Free speech is suddenly a major value of college presidents: Yesterday, the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology testified in front of Congress, discussing the reports of antisemitism on these campuses and university policies toward the speech of student activist groups.
"You are president of Harvard, so I assume you're familiar with the term intifada correct?" Rep. Elise Stefanik (R–N.Y.) asked Harvard President Claudine Gay. "You understand that the use of the term intifada, in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict, is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the state of Israel, including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews?"
"That type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me," responded Gay. Stefanik did not accept this demurral and continued to press the college president on whether these student groups' speech violated Harvard's code of conduct.
"We embrace a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful," responded Gay.
The trouble is, this isn't really true: Some professors, like Carole Hooven, have been put through the wringer for their speech.
After publishing her book, T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us, Hooven appeared on a Fox show. She is "in favor of using language that makes people feel respected and comfortable" but also says that "we should … be unafraid to use clear, indispensable scientific terms like 'male' and 'female.'" She maintains that "sex categories are facts of nature which do not carry implications for anyone's value or rights." After coming under fire for these beliefs, Hooven was placed under investigation by university administrators, ultimately taking a long leave of absence.
"When speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies, including policies against bullying, harassment or intimidation, we take action," Gay told Stefanik. "We have robust disciplinary processes that allow us to hold individuals accountable," Gay said.
These disciplinary processes are frequently unevenly applied, though.
As a reminder, it was a group of two dozen Harvard student groups that wrote the words, immediately following Hamas' October 7 slaughter of civilians, "We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." This sentiment was echoed elsewhere, including in terms like "glory to our martyrs" (at the University of California, Berkeley, and Georgetown). It's hard to imagine such odious speech being allowed on campus if it were directed at other minority groups, or expressed in the wake of a different tragedy.
More scenes from the hearing here:
The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today's congressional hearing on antisemitism:
Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university's] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment?
The… pic.twitter.com/eVlPCHMcVZ
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) December 5, 2023
Israel-Hamas fighting heats back up: In southern Gaza's city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces are going house to house, exchanging fire with Hamas all across residential parts of the city. An Israel Defense Forces official described yesterday as "the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation."
"Our forces find in nearly every building and house weapons and in many houses terrorists, and engage them in combat," said IDF official Herzi Halevi. "We understand that part of their method is the weapons left in the houses. A terrorist arrives in civilian clothing and conducts combat from there," Halevi continued.
World Health Organization representatives say the situation has quickly deteriorated in southern Gaza, with Khan Younis and even southern border cities like Rafah being constantly bombarded. Nasser and Al Aqsa hospitals are reaching the limits of their ability to provide services to patients. The United Nations reported that 1.9 million of the total 2.2 million residents of the Gaza Strip have now been displaced by war.
"Israel has designated a number of 'safe zones' to which it says people in Gaza should move to avoid the fighting," per The New York Times, "but many in the enclave cannot access Israel's directions because they have no electricity and poor to nonexistent internet and cellphone service."
Scenes from New York: For decades, The Hole—a tiny, flooded neighborhood that sits on the border between Brooklyn and Queens, off of Conduit Boulevard—has been derelict and neglected. It's served as a graveyard/dumping ground for mobsters, and had a Federation of Black Cowboys outpost, replete with horses. Now, the city plans to make improvements, including possibly hooking up the 12-block neighborhood to the sewage system used by the rest of the five boroughs. "I don't believe the city," one resident told Bloomberg.
QUICK HITS
- "Because of the city's robust Chinese-speaking population, ballots [for local elections in San Francisco] are in both English and Chinese, which has led many non-Chinese candidates to adopt a Chinese name in an effort to appeal to monolingual Chinese voters," reports The San Francisco Standard. But now, the board of elections is cracking down on this, so "self-submitted Chinese names may only be used if candidates can prove that they were born with them" or "have been using the names for at least two years."
- Tomorrow, the guild at The Washington Post is asking readers not to cross the picket line and engage with their products. "Since our last contract, Post journalists have covered two wars, an insurrection, a pandemic, gun violence in America, climate disasters, two presidential campaigns and more," the union writes in a statement. "Our former publisher's bad business decisions squandered our profits. Instead of executives bearing the weight of this mismanagement, The Post repeatedly made workers pay the price," including laying off 40 people in the last year. But layoffs have hit this whole industry, and the self-congratulatory tone they're striking—for, y'know, doing their jobs—is straight-up bizarre.
- Speaking of which: The U.S. is experiencing a cooling of the labor market, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
- Teachers unions did not prioritize the reopening of schools. Does Weingarten have amnesia?
In-person learning is where kids do best, which is why educators & their unions worked hard to reopen US schools for safe in-person learning beginning back in April 2020, and why we've spent the last several years following the pandemic prioritizing public schooling & investing…
— Randi Weingarten ???????????????????????????????? (@rweingarten) December 5, 2023
- The Venezuelan-Guyana crisis and Nicolas Maduro's comments on oil, explained by Latin American politics writer Daniel di Martino.
- The New York Times describes Megyn Kelly using the term mask fascists as "stoking the culture war grievances." What term would they prefer?
- Everything you've ever wanted to know about deepfakes in porn.
- Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking to seize greater control of the country's financial system.
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