University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has issued a humiliating apology for her refusal to condemn calls for the genocide of Jewish people on campus in her remarks before Congress, while Harvard University President Pauline Gay He backed away from his testimony.
In a video posted Wednesday on the Ivy League website, Magill attempted to explain her failure by saying she was not “focused” on the issue and said she wanted to “make it clear” that calls for genocide were “evil, plain and simple.” ”. .”
But he also apparently blamed university policies and even the U.S. Constitution for allowing the calls to be made on campus.
“There was a moment during yesterday’s congressional hearing on anti-Semitism when I was asked if a call for the genocide of the Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies,” Magill began in the two-minute video.
“At that time, I focused on the university’s long-standing policies, aligned with the United States Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable.
“I did not focus, but should have, on the irrefutable fact that a call for the genocide of the Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence that human beings can perpetrate.
“It’s evil, plain and simple,” he said.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill issued a humiliating apology for her failure to condemn calls for genocide against the Jewish people on Wednesday. Penn/X
Magill then went on to say that he hoped to clarify his position.
“I want to be clear: a call for the genocide of the Jewish people is deeply threatening,” he said.
“Their intention is to intentionally terrorize a people who have been subjected to pogroms and hated for centuries, and who were victims of mass genocide in the Holocaust.
“In my opinion, it would be harassment or intimidation.”
But these calls for violence were not classified as harassment under university policy, Magill said, and he promised to review and update existing rules.
“For decades under multiple Penn presidents and consistent with most universities, Penn’s policies have been guided by the Constitution and the law,” he said.
The Ivy League president apparently blamed university policies and the U.S. Constitution for allowing the calls to be made on campus. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
“In today’s world, where we see signs of hate proliferating on our campus and in our world in ways that have not been seen in years, these policies must be clarified and evaluated. “Penn must begin a serious and careful look at our policies.”
Magill concluded by saying she was “committed to a safe and supportive environment for all members of our community to thrive.
“We can do it well and we will do it,” he said.
But New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik criticized the video as a “pathetic cleanup attempt” that “took over 24 hours to try to fix the moral depravity of yesterday’s sworn responses.”
“And there wasn’t even an apology,” Stefanik wrote in a post on.
“By the way, the questions were asked again and again,” he said, adding: “No statement will fix what the world saw and heard yesterday.
“There is no doubt that the world knows that the only answer is to [UPenn] to be accountable and bring in new leadership immediately,” Stefanik said.
Magill’s apology video appeared on the same day that Harvard President Pauline Gay backtracked on her own congressional testimony by saying the university will begin punishing calls for genocide.
“There are those who have confused the right to free speech with the idea that Harvard will tolerate calls for violence against Jewish students,” Gay said. said in a statement on Harvard’s official X account on Wednesday.
She appeared at the hearing along with Harvard President Pauline Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth. fake images
“Let me be clear: calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group, are vile, have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held accountable.”
Both the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard have been criticized in recent months for failing to condemn rising anti-Semitism on campus following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Many of the universities’ biggest donors have divested from the schools because of their stances, and Magill and Gay’s testimonies on Tuesday have even drawn criticism from the White House.
“It is incredible that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we stand for as a country,” senior communications adviser and deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn