How are Harvard, Penn presidents responding to campus anti-Semitism row?

Gay has been Harvard's president for five months and was arguably pressed the most at the hearing [Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]

The presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) are responding to a backlash against their testimonies on campus anti-Semitism at the United States Congress.

In a five-hour hearing on Monday, Harvard’s Claudine Gay and Penn’s Elizabeth Magill, joined by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Sally Kornbluth, testified on how their colleges are combating campus anti-Semitism – which observers say has been on the rise since Hamas’s October 7 attack.