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Old School

The public scandal around Claudine Gay and Liz Magill, among others, has distracted us from the real problem here: Elite institutions should focus less on press releases and more on their power to convene experts and host well-facilitated discussions. This is hard work, but it is desperately needed.

Harvard president Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill, and M.I.T. president Sally Kornbluth responding to a line of congressional questioning about antisemitism at elite universities.
Harvard president Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania president Elizabeth Magill, and M.I.T. president Sally Kornbluth responding to a line of congressional questioning about antisemitism at elite universities. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Baratunde Thurston
December 18, 2023

I heard about the controversy—on Twitter and in text threads—before I saw the clips myself. Earlier this month, in a four-hour hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Education, Harvard president Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill, and M.I.T. president Sally Kornbluth responded to a line of questioning from G.O.P. Rep. Elise Stefanik about students calling for genocide against the Jewish people. Their responses, which have now reverberated across the internet and the world, were in many ways a rage-inducing display of over-lawyered, inhumane, rhetorical evasion. Why are you making an easy thing look so hard? I wondered. Just say that calls for genocide against Jews or any group are bad!