In the history of our Country, I do not believe there has ever been a show of Ivy League arrogance like the clown show before the House of Representatives on December 5. Called to testify about the lack of safety for Jewish students and tolerance for pro-Palestine marches, the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT failed the test. As if the same attorneys had given them the same script, these three read from a script hiding behind First Amendment freedoms. Their testimony was so scripted that they seemed to smirk at questions at the same point in their responses.
How We Got to Here
There is debate about the origin of the term “Ivy League.” The correct version is probably “Ivy,” indicating the practice of planting ivy by recent graduates. No matter the origin, the buildings there are draped in ivy, which has become the modern-day representation of those institutions.
According to several sources, Colonists planted ivy in the 1700s, and it has become one of the most invasive plants in the nation. It is aggressive and threatens all vegetation in its path. It can wreak havoc as it grows along the ground, in trees, and on buildings. It holds moisture and encourages rot. Ivy can choke the life from all it surrounds. Its root system can attack the mortar in brick buildings and demolish them in a slow, silent march. This slow, silent march has corrupted and corroded most “Ivy League” schools.
Harvard Arrogance on Parade
I think the worst of the three was Claudine Gay of Harvard. Her arrogance and smugness were something to behold during her testimony. Typical for Harvard, she looked down on the Congressmen and Congresswomen as if they were unworthy of asking her anything, even though she was talking to a Harvard graduate in at least one case. Her responses were robotic, smug, and unworthy of her position.
“Don’t confuse schooling with education. I didn’t go to Harvard, but the people who work for me did.”
Today, getting into Harvard is less of an academic challenge; it is a challenge to check the right “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” boxes on an application. Many believe it has become an expensive, watered-down diploma and an embarrassment for many earlier graduates and the school’s history. Apparently, from many YouTube videos, checking the right boxes, not academic achievements, is the key to entry. Now that Harvard fully embraces DEI, wokeness is on equal footing with academics and governs entrance. The significant value in graduating from Harvard is that Harvard grads hire Harvard grads in a perpetual cycle of populating Washington, Wall Street, and high-powered legal firms with like-minded people no longer attached to the average American. It is a value to them, not us.
Typical for Harvard, Edward Hall, the director of undergraduate studies at Harvard’s philosophy department, made this arrogant-sounding statement:
“There is very little reason to think that prominent people in the Republican Party right now are pushing this issue because they care deeply about the quality of scholarship at Harvard and other universities.”
Harvard believes that antisemitism is only a political issue, not a moral or ethical one. Their belief in their insulation from criticism is faculty-wide.
Revelations since the hearings about President Gay’s qualifications for her position may have Harvard changing its policy to DEIP, with the P indicating plagiarism. Harvard found itself in a “no win” position, with its first black President now being exposed for repeated instances of plagiarism. Harvard pushed back hard with moves like redefining plagiarism and working to minimize the alleged cheating as mere oversight. But their efforts brought more criticism. During the week of January 1, it was announced that she would be stepping down and returning to teaching. That highlights the problem in “higher” education. When a person can be removed from one position and retain their previous position at a salary approaching $900,000 annually, the system is broken.
The University of Pennsylvania Does Right
The president of Penn, Elizabeth Magill, was just as arrogant and belligerent as Claudine Gay of Harvard. Her smug looks and arrogant responses in the hearing were appalling. She seemed to laugh at the questions and Congresswomen asking questions in a manner that showed no concern for her actions. She perfectly illustrated how a tenured administrator acts and why tenure needs to end.
A true academician, Magill previously served as Provost at the University of Virginia, and she served as a clerk for Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
“Her gold-plated resume got her the job. But it didn’t serve her with the skills she needed to navigate one of the most serious crises on campus in recent memory.”
But President Magill was wrong, and her tenure as president was to end quickly. Responding to pressure following the hearing, President Magill became former President Magill in just days. She resigned on December 9 in disgrace over her inability to navigate the woke waters of campus and Washington politics. She allowed a Palestinian Literary Festival on campus without condemnation; she failed to address rising antisemitism on campus; and then came the disastrous testimony and arrogance on Capitol Hill.
