On Tuesday, the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Pennsylvania appeared before the House of Representatives to answer questions about antisemitism on campus. They were very much of the when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife variety.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R–N.Y.) repeatedly demanded that Harvard's Claudine Gay, MIT's Sally Kornbluth, and UPenn's Elizabeth Magill give "yes or no" responses to complicated questions about whether calls for genocide against Jews would violate university policies. The presidents consistently explained that their answers were context-dependent; it mattered whether the speech was directed at specific individuals, whether it was severe and pervasive, and whether it was accompanied by prohibited conduct.
