How Congress Uses Syntax to Justify Genocide
Let’s look at republican rhetoric in university presidents’ congressional interrogation
Context on the congressional hearing on anti-Semitic speech on university campuses
Liz Magill’s resignation Saturday, December 10th as president of the University of Pennsylvania follows a tense congressional testimony regarding elite universities’ responses to on-campus, student-led, pro-Palestine protests — including Jewish student groups such as student chapters of Jewish Voice for Palestine — that have been labeled antisemitic by conservatives. On December 5th, NY Republican Congresswoman and House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik questioned Magill and other elite universities’ presidents (MIT’s Sally Kornbluth, and Harvard’s Claudine Gay) regarding their universities’ public positions on the student response to the Palestinian genocide. After the hearing, many in the mainstream political landscape called for Magill’s resignation — calls to which Magill acquiesced five days after the testimony.