All these actions led to significant donors calling for her resignation, and when the university weighed her value against major donors, she lost. The University of Pennsylvania gets a lot of credit for setting aside the typical insulation that those in our colleges enjoy and doing the right thing.
MIT Sitting and Waiting It Out
At MIT, there is an attitude to try and wait it out and see if the headlines will move on to other topics. They hope time will pass, and with it, condemnation of the university and administration will pass. MIT’s President, Sally Kornbluth, is new to her position and perhaps more comfortable in the world of science than academic administration. She became president of MIT in January 2023, and this is one of her first real tests.
Like Harvard, the board has for now supported her continued role as President, but there are restless groups of students, faculty, and alumni. Typical for academia, there were calls for nonsense, such as review committees and changes to protest rules. However, there are visible signs of unrest made public in letters to MIT officials.
“We are alarmed to observe M.I.T. earning a national reputation for antisemitism on President Kornbluth’s watch, rather than for academic excellence,”
Dr. Kornbluth has been on the job for less than a year, which is giving her some cover for her inappropriate comments to Congress. But a serious question about the selection process and qualifications for her job needs to be asked and answered. Like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, having academic experience is not the same as management experience. The fallacy of on-the-job training for this level administrator is obvious.
The composition of MIT’s faculty, staff, and students is primarily science, math, and technology, and this seems to have helped her avoid more criticism. Dr. Kornbluth is Jewish, which may have moderated criticism of her testimony but also makes her testimony more puzzling.
Systemic, Pervasive, and Time for Change
Representative Elise Stefanik, a Harvard graduate, deserves our gratitude for forcing these three into a position where there was no way out other than to expose their bias. In a heated moment during the hearing, she asked each of them whether the calling for genocide against Jews violated their institution’s hate speech rules. Each president answered in a way that hid behind the First Amendment by saying that their university had to allow the speech unless the speech moved into action and that the speech was context dependent. All three seemed to think that no restrictions on speech could be imposed until it crossed over into action.
Trapped by poor logic, they had to dodge a follow-up question on “what action.” Obviously, they believed that the killing of Jews would then require that they take action to stop the hate speech, but not until then. Representative Stefanik clearly responded:
"It does not depend on the context; the answer is yes, and this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board."
This video is worth watching because it exposes the thinking in our universities nationwide. Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT have earned our scorn, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. This was not Congressional theatre. It was a true exposure of corruption and arrogance that has become the standard in many institutions.
What Can We Do?
Like many issues today, the solution seems overwhelming. We must remember that the problems we see come from a long, slow erosion of our nation’s principles and beliefs. Like ivy, the roots of these movements are deep and corrosive.
Many in power in our universities seek to remake America in a Marxist image rather than our Framers’ democratic and capitalistic intent. They played a long game we must play in reverse. It will not be won easily and needs to be a pervasive and constant drumbeat. Our attack must be fact-based and include a positive image for the future.
What can be done is covered in the next installment of this series. The fix is not nearly as difficult as one might think.
Resources Used in this Article
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An Open Letter From MIT Jewish Alumni and Allies on Campus Antisemitism, by MIT Jewish Alumni and MIT Allies, the algemeiner, algemeiner.com, December 12, 2023.
Billboards Are Calling For Penn’s President To Be Fired Over Israel Remarks, by Claire O’Hare, State of the Union, stateoftheunion.org, December 9, 2023.
Biography of Claudine Gay: 30th President of Harvard University, Harvard University, Harvard.edu, June 28, 2023.
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Unlike peers, MIT’s president spared worst of blowback from antisemitism hearing, by John Hilliard, The Boston Globe, bostonglobe.com, December 14, 2023.
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Why Harvard Can’t Fire Claudine Gay: To admit she has performed poorly is to raise basic questions about the entire “diversity” enterprise, by Jason L. Riley, Wall Street Journal, wsj.com, December 19, 2023.
