Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 10, 2025


FAFO Columbia Loses： $400M in federal funds & Antisemitic Organizer Getting Deported


Episode Stats

Length

30 minutes

Words per Minute

162.81506

Word Count

4,974

Sentence Count

301

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

7


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.500 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.120 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.800 Ben Ferguson with you as always.
00:00:09.600 Happy Monday.
00:00:10.760 And Senator, it is a prediction that you predicted a few weeks ago.
00:00:16.340 And it's dealing with Columbia University.
00:00:18.740 But it's also dealing with students that are anti-Israel, anti-Semitic.
00:00:23.740 And now Donald Trump is paying off on one of his promises.
00:00:26.920 You know, there's a phrase that's gone viral online.
00:00:30.340 It's F-A-F-O.
00:00:32.380 And I got to say, there are a whole lot of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic radicals that are finding out what that means.
00:00:38.600 And there are also a lot of Ivy League administrators and professors who are finding out what it means.
00:00:44.760 You and I, we interviewed on this podcast, Pam Bondi, the Attorney General in front of CPAC.
00:00:49.660 We interviewed live.
00:00:50.460 And I predicted in that interview, I said, the Trump administration is going to go after universities that allow these radical anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic protests.
00:01:02.740 And they're going to go after them on a couple of fronts.
00:01:04.700 Number one, it is existing federal law under Title VI of the civil rights laws that you cannot create an environment that is hostile, that is discriminating against people based on ethnicity or faith.
00:01:17.040 And when you have universities like Columbia and much of the rest of the Ivy League that are allowing Jewish students to be afraid for their lives, the Columbia Orthodox rabbi in the midst of the very worst protest after October 7th sent out an email to the Jewish students on campus and said,
00:01:35.060 do not come into campus, do not come into campus, you are not safe, Columbia will not protect you.
00:01:42.120 And what you and I predicted on this podcast with Attorney General Pam Bondi is the Trump Department of Justice is going to come after these universities and cut off their funds.
00:01:52.140 And I said, you know what? First in line is Columbia University because they've been the most brazen about it.
00:01:57.760 And I predicted, second, that we are going to see these anti-Semitic protesters who are foreigners, we're going to see their visas revoked and we're going to see them deported.
00:02:10.300 Well, all of that is happening right now.
00:02:13.380 This past week, the news broke.
00:02:15.300 The Trump administration is cutting off $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University,
00:02:20.820 claiming that it has failed to take steps to confront anti-Semitism on campus after Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel.
00:02:28.220 The cuts represent the federal government's first round of grant cancellations for Columbia,
00:02:35.340 according to the administration's newly formed anti-Semitism task force, which is leading the effort.
00:02:41.340 Columbia has over $5 billion, let me repeat that again, $5 billion in active federal grants
00:02:50.320 that are being reviewed by the government.
00:02:52.860 So $400 million has already been cut off, and they've got a total of $5 billion in federal grants
00:02:59.800 that are potentially on the chopping block.
00:03:01.680 And let's be clear, Columbia is just the first of those.
00:03:04.040 But not only that, on top of that, the news has broken in recent hours that immigration agents arrest Palestinian activists
00:03:12.700 who helped lead the Columbia University protests.
00:03:16.720 The Associated Press is reporting, quote,
00:03:18.900 Quote, federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist Saturday
00:03:22.460 who played a prominent role in Columbia University's protest against Israel,
00:03:26.880 a significant escalation in the Trump administration's pledge to detain and deport student activists.
00:03:33.240 Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia until this past December,
00:03:37.580 was inside his university-owned department Saturday night
00:03:40.540 when several immigration and customs enforcement agents entered and took him into custody,
00:03:46.620 his attorney, Amy Greer, told the Associated Press.
00:03:49.920 Greer says she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest
00:03:52.980 who said they were acting on the State Department orders to revoke Khalil's student visa.
00:03:59.040 Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card,
