. One of the Republican presidential candidates, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, won a following of conservatives with constant attacks on diversity programs and the teaching of racial discrimination in Florida public universities. All told, more than 20 states this year have passed or considered bills to limit diversity, equity and inclusion programs or model-based programs, according to a database kept by the Chronicle of Higher Education. .
Jay P. Greene, a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank, said anti-Israel protests and anti-Israel protests on campuses—and university presidents’ legal responses to the lawsuit— last week – similar to what he called “Zoom. time” during the pandemic, when some parents listened carefully to what their children were learning at school and ended up “compromising in the good and the terrible in matters.”
“One of the things we struggled with, those of us who want to reform higher education, is to convince people that there is a problem,” added Dr. Greene. “Historically, they look around and say, ‘Wow, that looks good.’ Everything they’re seeing right now is not good.”
If the hearing on Tuesday found a perfect mother in the Democratic coalition, it seems that it is part of the design. The most powerful question was led by Representative Elise Stefanik, the member-MAGA New York Republican, who made in 2021 criticism for advertising campaigns that played on the themes “great change”.
Ms. Stefanik is a graduate and critic of Harvard: A few years ago, after student complaints, Harvard removed Ms. Stefanik from the board of his Institute of Politics for his repeated false statements about the results of the 2020 election. He accused his eldest son of “going to the left.” And last week, he took a measure of revenge.
Meanwhile, the House Republicans have begun an investigation into the management and education systems of the three institutions, which will be revealed in the coming months.
Both Dr. apologized. Gay of Harvard and Ms. Magill of Penn for their responses to the review.
“At that time, I focused on our university’s long-standing policies in line with the US Constitution, which says that speech is not punishable,” said Ms. Magill in the a video days before leaving. “I didn’t focus on it, but I should have. The undeniable fact is that the call for the genocide of the Jews is a call for some of the most horrific acts of violence that human beings can commit. done. It’s bad—plain and simple.”
“I’m sorry,” said Dr. Gay in an interview with The Harvard Crimson. “Words matter.”
At MIT, the administration issued a statement confirming Dr. Kornbluth, said he had her “full and unconditional support” and was “doing a good job in leading our community, including in dealing with racism, Islamophobia and other forms of hatred.”
Mrs. Stefanik, p an interview on Friday and the New York Sun, predicted that all three college presidents would be forced to resign.
“There will be unexpected consequences of this announcement, and it will be an earthquake in higher education,” he said.