Stefanik and Moskowitz lead bipartisan effort to oust presidents of UPenn, Harvard, and MIT

Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) are leading a bipartisan effort to convince three elite universities to fire their presidents following a controversial Congressional hearing earlier this week.

The representatives sent a letter to the school boards of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday, imploring them to fire their respective presidents after the leaders failed to state that calls for the genocide of Jewish people constituted bullying and harassment.

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“Jewish students should have found comfort on their campuses,” the letter reads. “Instead, many Jewish and Israeli students have faced an increasingly hostile educational environment, in the form of targeted harassment, protesters calling for the elimination of the Jewish state, and even acts of violence.”

The bipartisan letter, which was signed by 72 lawmakers, cites a recent survey by the Anti-Defamation League, and Hillel International, which found that 73% of Jewish students responding to the survey have experienced or witnessed antisemitism on their campuses since the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year.

“This is a clear result of the failure of university leadership,” the letter reads. “To hold universities accountable, Congress held a hearing on confronting campus antisemitism. Testimony provided by presidents of your institutions showed a complete absence of moral clarity and illuminated the problematic double standards and dehumanization of the Jewish communities that your university presidents enabled.”

The lawmakers said the answers from Harvard President Claudine Gay, UPenn President Liz Magill, and MIT President Sally Kornbluth to questions about antisemitism on their campuses were abhorrent and should result in their removals.

“When pushed on whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates university policies on bullying or harassment, Presidents Gay (Harvard), Kornbluth (MIT), and Magill (Penn) were evasive and dismissive, failing to simply condemn such action,” the representatives wrote. “This should have been an easy and resounding ‘yes.’ Given this moment of crisis, we demand that your boards immediately remove each of these presidents from their positions and that you provide an actionable plan to ensure that Jewish and Israeli students, teachers, and faculty are safe on your campuses.”

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The letter concluded that silence and inaction from the school boards would be construed as an endorsement of the antisemitic responses.

The call is the latest move by lawmakers to respond to the testimony. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which is led by Republicans, launched an investigation into the three universities. Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said committee members have “deep concerns” over the leadership in the schools and their alleged “failure to take steps to provide Jewish students the safe learning environment they are due under law.”