Rich Eisen took a moment to “stray out of our lane of sports talk” on his The Rich Eisen Show Wednesday. There, he passionately addressed the failures of universities to condemn calls for Jewish genocide.
Earlier this week, university presidents representing Harvard, Penn and MIT testified before members of the United States Congress about antisemitism on their campuses. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the chair of the House GOP Conference, asked Harvard’s Dr. Claudine Gay, Penn’s M. Elizabeth Magill, and MIT’s Dr. Sally Kornbluth the following question: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] Code of Conduct?”
Each president refused to state, unequivocally, whether calling for Jewish genocide should be considered harassment or bullying according to their respective campus’ codes of conduct, claiming it depended on the context. The university presidents added that they would take action if the speech became conduct. After hearing those presidents “equivocating with a bunch of word salad and nonsense,” Eisen offered his own impassioned response.
Today, @richeisen took time out from our usual show fare to respond to the unacceptable responses from @penn @harvard @MIT presidents at a US House hearing about anti-semitism on campus. pic.twitter.com/YUwltJhy9W
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) December 6, 2023
“So, we have to have genocide before you kick someone off the campus?” Eisen asked. “By just allowing that speech makes people comfortable to commit the genocide. You understand that? By not being unequivocal in saying ‘Yes, this is a violation. And anybody who violates it is off campus. They can’t go to Harvard, Penn or MIT.’”
“By saying ‘Well, it depends on this, that and the other thing,’ makes them comfortable to commit the genocide. It is the lesson you learn when you walk into museums of tolerance or Holocaust museums around the world. Including ones that I’ve been to recently in Berlin, Germany and Tel Aviv, Israel.”
“It’s the first lesson you learn, and I can’t believe you’ve got to tell people who lead these institutions of higher learning that,” Eisen continued. “I cannot believe the answers I heard. It is frightening to see those answers from people in positions of leadership and higher education. Are you kidding me? The answer is ‘Yes,’ when you’re advocating against genocide against anybody, that’s a violation of code of conduct and is a form of harassing and bullying. Forget the context.”
Eisen said he has family members that went to Harvard, Penn and MIT, and previously thought he would have wanted his children to follow their footsteps. But that changed this week after hearing the presidents from those universities speak on antisemitism.
“I never thought in a million years that I would never want to send my kids to these schools,” Eisen said. “Forget that.”
