I remember how it was -- JR
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
‘Condescending and Contemptuous’: University Presidents Blasted in Antisemitism Hearing
“If I might correct the premise of your question” became the phrase of the day from university leaders Thursday in a contentious House hearing focused on antisemitism.
Appearing before the House Education and Workforce Committee were Michael Schill, president of Northwestern University; Jonathan Holloway, president of Rutgers University; and Gene Block, chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Lawmakers asked the university heads to discuss their role in contributing to the disastrous anti-Israel protests and encampments on their campuses, which resulted in assault, battery, vandalism, intimidation, entrapment, theft, and other crimes.
Of the three, only Hollaway gave a definitive answer when asked how many students were suspended or otherwise punished for their illegal actions: He said Rutgers suspended four students.
Block gave a noncommittal answer regarding UCLA. Schill flat-out refused to discuss the possibility of removing any Northwestern student or professor from campus after documented incidents of assault, battery, stalking, and entrapment.
Lawmakers on the committee asked Schill the most questions, but he provided the fewest answers.
Northwestern University brokered deals to appease anti-Israel occupiers on campus, agreeing to give money to Palestinian students and professors. Northwestern administrators also agreed to launch an advisory committee to consider breaking ties with businesses that do business in Israel, among them Coca-Cola and Starbucks.
Schill would not tell the House committee why Jewish students or many members of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees weren’t invited to attend meetings in which deals with the anti-Israel protesters were brokered.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairman of the committee, and other GOP lawmakers demanded that the university leaders answer for what they considered a lackluster response to threats against Jewish students on campus during protests of the Israel-Hamas war.
Republican lawmakers asking tough questions included Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Elise Stefanik and Brandon Williams of New York, Bob Good of Virginia, Burgess Owens of Utah, Kevin Kiley of California, and Aaron Bean of Florida.
However, none of the three university heads took responsibility for crimes that occurred on their campuses during the protests. Nor did any agree that appointing openly antisemitic individuals to university committees might compromise Jewish students.
They refused to answer over 40 “yes” or “no” questions from committee members.
Schill refused to condemn the antisemitic statements of Northwestern staff and students, read to him verbatim by Stefanik. He also refused to confirm that definitive action—such as removing students or faculty who were documented committing crimes—would be taken to protect Jewish students.
Despite Stefanik’s pressing him four times, Schill refused to say whether he believed that the Israeli government is “genocidal.”
Israel’s government currently consists of an emergency “unity coalition” of left-wing, center, and right-wing factions in response to the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists of about 1,200 Israeli civilians. The terrorists also took hostage about 250 civilians from over 15 nations, including the U.S.
Schill, Block, and Holloway agreed that they had done what they considered necessary as university heads to protect Jewish students: They authorized removal of the anti-Israel encampments.
Foxx, Stefanik, Banks, and Williams all pointed out that the three men dragged their feet. But Schill and Holloway both claimed that they were up in the early hours of morning to take phone calls about the encampments at Northwestern and Rutgers, respectively.
Regardless of when university presidents were awake to take phone calls, the tent cities at Northwestern, Rutgers, and UCLA were up for several days in a row, and criminal activity occurred in or near all three camps.
Schill refused to cooperate by answering almost any question from Republican lawmakers with a “yes” or “no.” He instead responded over 10 times with a variation of “If I might correct the premise of your question.”
Foxx, the committee’s chair, described Schill’s behavior at the hearing as “condescending and contemptuous” in an exclusive statement to The Daily Signal:
I was appalled by President Schill’s condescending and contemptuous attitude today, as he repeatedly refused to answer committee questions and gave multiple misleading answers about the shameful agreement he signed. This conduct is unbecoming of a university president and proves just how unserious he and his administration are about combating antisemitism at Northwestern.
The three university leaders’ responses to Democrats on the committee were more cordial. Each thanked the Democrats for their questions, which were aimed more toward Republican members than the anti-Israel encampments or the three university leaders.
Notably, Rep. Suzanne Bonamicij, D-Ore., spent her allotted five minutes criticizing Republicans for not denouncing former President Donald Trump for posting what she called a “Nazi” video. This was a false assertion.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., drew immense criticism for appearing to make excuses for anti-Israel protesters who blocked Jewish students from using public walkways on campus, telling UCLA’s Block that it was still “possible” for Jewish students to find other ways to walk around.
Omar lambasted Block for not preventing the showing of video from the Oct. 7 massacre near the encampment.
Omar, who is Muslim, has been criticized repeatedly for using antisemitic language, which led to her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Feb. 2023.
In a moment that could spell serious legal trouble for the university leaders, Williams asked whether they were aware that ordering campus police departments to refuse to take and publish reports of crimes was a “violation of the Clery Act.”
The Daily Signal exclusively reported Tuesday on Northwestern’s apparent violations of that federal law during anti-Israel protests on campus.
