The presidents of MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard felt the disgust of the civilized world on Tuesday after they defended calls for another Jewish genocide coming from their campuses, saying it didn’t violate their codes of conduct, during a congressional hearing on antisemitism. The hate movement those schools were fostering got full-throated support from staunchly racist and anti-Semitic Sunny Hostin, a co-host of ABC’s The View, on Wednesday.
They started the show with a montage of clips from the hearing highlighting New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik calling out the university presidents for being permissive of violent rhetoric and genocide. Responding to Harvard's Claudine Gay who said calls for Jewish genocide violate their code of conduct “depend[ing] on the context,” co-host Joy Behar shot back by suggesting the school’s plan to protect Jewish students was to “Wait till they're dead, I guess!"
Of course, Hostin tried to deflect and make Stefanik out to be the controversial one at the hearing. “What Elise Stefanik, the congresswoman was talking about and what this entire hearing was about should have been about free speech, and free speech,” she stumbled over her words. “And although many may feel uncomfortable about it, the most hateful and heinous speech is the most protected speech.”
Co-hosts Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin teamed up to school Hostin on how colleges were already uncomfortable places for free speech because conservative speakers get events canceled and/or shouted down (Click “expand”):
HAINES: Campuses have not been good for free speech in years.
HOSTIN: But they have been.
HAINES: They cancel conservative speakers.
GRIFFIN: Harvard actually has one of the worst records on free speech.
Despite Hostin being a former federal prosecutor (which she loves to remind people of), Hostin tried to suggest that those private schools could not have codes of conduct that opposed calls for another Jewish genocide:
What you heard was them saying, what is completely accurate under the law, it depends on the context. So, if someone does yell at a crowd racial slurs or calls for genocide in a public place, in a crowd, that is protected speech. One-on-one confrontation, if a white student, for example, says to a black student a racial slur (…) No, it really can't go against the Constitution of the United States. So, when we're talking about this one-on-one type of thing, yes, that is when that conduct leads to harassment and could be actionable by the university, and that's exactly what Harvard’s person was saying.
“This is about the codes of conduct. We’re not talking about the law though,” Farah Griffin pushed back, noting that private schools “can go further than the law to protect students.”
She pointed out that Hostin’s argument was basically to wait for a “genocide to be able to condemn genocidal language,” and called it “a dangerous slippery slope.” Hostin whined that Farah Griffin used “that type of example” because it was “really inflammatory” and “distorts what the law is.”
It’s worth noting that Hostin’s son attends Harvard. So, it’s possible she was desperately trying to keep the school’s image clean or perhaps her son attends the pro-Jewish genocide rallies and she’s trying to protect him. She did argue that “college is the perfect place to have these sorts of uncomfortable conversations” like genocide.
Hostin got particularly triggered when Farah Griffin pointed out the truth, “If I said this about any other community on Earth other than Jews, I would be canceled ten times till Sunday.” “Yes, you would,” Haines agreed. “That’s actually not true,” Hostin shot back.
Unfortunately, they didn’t put the theory to the test.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
December 6, 2023
11:09:06 a.m. Eastern(…)
SUNNY HOSTIN: Can I just weigh in here? Because, you know, I think this -- what Elise Stefanik, the congresswoman was talking about and what this entire hearing was about should have been about free speech, and free speech – And although many may feel uncomfortable about it, the most hateful and heinous speech is the most protected speech. Okay?
SARA HAINES: Campuses have not been good for free speech in years.
HOSTIN: But they have been.
HAINES: They cancel conservative speakers.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Harvard actually has one of the worst records on free speech.
HOSTIN: What you heard was them saying, what is completely accurate under the law, it depends on the context. So, if someone does yell at a crowd racial slurs or calls for genocide in a public place, in a crowd, that is protected speech. One-on-one confrontation, if a white student, for example, says to a black student a racial slur, that is --
JOY BEHAR: Then that is hate speech.
FARAH GRIFFIN: This is about the codes of conduct. We’re not talking about the law though.
HOSTIN: Can I finish this for moment, please? But the codes of conduct must adhere to the law.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But it can go further than the law to protect students.
HOSTIN: No, it really can't go against the Constitution of the United States. So, when we're talking about this one-on-one type of thing, yes, that is when that conduct leads to harassment and could be actionable by the university, and that's exactly what Harvard’s person was saying.
FARAH GRIFFIN: But as it said, if you have to commit genocide to be able to condemn genocidal language, that's a dangerous slippery slope.
HOSTIN: No. No. But, again, use of that type of example is really inflammatory and it distorts what—
FARAH GRIFFIN: But that's actual words being used on college campuses.
HOSTIN: It distorts what the law is. The law protects that kind of language.
HAINES: So, colleges don’t have to protect the students?
HOSTIN: And in my opinion, in my opinion, college is the perfect place to have these sorts of uncomfortable conversations, even the --
FARAH GRIFFIN: Jewish students don't feel comfortable on college campuses.
HOSTIN: Even the ACLU said the Supreme Court cannot prevent speech that is likely to provide a hostile response.
FARAH GRIFFIN: If I said this about any other community on Earth other than Jews, I would be canceled ten times till Sunday.
HAINES: Yes, you would.
HOSTIN: That’s actually not true.
(…)
