President Sally Kornbluth of MIT, just like President Liz Magill of UPenn and President Claudine Gay of Harvard, fudged in her Congressional testimony, not clearly stating that calls for genocide were unacceptable on the MIT campus. All three claimed that “it would depend on the context,” whether such calls could be considered “bullying or harassment” and as such, punishable under their institution’s code of conduct. Both Gay and Magill later tried to mollify their critics by modifying their remarks. It did not work for Magill; she felt compelled to resign; Gay, despite a second, even deeper scandal, involving her newly-revealed extensive record of plagiarism, has been supported by the Harvard Corporation; no one wanted to fire “the first black president of Harvard.” Whether her quite visible protective shield will prevent her scandalous plagiarizing from sinking her in the end will be instructive to watch.
Meanwhile, President Kornbluth of MIT, the only one of the three who did not attempt subsequently to “clarify” her remarks before Congress in an attempt to mollify critics, has been similarly supported by the MIT Corporation. And judging by the alumni letter just made public, she has apparently done little on the MIT campus to deal with the rise in antisemitic rhetoric and harassment of Jewish students.
More than 800 people — most of them alumni, but also including faculty, staff, and parents of students — have signed the following letter, showing that many people — Jews and non-Jews — are most unhappy with how Kornbluth has dealt with antisemitism on the campus, and believe the MIT Corporation, in its vote of confidence, has chosen to overlook that record, treating her with kid gloves. More on this open letter, to which new signatories are being added every hour, can be found here: “An Open Letter From MIT Jewish Alumni and Allies on Campus Antisemitism,” MIT Jewish Alumni and MIT Allies, December 12, 2023:
Dear President Kornbluth, Provost Barnhart, Chancellor Nobles, and members of the MIT Corporation:
We are a growing group of MIT Jewish alumni and MIT allies writing to express our alarm over the Congressional testimony of President Kornbluth of December 5, 2023; the subsequent public relations fallout; and the continued failure of the MIT administration to address the growing antisemitism on MIT’s campus.
Calls for genocide of any group of people, including Jews, constitute bullying and harassment. Such calls originating from MIT’s campus should never be tolerated by the MIT administration and should instead be met with swift disciplinary consequences.
Yet, during the Congressional testimony of December 5, 2023, President Kornbluth implied that calls for genocide of Jews may not constitute bullying and harassment under MIT’s code of conduct, depending on context. Protecting violent antisemitic rhetoric on MIT’s campus, rather than Jewish victims of such rhetoric, sends a strong signal to the rest of the world that violent words of hate are acceptable, at least as they relate to the Jewish people. Understandably, President Kornbluth’s testimony was met with a public uproar….
A full list of signatories can be found here.
Will Kornbluth listen to this most modest and reasonable request of so many alumni? Or will she, buoyed by the Corporation’s vote of confidence in her, see no need to change her ways? Let us hope for the first, and fear for the second.
Kuffar says
Harvard can’t fire their diversity hire. Blacks committing academic fraud is a resume enhancement.
Ray Jarman says
If calling for the destruction of Israel and those of the Jewish faith are not words of incitement, what the heck is? A normal person would consider the KKK’s call for the enslavement black people the same as yelling fire in theater but calling for the extermination of the Jews, that is just free speech. I think that I will have to take a refresher course in English 101 in order to better understand the language.
Westman says
True, Ray. Inconsistency is normal for Liberals, Marxists, and Islam. And English 101? The first assignment is likely a thousand-word essay on, “Why Israel Should Not Exist”.
Ray Jarman says
Thanks, Westman. I guess I would have to write the essay as I did once in an history course where I wrote the thesis paragraph and as I was gathering the information, I realized that I was mistaken and the facts led me to another path and my conclusion was that I was mistaken for which the professor awarded me an “A” and said that he had never had a student admit he/she was in error.
I would bet that none of these anti-Semites will ever admit their mistake even when the truth stares them in the eye.
FYI says
I remember 101:Electrical Engineering 101
“How to separate the wheat from the chaff”
The nerds go to room 101 but there is no room 101 in the building.
But …”The people who can think outside the box” go to room 5..that’s 101 in binary code isn’t it?
English 101 is a good idea:goodness knows what ‘woke’ lefty globalist inspired English course is like today.I was once told colons and semicolons were wrong in a sentence..
They are used in standard English.
gravenimage says
I can’t imagine that Jewish students at Harard and MIT feel very safe, when their *own presidents* consider calls for the genocide of the Jews to be acceptable.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage,
At the very least, the Jewish students should be offered a full refund of tuition / room and board / other required expenses so that they can transfer to a safe conservative college.
Bexarkat says
All three guided by the same gaggle of lawyers.
Westman says
Three Presidents of prestigious universities all using the same hair-splitting line about “context” in tolerating some student’s celebration of Hamas’ torture, mutilation, and mass murder of Israelis and tolerating student threats to Jewish students on their capuses. Their pre-agreement couldn’t be more obvious.
You could surmise they are found at the best parties where they and the political class discuss the vast “rubes” of our society and the best tricks to keep them thinking higher education and government have worthwhile returns that justify the excessive expense.
Let’s face it, Ivy-league universities are corporate-serving businesses masquerading as Socratic Societies, from which the most useful are plucked and fast-tracked into bureaucratic leadership, Executive Branch assistantships, Judicial Branch assistantships, and national-security-sensitive corporations.
It’s no surprise that questions to the Campus Presidents received answers sounding like corporate PR from the same corporation. They are not serving as educators, rather, serving as honorary CEOs.
In the attempt to walk a center line, these University Presidents have damaged the Brand. We have people like Bill Ackman, Bill Maher, and Alan Dershowitz publicly recognizing the Brand is damaged and it will have consequences.
gravenimage says
Westman, I notice that none of these thugs have said in just what context calling for genocide is acceptable–and I very much doubt that they ever will. Keep the victims guessing…
Westman says
True, gravenI, maybe that would be a successful TV quiz show: “Guess The Context”.
gravenimage says
At MIT, More Than 800 Alumni, Faculty, and Staff Take Issue with President Kornbluth
……………………………………………………
Good to hear.
In what *possible* context can calls for genocide be acceptable?
dad says
when you don’t hear about it from the gag orders
Violet says
Time’s up for these houses of indoctrination.