The Clery Act, passed in 1990, is a transparency law requiring all universities, both public and private, to publicize all crimes that occur on or near campus.
Schill, Block, and Holloway responded that they weren’t aware of that—which is highly unlikely. Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and UCLA have dedicated Clery Act training that all staff are required to take. All three universities also have offices dedicated to ensuring compliance with the federal law.
In 2019, Schill was interviewed by Eugene Weekly about law firms investigating their own members. The Northwestern president demonstrated considerable knowledge of the law’s requirements and implementation of policies to satisfy them.
***************************************************
Dartmouth Faculty Censure School President for Shutting Down Pro-Hamas Encampment
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College voted to censor College President Sian Leah Beilock during a meeting on May 20.
According to The Dartmouth, school faculty voted 183-163 to censor Beilock over her response to the pro-Hamas protest May 1, where she had called on police to dismantle students' pro-Hamas encampments on campus. The meeting was held in the Hanover Inn Grand Ballroom with 200-300 faculty members and 100 observers attending in person, and 80 faculty members attending via Zoom.
“After conversation with student protesters hoping to find a solution that avoided the need for police proved unsuccessful, I made the decision to ask the Hanover Police Department for help taking down the encampment,” Beilock wrote in a letter published by The Dartmouth.
During the anti-Israel protest, police arrested 89 students, two faculty members, and some community members. However, earlier in the day, officers from the school's Department of Safety and Security warned students who had set up tents on campus that they were violating college policy. By the end of the night, Safety and Security, Hanover Police, Lebanon Police, and New Hampshire state troopers flooded into the encampment to put an end to the students’ pro-Hamas demonstration.
Dartmouth's dean of faculty, Elizabeth Smith, opened up Monday's meeting by reflecting on her 14 years working at Dartmouth and the “escalating tension” on campus that had been allowed to balloon into the pro-Hamas encampment.
After Smith’s speech, Beilock briefly addressed the faculty. “I stand here knowing many of you have turned against each other in this divided time,” Beilock said. “For that, I feel profound sadness.”
Beilock also said the disciplinary process for arrested students has ended. No student will face suspension or expulsion, and the administration is “working hard” to drop charges for individuals who were "inadvertently" arrested.
Christopher McEvitt, a religion professor, introduced the motion to censor Beilock. History professor Annelise Orleck seconded the motion. Both professors were arrested during the May 1 protest.
During the meeting, each faculty member had the opportunity to give two-minute speeches either in favor or against the motion, or give commentary regarding the measure.
According to Jana Barnello, a college spokesperson, the remarks shared at the meeting demonstrated a divided faculty. Barnello wrote in an emailed statement to The Dartmouth that the faculty vote is a reflection of the world’s inexplicably divided feelings toward the war started by Hamas terrorists on October 7, and the school's concern about how to best keep Dartmouth’s community safe.
Classics professor Margaret Graver agreed with Barnello, stating the measure will only continue to divide the campus.
“Censuring the President will not bring anything good to Dartmouth,” Graver warned. “It will not bring closure.”
***************************************************
Half of UCLA Med School Students Fail Basic Tests Thanks to DEI Push
Over half of the students at UCLA Medical School failed basic tests after its dean implemented race-based, woke diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine has seen a drastic drop in its rankings, with some faculty members citing admissions decisions that “prioritize diversity over merit” as the cause.
Since Jennifer Lucero was appointed to the dean of admissions in June 2020, the medical school’s ranking has gone from sixth place to 18th place. This was around the same time universities were trying to figure out how to implement "anti-racism" ideology into their curriculum.
The number of students who are failing tests on basic medical knowledge has increased 10-fold in several subjects since 2020.
Admitting students to schools based on their race has been barred in California since 1996 and outlawed federally since a Supreme Court ruling last year. However, faculty members are accusing Lucero of ignoring the rules, allegedly telling professors that she wanted a qualified white male candidate pushed down the residency rank list because “we have too many of his kind.”
In another instance, Lucero demanded that a black applicant be admitted to the school despite not meeting the criteria.
“Did you not know African-American women are dying at a higher rate than everybody else?" Lucero reportedly told an admissions officer. "The candidate's scores shouldn't matter," she continued, because "we need people like this in the medical school.”
Students spend roughly seven hours a week learning the “Foundations of Practice,” which has modules on “interpersonal communication skills,” telling students “how to be a good person.”
They are also forced to attend a lecture on “Structural Racism and Health Equity.”
“Race-based admissions have turned UCLA into a ‘failed medical school,’ a former member of the admissions staff said. “‘We want racial diversity so badly, we’re willing to cut corners to get it.’”
One official said that the standards for admitting white or Asian applicants into the medical school were higher.
According to Lucero’s bio, she prides herself bio on “actively” recruiting “underrepresented students to the profession of medicine through her work in pathway and outreach programs.”
******************************************************
My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
******************************************************
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment