America has prided itself on its premier academic institutions since the country gained its independence. All over the country, there are high class universities that students would give an arm and a leg to attend. No institutions are as respected as the Ivy League universities. However, in recent months the integrity of these universities has been questioned by the general public. In light of the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, college presidents around the country have been asked important questions by their student body and the public.
In recent news, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard have resigned due to accusations of antisemitism. College campuses across the country are facing a lot of discussions from what appears to be a divided student body.
“These sort of discussions need to be happening on college campuses,” said senior Dominic Powell. “Colleges are the breeding ground for having important academic and geo-political conversations.”
President Claudine Gay of Harvard and Liz Magill of UPenn were forced to resign after the student body and the media believed the two had not taken the right measures on campus to help prohibit antisemitism from occuring. As presidents of some of the most prestigious Universities in the nation, the public and the student body looked upon their Presidents to make a clear position as to what they believed was right or wrong.
In the midst of their controversy both Presidents were called to preside in congressional hearings that only made their situations much worse. Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill was grilled nonstop by congressmen and received severe criticism. When asked the question of whether or not calling for the genocide of Jews goes against Penn’s code of conduct, Magill did not provide congress with a simple yes or no answer. Even after being asked the question multiple times, Magill still did not supply them with an answer that could suffice. Many people believed that as the president of a premier institution such as UPenn, Magill should have answered in a much more straightforward manner. Her demeanor and putting off of the question made people ask whether or not she would be able to protect each and everyone of the students she presided over.
As polarized as America may be due to the Israel- Hamas conflict, issues brought up like this do not speak to picking one respective side. The general public and congressmen felt that one of the overarching goals of being the leader of such institutions is to eliminate and prohibit any sort of hate from occurring. Magill and Gay were unable to do that to the best of their capacities and found themselves in public scandals. However, it must be made clear that the opinions of the presidents do not represent the beliefs of the entire student body, but simply put into question the type of leadership that is being put in charge of these schools.
