← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Harvard President Resigns-But Harvard Remains Defiant & Refuses to Confront Antisemitism
00:39:59
Loading summary
Transcript63 lines
- [00:01]
Senator Ted Cruz
Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. And Senator, let's start with the big breaking news, something you've been calling for for quite some time, and that is for the Harvard president to be ousted from that position. President Gay has resigned after her what the media is calling her rocky testimony and these new plagiarism allegations. And I think we should be honest with the verdict listener. Do not be bamboozled by the mainstream media here trying to claim this has anything to do with her anti Semitic testimony before Congress. They were more than happy to protect her. Harvard was with everything that she said before Congress. This is separate about the plagiarism allegations that have come out.
- [00:47]
Ben Ferguson
Well, yesterday's news that Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard is a big, big deal. The president of Harvard is the premier academic position arguably in the United States, very possibly in the world. And Claudine Gay was the embodiment of the moral rot and corruption at the heart of our elite academic institutions. Her resigning is a major step forward and it was not done willingly. It was not done voluntarily. It was not done easily. It was, I believe, inevitable. And this is something you and I have been talking about on this podcast for two months now, that it was clear, especially ever since her testimony before Congress, that she needed to resign and that I believed she would resign. Now, this goes back. She has only been in the position for six months and two days. She has the shortest tenure of any president of Harvard in the history of the institution, centuries long. This goes back to October 7th, to the horrific attacks that occurred in Israel. And you'll recall, in the days that follow those attacks, the Harvard administration was silent. It could not bring itself to condemn the atrocities carried out by Hamas. 35 student groups at the Harvard campus put out a statement blaming Israel for all of those atrocities, blaming Israel for every murder, for every woman and girl who was raped, for every infant that was slaughtered, for every saying all of them are 100% Israel's fault. And even in the face of that, Claudine Gay could not bring herself to forcibly and unequivocally condemn Hamas and antisemitism. But that was the beginning of this scandal that took her down. From there, we saw rising anti Semitism on every campus, especially the elite campuses across the country. And we saw at Harvard, in particular, Jewish students being harassed, being actively and aggressively harassed by, by pro Palestinian and pro Hamas protesters, and the administration unwilling and unable to do anything. That's why Congress had the hearing with the presidents of Harvard, Penn and mit, because the incidences of antisemitism, of extreme pro Hamas protests on university campuses had skyrocketed. That's what teed up the hearing. But even at that point, Harvard was not willing to terminate her position. Then she gave her testimony, testimony that is universally regarded as disastrous. She and the president of Penn and the president of MIT all gave testimony in which they refused to clearly and unequivocally condemn anti Semitism. They were unable to answer the question of whether calling for the genocide of the Jewish people violated their university's code of conduct. All three of them said, well, it depends on the context. You know, implying in some instances genocide, actively advocating the murder of your fellow students. In some instances that might be acceptable, when your political ideology presumably encourages. If it is a group that is a disfavored group, then calling for their murder may be okay, is what they essentially implied. Now, the point you just made a second ago, Ben, is really important. She wasn't fired. Then within days of that testimony, the president of Penn, Liz McGill, she resigned. And she resigned because of enormous pressure from the board, enormous pressure from donors, and she was the first to go.
- [04:26]
Senator Ted Cruz
But, but to be clear, that was not because they wanted to do the right thing. That was because there was too many dollars that were pledged to the university that were at stake. And you had multi, multi millionaires saying, we will not give you our money. And that it was just a. It was a simple dollars and cents equation. They couldn't continue to stand by her because of the financial loss that they would have taken, which, again, I say that because I want to put an asterisk by that. That's not doing the right thing morally. That's not standing up for the people of Israel or any Jewish student on campus. That was simply, we don't have enough money to walk away from this money, so we're going to have to make the right financial decision here. Not because we believe that the people, the Jewish students or of Israel have a right to exist. It was just financial.
- [05:20]
Ben Ferguson
Well, let me modify that a little bit. You also had some leadership at Penn. So, for example, the chairman of the Board of trustees of the Wharton Schools, a guy named Mark Rowan.
- [05:30]
Senator Ted Cruz
Great point.
