Rep. Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump and billionaire hedge fund executive Bill Ackman would have you believe America’s college campuses are teeming with antisemitism. But their focus on universities serves to obscure their own failures in condemning brazen examples of antisemitism and bigotry.
Let’s start with Trump and Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference. The former president has suggested that, if elected again, he would revoke the student visas from pro-Palestinian activists on college campuses. And Stefanik is boasting this week about her role in spurring the resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, which followed Stefanik’s questioning of Magill, Harvard University President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth during a House hearing on antisemitism last week.
Stefanik had asked each of the presidents whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their respective schools’ code of conduct. Each declined to give a straight yes or no response to the question, drawing intense backlash from some university donors and lawmakers.
The presidents’ legalistic approaches to answering Stefanik’s question appeared to be nods to the complexity of the matter at hand, which includes issues regarding free speech protections, campus safety and religious rights. Their responses, in my view, were reflective of the nuanced discussion needed around this debate — not signs that they’re tolerant of antisemitism. (The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf captured this sentiment well in a recent post).
Nonetheless, I found the line of questioning to be rich coming from Stefanik, given her fervent support for Trump and her association with the New York Young Republicans Club, which has faced scrutiny over its ties to neo-Nazis and white nationalists. Trump, in fact, appeared at an event for the group this past weekend. And both Trump and Stefanik have praised the NYYRC President Gavin…
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