00:04:04.180 the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.
00:04:08.280 As I mentioned, Ben, F-A, F-O.
00:04:12.140 Yeah, it really is incredible.
00:04:13.920 And we've got to remind people how we got to this point.
00:04:18.460 And a lot of it was revolving around when those three university presidents went to Capitol Hill
00:04:27.140 and even CBS News talking about how the Columbia University president resigned
00:04:34.200 after all this anti-Semitism was allowed on campus.
00:04:38.160 Here is how CBS this morning put it when it happened.
00:04:42.060 Another high-profile college leader has resigned after the campus unrest that we saw last spring.
00:04:48.000 Columbia University president Manoush Tafiq had been roundly criticized
00:04:52.040 for her response to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on that campus.
00:04:56.060 The new school year begins in just three weeks.
00:04:58.960 So why now is the question.
00:05:00.560 As Tom Hansen reports, Shafiq is the third Ivy League president to step down
00:05:04.580 in connection to protests against the war in Gaza.
00:05:08.420 Nearly four months after fierce protests over the Israel-Hamas war gripped Columbia University
00:05:13.860 and backlash by students, faculty and lawmakers alike over her testimony on Capitol Hill.
00:05:19.840 Anti-Semitism has no place on our campus
00:05:22.440 and I am personally committed to doing everything I can.
00:05:26.060 The school's president, Manoush Tafiq, stepped down Wednesday, just one year into the role.
00:05:31.400 In her resignation letter, Tafiq cited the turbulent period saying it had been, quote,
00:05:36.640 a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.
00:05:42.760 Columbia University's encampment was the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests across college campuses last spring.
00:05:49.640 At times, those demonstrations took a violent turn and resulted in mass arrests
00:05:55.980 after Shafiq twice called in the NYPD to dismantle the tent city
00:06:00.520 and culminating with hundreds of police officers moving in to clear out protesters that occupied a campus building.
00:06:08.720 Shafiq's actions prompted criticism, not just from pro-Palestinian students,
00:06:16.060 but also Jewish students who said they lived in fear on campus.
00:06:20.240 When they harangue us with chants of, from the river to the sea,
00:06:24.020 Shafiq doesn't want us to believe our own eyes and ears.
00:06:26.900 Resulting in calls for her to step down,
00:06:29.420 including from lawmakers who visited Columbia during the protests.
00:06:33.060 I am here today joining my colleagues and calling on President Shafiq to resign.
00:06:38.720 Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in a social media post last night wrote,
00:06:43.040 Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief.
00:06:48.140 For CBS Mornings, I'm Tom Hanson.
00:06:50.840 When CBS News says that you're the epicenter,
00:06:54.140 referring to Columbia University, of all of the worst protests, you know it was bad.
00:06:58.920 And not only has you heard Speaker Johnson there called for her to resign,
00:07:01.960 you called, Senator, for several of these presidents of university to resign as well.
00:07:06.960 And that was certainly set in the right direction.
00:07:08.760 But now we're seeing the payoff from what Trump promised on the campaign trail.
00:07:13.540 Well, sure.
00:07:13.920 And you go back to last year when you had the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn
00:07:18.140 all testify in the House.
00:07:21.240 It will go down in history as the most disastrous House testimony I think that's ever happened.
00:07:27.300 Within two weeks, two of the three university presidents, Harvard and Penn,
00:07:31.100 both resigned.
00:07:32.400 It was a hearing on anti-Semitism where they basically explained,
00:07:36.020 they gave lots of academic jumbled-y-jook, but essentially what they were saying is anti-Semitism.
00:07:41.080 We don't know what it is.
00:07:42.160 We don't care to stop it because we're leftist and that's what universities are all about.
00:07:46.740 And their complete obliviousness to creating a hostile environment where a significant percentage
00:07:53.120 of their students, their lives and safety are in danger.
00:07:56.500 It was really astonishing.
00:07:58.240 And it's the fruit of the ideological rot that has happened in our college campuses.
00:08:04.420 Look, I've told the story before of about a year ago.
00:08:07.940 I was meeting with a very successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, a man of the left, a Democrat,
00:08:14.240 who was expressing bewilderment.
00:08:16.840 He said, where is all of this hatred, this anti-Semitism, this anti-Americanism on college