- [05:31]
Ben Ferguson
Who is, who is a very successful New York businessman who spoke out unequivocally and demanded that she be fired and demanded that the chair of the board of trustees of Penn be fired as well because of their response to anti Semitism. And I gotta say, because you had his leadership and you had the leadership, as you noted, of numerous donors, people like Ronald Louder. People like the Huntsman family who said they were going to cut off their contributions to Penn, that combination. Penn was the most vulnerable to the pressure, and Penn did the right thing, but it was a combination. You had some leadership within Penn, at least in a formal position of authority, and you had the threat of donors cutting off cash. Now, at Harvard, it's been widely reported that there was upwards of $1 billion of future commitments that were canceled or threatened to be canceled in light of Harvard's terrible record on anti Semitism. And yet even so, Harvard didn't blink. The Harvard Corporation, which is the governing body of Harvard University, put out a statement unanimously standing with Claudine Gay. And by the way, it's also been reported that Barack Obama was personally lobbying. The chairman of that board is Penny Pritzker. She was the Commerce Secretary under Barack Obama. And it's been reported that Barack Obama was personally lobbying the members of the Harvard Corporation. And so their view was a horrible record on antisemitism is okay. Horrible testimony before Congress in which you cannot bring yourself to condemn people calling for the genocide of the Jewish people. That's okay. And refusing to create an environment on campus where Jewish students are safe, looking the other way at threats against your Jewish students, All of that was okay. Not just okay, unanimously okay. There was not a single board member that could find even a single vertebrae in a backbone to stand up and say, enough is enough. They all universally circled ranks. And then, as you noted, the plagiarism allegations began coming out. And first it was one, and then it was another, and then it was another, and then it was another, and it became nearly 50 separate allegations of plagiarism.
- [07:56]
Senator Ted Cruz
All right, quickly, let me just say this. We're in a new year, and you probably have a New Year's resolution. And if you are a guy, I've got a resolution for you that you're gonna love. That is getting rid of your weakness and complacency by boosting your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. Now, look, there is a massive problem with low T. Historically. Right now, it's off a cliff, not just in this country, but all over the world. It is an all time low. Thankfully, the patriot to chalk are helping real American men, just like you, take back your right to proudly maximize your masculinity by boosting, as I said a moment ago, your testosterone levels up to 20% over 90 days. Now, I've been taking the male vitality stack from chalk and I've been doing it for months. It works. I'm not going to stop taking it because it works. So if you've got a New Year's resolution, that is, hey, I want to feel better. I want to get in better shape. Well then start with boosting your testosterone levels. Get rid of that weakness and complacency and get you back your strength and vitality. It really helps. When it comes to working out, my friends, you're going to love it. It's manufactured right here in the US Of A. Chalk's natural herbal supplements are clinically proven to have game changing effects. And I can tell you personally on your energy, on your focus, on your mood. So check out chalk choq.com and if you use a promo code Ben, you're gonna get 35 off your chalk subscription for life. That's choq.com choq.com use a promo code BEN. 35 off and your chalk subscription will show up monthly for you. So you don't have to worry about running out. C h o q.com let's dive into, by the way, how these, how these, these claims came out because it also, I think this is one of those moments that we should highlight here the lack of, of journalistic integrity among the mainstream media that did no research and did not do anything. Even after some of the first allegations of plagiarism came out against the Harvard president Clauding Gay. It was the incredible reporting of, of those that are conservatives and those that were trying to grab these documents and, and hard work of the Washington Free Beacon, for example, where they went in and did the hard work to compare the words of, of the Harvard president against those that she stole from. And yet still the media is not really reporting on this and they certainly didn't go and actually investigate any of this.
- [10:46]
Ben Ferguson
Well, look, that's exactly right. And I have to say there was no one who played a bigger role in Claudine Gay's resignation than Christopher Ruffo. Christopher Ruffo we've had as a guest on Verdict. He has been doing an extraordinary job for years exposing critical race theory. Christopher Rufo is someone I talk about in considerable length in my new book Unwoke. But the job that Chris did exposing this, pushing the plagiarism, giving specific examples because the New York Times, the Washington Post, they all wanted to whitewash it and even after she resigned. Listen to this, listen to CNN talking about her resignation and trying to give this word salad convoluted justification for her plagiarism. Give a listen.
- [11:33]
CNN Reporter
These plagiarism allegations where Claudine Gay has had to issue corrections, multiple corrections. Now, we should note that Claudine Gay has not been accused of stealing anyone's ideas in any of her writing. She's been accused of sort of more like, copying other people's writings without attribution. So it's been more sloppy attribution than stealing anyone's ideas. But nonetheless, you put all of that together.
- [12:00]
Senator Ted Cruz
I mean, you hear them, they're saying allegations. It's more than 50. They have the words side by side in this reporting from. From her dissertation and other documents, other things that have been published. And let's go back to Harvard and hold them accountable here. The Harvard Corporation, the school's governing body, said earlier this month that it had, quote, initiated an independent review of Gay's work in October and found, quote, no violation of Harvard standards for research misconduct. That investigation only focused on three papers. And then what we understand is that was pretty much like, yep, we're good. We're going to move on. Harvard's official policy states, by the way, that all allegations of faculty plagiarism must be reviewed by the school's Research Integrity Officer, and that if the allegations are deemed credible, they must be sent to a further probe. Any faculty member found guilty of plagiarism can end up suspended, having their rank reduced or even terminated. Notably, the university said it considers whether the misconduct was, quote, an isolated event or a. Or part of a pattern while deciding the appropriate level of punishment. So, Senator, they gave her a clean bill of health earlier this month. They didn't want to dig into this. I think they probably knew what they were going to find. That's why they only looked at three papers and said they were gonna update some of them. They were covering this up for their president.
- [13:23]
Ben Ferguson
Well, that's exactly right. And it's worth noting. Like what CNN, what we just played there, that's utterly gobbledygook. CNN's attempted justification is, well, she wasn't guilty of stealing other people's ideas. She just took the words they wrote and claimed they were her own. No, that's what plagiarism is. And by the way, if, as a student at Harvard, you do this once, you'll be expelled. That's how seriously the institution takes it for a student. And in her instances. All right, let me give you some examples. And, like, part of what took her down was the drip, drip, drip. Every day it was another allegation. It was another allegation. It was so screamingly obvious that it was a double standard that Harvard's public reputation began to just be absurd. But look, on January 1st, just a couple of days ago, an article appeared in the Washington Free Beacon entitled Harvard President Claudine Gay hit with six new charges of plagiarism. That was just a couple of days ago. And to give you a sense of it all right, here's the first example they use. There's a professor named David Cannon who wrote a book in 1999 entitled Race Redistricting and the Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts. And David Cannon wrote as follows. The vra, which is the Voting Rights Act. The VRA is often cited as one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation passed in our nation's history. Here's what Claudine Gay wrote. The Voting Rights act of 1965 is often cited as one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation passed in our nation's history. That's word for word identical. Other than she spelled out Voting Rights act instead of saying VRA, and she added of 1965. So congratulations, Claudine, you found the year it was passed. That's. Those are the only new words in the quote. All right, here's another section. This is from David Cannon. The central Parts of the VRA are Section 2 and Section 5. The former prohibits any state or political subdivision from imposing a voting practice that will deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. The latter, imposed, was imposed on only. Only on covered jurisdictions with a history of past discrimination which must submit changes in any electoral process or mechanism to the federal government for approval. Here's what Claudine Gay wrote. The central part of the measures are Section 2 and Section 5. Section 2 reiterates the guarantees of the 15th Amendment prohibiting any state or political subdivision from adopting voting practices that deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. Section 5, imposed only on covered jurisdictions with a history of past discrimination, requires Justice Department preclearances of changes in any electoral process or mechanism. The vast majority of those words are identical. All right, let me give you another example. And this is an example from her dissertation. And she lifted a sentence from her thesis advisor. From Gary King, who's describing a mathematical model. Here's what Gary King wrote. The posterior distribution of each of the precinct parameters within the bounds indicated by its tomography line is derived by the slice it cuts out of the bivariate distribution of all lines. Here's what Claudine Gay wrote. The posterior distribution of Each of the precinct parameters for the precinct is derived by the slice its tomography line cuts out of this bivariate distribution. Now, I got to admit, some of that is academic gobbledygook, but the fact that she just copied it. And by the way, the way plagiarism works, she could copy that if she put a quote mark in the front, a quote mark in the back, and she cited Gary King, who wrote it. Yeah, you're allowed to quote people. You're allowed to quote people, but the way you do it so you do not steal their words, is you put it in quotation marks and you cite the person who you're quoting. What she did over and over and over again is just typed it in. And by the way, much of this was done before word processors were used. That means it was done on a typewriter. I gotta say, it is much harder to accidentally plagiarize, particularly in the era of typewriters. You have some instances where, say, a researcher is taking notes, and they cut and paste from a cut and paste from a principal source, and they put it in their notes and they forget that it was cut and pasted, and they end up cutting and pasting it into their work. That's. That's bad. That's plagiarism. And by the way, Harvard will expel you for doing that. But it is more possible for someone to do so inadvertently with word processors and cut and paste many of these instances. Claudine Gay, she had to type on a typewriter the words presumably from the original source, and so she knew exactly what she was doing.
- [18:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
When you talk about all that, let's go back to the core point here that we were mentioning earlier. And that is, it is not what happened in front of Congress. And I think it's time that we remind people of how egregious, because there's three points I want to make sure that we're clear here on verdict for everybody listening. No one has lost their job yet due to the testimony. I'm talking about actually being fired, being unemployed, not getting a paycheck.
- [18:43]
Ben Ferguson
Claudine Gay is still employed. Liz McGill is still employed. Their faculty members are continuing to draw their pay. And in fact, the New York Post is reporting Claudine Gay will still receive her roughly $1 million a year salary. She just moves to a different office at Harvard, and they keep paying her. And understand, look, I want us to play her testimony again to remember what she said, but understand this point. It's critically important. Claudine Gay has not apologized Harvard has not apologized. They have not changed their conduct. Her resignation letter is defiant. Her resignation letter doesn't say she did anything wrong. Her resignation letter doesn't express remorse for being an apologist for those calling for the genocide of the Jewish people. It says nothing about creating an atmosphere where Jewish students are afraid for their safety. It says nothing about the repeated instances that have been pointed out of plagiarism. Instead, it blames it all on racism. And it is defiant and unapologetic. And understand Harvard Corporation, likewise, their statement, again, was not apologetic, didn't say she done anything wrong. Instead, they blame the fact that she's resigning again on racism. This is going to be their talking point, and they're not taking accountability for their actions. And so Harvard is not done. That is a critical point to remember if they're going to fix this problem. Her resignation doesn't solve it. It's a step in the right direction, but it's not a very good step when she's defeated, defiantly refusing to acknowledge anything she did wrong. And the university is as well.
- [20:18]
Senator Ted Cruz
Before we play her testimony, let's also talk about the racial aspect of this. In Claudine Gay's resignation letter, she actually called out her critics as being racist. And not only that, you then had Al Sharpton saying the Harvard president's resignation, quote, is an attack on every black woman in America. So you, you can be an anti Semite, you can testify before Congress that calling for the extermination genocide of Jews and not denouncing it and not saying that that is a, a violation of the rules at Harvard, that's totally fine. You can be that person. But if you criticize Claudine Gay, you are then a racist. And she and her resignation letter, when she's resigning, she made it very clear she believes this is all because she is a black woman.
- [21:14]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and let me. Quoting from a resignation letter, let me tell you the operative language. Quote. And by the way, this is what one does to avoid plagiarism. I'm quoting her, so I'm telling you it's a quotation. These are not my words. These are hers. Quote, it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and upholding scholarly vigor, two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus. That's what she's blaming this on, is that the only people who had criticisms about her apparently are racist. Like, if you believe that Harvard's willingness to tolerate the Harassment of Jewish students to tolerate antisemitism and in fact in many ways to embrace it. If you believe that's problematic, if you believe actually the president of Harvard should be a scholar who complies with principles of academic integrity, that means in her worldview you must be a racist. And I'll tell you even worse than that. The end of her letter is there's a sentence that I found really galling. Here's what she writes at the end of her letter. Quote, when my brief presidency is remembered, I hope it will be seen as a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity and of not allowing rancor and vituperation to undermine the vital process of education. Now let me ask you something. For the Jewish students at Harvard right now who are facing harassment, who are fearing for their safety, in what universe can she say that her leadership, her brief presidency was a moment of reawakening to the importance of striving to find our common humanity? Mind you, she could not bring herself to unequivocally condemn calling for the genocide of the Jewish people. And yet she wants to be reawakening the common humanity. It is utterly defiant and refusing to acknowledge what led to this resignation.
- [23:23]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah, and Al Sharpton coming out, as you know, Barack Obama, as you mentioned earlier, behind the scenes was working hard to protect her. Sharpton condemned gay's critics as racist for questioning the integrity of a black woman, A woman that, no pun intended, in black and white. Her words show that she lifted other people's words and used them as her own, saying this quote, present gaze resignations about more than a person or a single incident. This. And he's right, it wasn't a single incident. It's now we've been told, more than 50 instance of plagiarism. He goes on to say this is an attack on every black woman in this country who puts a crack in the glass ceiling. Is it really that Senator? Or is it just the fact that she cheated? And even they at Harvard couldn't get over that.
- [24:13]
Ben Ferguson
Well, it was ultimately this was hurting Harvard. Harvard was becoming a laughingstock when, when. And look, if you look at her academic record, she had published very little for a professor. You expect the president of Harvard to be a serious scholar, to be a world class scholar. And Claudine Gay's entire career was built pushing the ideology of dei. She was an African American studies professor. She had published relatively little. What she did publish, they're now serious questions about the academic integrity of it. And there is no person on planet.
- [24:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
Earth that believes what it stands for. Again, just because there's maybe people that are new that don't exactly know what DEI stands for. And this is something that the woke left is obsessed with.
- [25:04]
Ben Ferguson
Diversity, equity and inclusion. And it is the premise of their anti racism. It is the premise of critical race theory. It is the premise of the cultural Marxist on the left who advocate that we should affirmatively discriminate and discriminate against so called oppressors and in favor of so called victims. It's why the radical left is just fine with Jewish people being demonized, being threatened. Because to the cultural Marxist, Jewish people are oppressors. It's why cultural Marxists are okay with whatever Hamas terrorists do because they are the victims. And that same reasoning. Look, I'll give you an example. Ibram X Kendi, who's one of the godfathers of critical race theory who has pushed this so called anti racism which we've talked about at length in this podcast. It has an Orwellian name because what he means by anti racism is aggressively discriminating against the so called oppressors on behalf of the so called victims. Here's what he had to say about Claudine Gay resigning. Quote, racist mobs won't stop until they topple all black people from positions of power and influence who are not reinforcing the structure of racism. What these racist mobs are doing should be obvious to any reporter who cares about truth or justice as opposed to conflicts and clicks. That is going to be their talking point. If you dare stand against their radical ideology, you are by definition a racist. And that they still see nothing that she did or said that was wrong.
- [26:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
I want to play for everybody to remind them of exactly where all this started and to put it back into context of the demise of this Harvard president is not for what she said. That was anti Israel, anti Semitic. It was the plagiarism. And do not be duped by the mainstream media acting like she's being held accountable for these words. These words that she said before Congress to Representative Stefanik are words that Harvard was willing to stand by her no matter what. Here is that flashback to December 5th and what was said Harvard student calling.
- [27:29]
Representative Elise Stefanik
For the mass murder of African Americans is not protected free speech at Harvard, correct?
- [27:36]
Claudine Gay
Our commitment to free speech, it's a.
- [27:37]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Yes or no question. Is that corrected? Is that okay for students to call for the mass murder of African Americans at Harvard? Is that protected free speech?
- [27:46]
Claudine Gay
Our commitment to free speech, it's a.
- [27:47]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Yes or no question. Let me ask you this. You are president of Harvard, so I assume you're familiar with the term intifada, correct?
- [27:56]
Claudine Gay
I've heard that term, yes.
- [27:58]
Representative Elise Stefanik
And you understand that the use of the term intifada in the context of the Israeli Arab conflict is indeed a call for. For violent armed resistance against the state of Israel, including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews. Are you aware of that?
- [28:14]
Claudine Gay
That type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me.
- [28:18]
Representative Elise Stefanik
And there have been multiple marches at Harvard with students chanting, quote, there is only one solution. Intifada, revolution, and, quote, globalize the intifada. Is that correct?
- [28:29]
Claudine Gay
I've heard that thoughtless, reckless and hateful language on our campus, yes.
- [28:36]
Representative Elise Stefanik
So based upon your testimony, you understand that this call for intifada is to commit genocide against the Jewish people in Israel and globally, Correct?
- [28:47]
Claudine Gay
I will say again, that type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me.
- [28:53]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Do you believe that type of hateful speech is contrary to Harvard's code of conduct, or is it allowed at Harvard?
- [29:01]
Claudine Gay
It is at odds with the values of Harvard.
- [29:04]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Can you not say here that it is against the code of conduct?
- [29:07]
Claudine Gay
At Harvard, we embrace a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful. It's. When that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying, harassment, does.
- [29:24]
Representative Elise Stefanik
That speech not cross that barrier? Does that. That speech not call for the genocide of Jews and the elimination of Israel? When you testify that you understand that is the definition of intifada, Is that speech according to the code of conduct or not?
- [29:40]
Claudine Gay
We embrace a commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression, even of views that are objectionable.
- [29:49]
Representative Elise Stefanik
You and I both know that's not the case. You are aware that Harvard ranked dead last when it came to free speech. Are you not aware of that report?
- [29:57]
Claudine Gay
As I observed earlier, I reject that characterization. It's.
- [30:02]
Representative Elise Stefanik
The data shows it's true. And isn't it true that Harvard previously rescinded multiple offers of admissions for applicants and accepted freshmen for sharing offensive memes, racist statements, sometimes as young as 16 years old? Did Harvard not rescind those offers of admission?
- [30:19]
Claudine Gay
That long predates my time as president.
- [30:21]
Representative Elise Stefanik
But you understand that Harvard made that decision to rescind those offers of admission?
- [30:26]
Claudine Gay
I have no reason to contradict the facts as you present them.
- [30:29]
Senator Ted Cruz
Correct.
- [30:30]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Because it's a fact. You're also aware that a Winthrop House faculty dean was let go over who he chose to legally represent, correct? That was while you were dean.
- [30:41]
Claudine Gay
That is an incorrect characterization. Of what transpired.
- [30:44]
Representative Elise Stefanik
What's the characterization?
- [30:46]
Claudine Gay
I'm not going to get into details about a personnel matter.
- [30:49]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Well, let me ask you this. Will admissions offers be received or any disciplinary action be taken against students or applicants who, say, from the river to the sea or intifada, advocating for the murder of Jews?
- [31:03]
Claudine Gay
As I've said, that type of hateful, reckless, offensive speech is personally abhorrent to me.
- [31:11]
Representative Elise Stefanik
And today that no action will be taken. What action will be taken?
- [31:15]
Claudine Gay
When speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies, including policies against bullying, harassment or intimidation, we take action. And we have robust disciplinary processes that allow us to hold individuals accountable.
- [31:30]
Representative Elise Stefanik
What action has been taken against students who are harassing and calling for the genocide of Jews on Harvard's campus?
- [31:39]
Claudine Gay
I can assure you we have robust.
- [31:42]
Representative Elise Stefanik
What actions have been taken? I'm not asking underway. I'm asking what actions have been taken against those students.
- [31:49]
Claudine Gay
Given students rights to privacy and our obligations under ferpa, I will not say more about any specific cases other than to reiterate that processes are ongoing.
- [32:02]
Representative Elise Stefanik
Do you know what the number one hate crime in America is?
- [32:06]
Claudine Gay
I know that over the last couple of months there's been an alarming rise of anti Semitism, which I understand is the critical topic that we are here to discuss.
- [32:18]
Representative Elise Stefanik
That's correct. It is anti Jewish hate crimes. And Harvard ranks the lowest when it comes to protecting Jewish students. This is why I've called for your resignation and your testimony today. Not being able to answer with moral clarity speaks volumes.
- [32:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
I yield back, Senator. You hear that? And the part that I think galls me the most is the fact that she's still employed. She's still gonna be paid about a million dollars a year. She's just had a title change. That's it.