00:08:22.280 campuses, where is it coming from?
00:08:24.340 And I told him, I referenced the last book I wrote, Unwoke, How to Defeat Cultural Marxism
00:08:29.580 in America.
00:08:30.040 And I said, listen, this is the fruits of cultural Marxism that have taken over our universities
00:08:36.620 and our institutions.
00:08:37.880 And it goes back to the 1960s and 70s, sadly, to my alma mater, to Harvard, where you had
00:08:43.180 Marxists that came onto the faculty and they began teaching and dividing the world into a
00:08:50.440 Marxist dichotomy, where everyone falls into one of two categories.
00:08:54.320 You were either an oppressor or a victim.
00:08:56.560 And to the modern day leftists, Jews are categorized as oppressors.
00:09:03.080 And importantly, I did not say Israelis, I said Jews.
00:09:06.520 If you are Jewish to a leftist, you are an oppressor, period, the end.
00:09:11.300 And Palestinians in that taxonomy are categorized as victims.
00:09:17.220 And once you slot them into those two categories, the leftist Marxist ideology as they support
00:09:24.360 the violent revolutionary overthrow by the victims of the oppressors, which is why you saw so many
00:09:31.520 left-wing radicals cheering on the Hamas terrorists who murdered 1,200 people on October 7th, who
00:09:37.600 raped little girls and women.
00:09:39.540 And you had these leftist radicals cheering them on.
00:09:43.100 Our academic campuses are so sick.
00:09:45.740 This is the ideology that is being taught to our children.
00:09:48.800 It really is.
00:09:50.980 And this is something that you guys have also been focused on on Capitol Hill when it comes
00:09:56.220 to calling out the Biden administration for doing nothing about the anti-Semitic protests
00:10:02.860 that took place on our college campuses.
00:10:05.060 And part of this is you've got to have a spotlight on it.
00:10:08.160 Yep.
00:10:08.760 So this past week, the Senate Judiciary Committee had a hearing on anti-Semitism.
00:10:12.600 Now, you might think, given the massive rise in anti-Semitism, particularly following October
00:10:18.760 7th, given the acts of violence against Jews across America, you might think the Senate
00:10:23.600 Judiciary Committee would be looking at this.
00:10:25.660 Do you know how many hearings we had on anti-Semitism when the Democrats had the gavel?
00:10:29.320 I'm going to go out on a limb and say zero.
00:10:31.300 Wow.
00:10:31.780 You got it precisely right to the 100 decimal point.
00:10:34.780 That would be 0.000.
00:10:37.200 They do not care at all.
00:10:39.480 If you listen every day, I don't usually get these trick questions right, so I feel
00:10:43.700 good.
00:10:43.920 Even a blind squirrel.
00:10:46.480 Not a one.
00:10:47.840 Not a one.
00:10:49.100 So, a month into the new Congress, Republicans have the majority.
00:10:52.200 We held a hearing this past week on anti-Semitism.
00:10:54.840 The Democrats were terrified.
00:10:56.660 They didn't want to talk about it.
00:10:58.340 But I took the opportunity.
00:11:00.900 Listen, I got to say, this issue pisses me off what we've seen happen to our schools.
00:11:04.740 And so I want you to listen to my questioning of the witnesses and what I had to say last
00:11:08.480 week at the hearing on anti-Semitism.
00:11:11.100 Give a listen.
00:11:12.840 Anti-Semitism is evil.
00:11:14.860 It is wrong.
00:11:15.860 And it is flourishing with the acquiescence and, in many cases, active participation of
00:11:20.580 students, of faculty, of administrators, and government officials.
00:11:26.640 And sadly, the Democrat Party has a deep and pervasive problem confronting this evil.
00:11:32.300 For the last two years, in the wake of October 7th, this committee held zero hearings on anti-Semitism
00:11:37.500 in the United States, despite the fact that Republicans repeatedly called for it.
00:11:42.180 The acts of violence prior to October 7th, 3,669 anti-Semitic incidents occurred in the
00:11:49.540 United States.
00:11:50.680 Following October 7th, in less than three months, that number spiked to over 5,000.
00:11:55.980 In 2024, that number skyrocketed to 10,005 anti-Semitic incidents.
00:12:03.460 This problem is particularly acute on our college campuses.
00:12:08.280 Columbia University.
00:12:10.180 Columbia University was a major epicenter where they encouraged, tolerated, and celebrated this
00:12:16.820 vicious and vile anti-Semitism.
00:12:19.680 Rabbi Eli Bueller emailed every Jewish student on campus and said, quote,
00:12:24.080 The events of the last few days have made it clear that Columbia University's public safety
00:12:28.060 cannot guarantee Jewish students' safety in the face of extreme anti-Semitism and anarchy.
00:12:33.580 I would strongly recommend you return home.
00:12:37.240 This is the rabbi at the university saying, your school will not protect your safety.