- [32:53]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and Harvard doesn't intend to change its conduct. They certainly have made no expression that they intend to do differently. They were forced after over a billion dollars in commitments to contributions were called out after academically, their president became a laughingstock. After you began to have students who, I would note, had to anonymously call for her to resign because they were afraid of retaliation. After you had op editorials in the New York Times and the Washington Post, bastions of the left, both calling not from the papers, but from people submitting op eds calling for her resignation. After all of that, it became intolerable. And yet they dug in and they dug in and they dug in. And it's really quite ironic. You look at her testimony and she is defending free speech. And it would be one thing if she was saying, you know, Harvard's a place where anyone can say anything and we protect free speech for everyone, that's laughably false. They protect free speech for anti Semites and leftists and at the same time. So there's an organization called fire, and FIRE is actively involved in fighting to defend free speech and examining censorship and suppression of free speech on campus. And they do an elaborate survey every year to analysis of universities across the country. So Harvard is consistently ranked one of the worst in the country. In 2020, Harvard ranked number 46 out of 55 schools in terms of protecting free speech. In 2021, it ranked 130 out of 154 schools. In 2022, it ranked 170 out of 203 schools. And this past year, in 2003, Harvard was dead last. And out of a possible score from 0 to 100, Harvard score was actually a negative 10.69. So it was dead last. It was six standard deviations below the average and more than two standard deviations below the second to last school in the rankings. And the second to last school was the University of Pennsylvania, Penn. And so when she is saying, well, anti Semites are allowed and apparently encouraged because of free speech, that is a policy that is applied very selectively. And Harvard's expressed no willingness, no desire to correct that. And I think it is imperative that this become a moment to try to address and try to fix the profound ideological corruption. By the way, if you look at the Harvard Corporation Board, every single one of its board members is a hardcore partisan, ideological Democrat. There is no one right of center allowed anywhere near that board. And you see it in the policies, why they universally circled the wagons around Claudine Gay, and it was only when dragged kicking and screaming that they allowed her to resign. It is critically important to underscore that the central issue at these schools is not free speech. It's not what people are saying. It is harassment and abuse. Jewish students are being subjected to threats of violence, to active harassment. And no student has a right to harass another student. You can't go up to an African American student and harass that student and scream and holler and threaten that student because of race. You can't go up to a white student. You can't go up to a woman. You can't and shouldn't be able to go up to a Jewish student or a Muslim student or any student. No student has the right to harass or threaten another student. And Harvard and many of these schools are doing A terrible job protecting the safety of, of their students. I have a lot of good friends who have kids in college right now and who are Jewish. And almost to a person, they are telling me their children are reporting who are college students now, that they are afraid for their safety. And that's what Harvard and these administrators are refusing to recognize and fix the next step. And I want to say something three times. Mit, mit, mit. There were three presidents who testified. Penn, Harvard and mit. All three of the testimonies were abysmal. The president of MIT is Sally Kornbluth. We have talked about on verdict how at mit, Jewish students were actively prevented from going to class because of threats of violence from pro Hamas protesters who were threatening to physically harm them. And then the MIT administration shamefully said they would not discipline the students who were threatening the Jewish students. Why? Why? Because many of them were foreigners. They were foreign students from foreign countries. And if they were expelled from mit, they'd lose their student visas. And so therefore MIT would not respond. In many ways, MIT's behavior has been the most disgraceful of the three. And, and, and I do want to give a shout out to Bill Ackman. Bill Ackman has been incredibly important. Ackman is a Harvard alum, he's a billionaire. He's the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management. And he has been incredibly vocal calling out these schools, putting pressure. He put enormous pressure on Penn. He put enormous pressure on Harvard. And I will say, right after Claudine Gay resigned, Ackman posted on Twitter etu, Sally, a call out to Sally Kornbluth that MIT should be next. I believe she will resign. But MIT's view is exactly what Harvard's view was before the plagiarism forced their hand. They were willing to just bury their heads in the sand and ignore the pattern of antisemitism and harassment of Jewish students. And so the exposing with sunlight what they're doing is critical. And once that happens, we need to make sure these institutions change. It's not enough for them to put in a new leftist who continues the identical pattern as presidents. We need to change the culture and attitude so that all students are protected on campus rather than these positions being abused.
- [39:19]
Senator Ted Cruz
Amen to that. Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday, Friday and a week in recap on Saturdays. Hit that follow button, especially if you're on Apple, as they've changed the way that you can download in your algorithm. Make sure that if you're listening on Apple right now that you hit that follow button and you need to check it every so often to make sure that you're still downloading the show. Also, don't forget, you can follow is the center on all the social media platforms. And make sure that you listen to my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. In those in between days, I'll keep you updated on the latest breaking news. Happy New Year, and we'll see you back here in a couple of days.