00:12:43.400 And Columbia didn't do a damn thing about it.
00:12:45.200 And I'll tell you what, the rabbi wasn't crazy.
00:12:48.900 Here is one picture taken on the campus of Columbia.
00:12:51.620 In the back are Jewish students waving American flags and Israeli flags.
00:12:57.140 In the front is a Columbia student wearing a mask because these cowards are oh so brave,
00:13:02.840 they cover their faces, holding a handwritten sign that says Al-Qasam's next targets.
00:13:09.600 Al-Qasam is the military branch of Hamas.
00:13:15.520 Understand what this student is saying.
00:13:17.720 She is calling for the murder of her Jewish classmates.
00:13:23.460 And by the way, this student, the Internet being what it is, she's been identified now on the Internet.
00:13:28.240 This is not a Palestinian who's subject to oppression.
00:13:31.920 This is a rich blonde girl from Atlanta whose parents are multimillionaire real estate developers.
00:13:38.140 And they got so proud, I'm sending my child to an Ivy League education where she'll be indoctrinated to dress up and advocate Hamas murdering Jewish students because they are Jews.
00:13:51.580 Now, if you agree that is evil and vile, let me ask you something.
00:13:57.920 We're the Democrats.
00:14:00.200 Not a one is here.
00:14:02.260 And it's because the Democrat Party has decided the pro-Hamas wing of the party is more important than protecting Jewish students in America.
00:14:09.780 And if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe Chuck Schumer.
00:14:15.500 Chuck Schumer, texting with Columbia, said the following.
00:14:20.620 On January 4th, then President of Columbia, Shafik, explained to Shipman and her fellow co-chair, David Greenwald,
00:14:27.020 that she had met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who advised Shafik that universities' political problems about anti-Semitism are really only among Republicans.
00:14:37.640 We, the Democrats, we don't care about this anti-Semitism stuff.
00:14:42.960 Ms. Lewin, am I the only person that has noticed that these anti-Israel, pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic protests, that the tents all match?
00:14:53.900 No, you are not the only one to have noticed.
00:14:56.580 Is it clear that there is significant money funding these attacks on Jewish students and attacks on America?
00:15:02.340 It is clear that there is coordination and there must be some common funding.
00:15:06.880 In the last two years, under the Biden Justice Department, are you aware of any investigation to follow the money behind these protests?
00:15:15.200 I am not.
00:15:16.000 Are you aware of anyone who has been indicted for funding these protests?
00:15:20.000 I am not.
00:15:21.120 Are you aware of any university that has had their Title VI federal funds cut off because they've tolerated welcome, celebrated,
00:15:28.620 and as Senator Hawley put out, had their own officials cheering on anti-Semitism as even one university lost their funding?
00:15:34.980 I am not aware of any university having actually lost their funding.
00:15:38.680 And I'll point out also, some of the defenders say free speech, free speech.
00:15:42.020 You're right.
00:15:42.460 You have a free speech right as an American citizen to say vile, hateful, bigoted things.
00:15:46.960 Let me ask you something.
00:15:48.260 If a university student went into the public square, dressed up in a Klan outfit, burned a cross, and said we should murder African-American students,
00:15:56.760 do you have any doubt the university would expel that student?
00:15:59.460 I am fairly certain that the universities would take action and ensure that their policies would follow.
00:16:04.880 They should expel them.
00:16:05.800 If they're foreign students, they should be deported.
00:16:08.740 And mark my words, if you are horrified at the anti-Semitism, you will see the Trump Department of Justice follow the money,
00:16:16.900 prosecute the people who are paying for this, prosecute those engaged in violence,
00:16:21.140 and cut off the money from universities that are tolerating and celebrating this, that is the rule of law.
00:16:28.320 And ask yourself, why did the Biden Justice Department do absolutely nothing about this horror that is unfolding?
00:16:35.160 Senator, it was unbelievable to hear you call it out.
00:16:37.840 And I do think we just have to remind people this is systematic on our college campuses, especially the Ivy Leagues.
00:16:45.740 I go back in my head to Harvard and just the defiance of some of these individuals when they were testifying before Congress.
00:16:55.420 They had no problem standing with these anti-Semitic protesters.
00:17:00.620 Look, because they believe the same things.
00:17:03.040 The administrators, they have been teaching the same poison.
00:17:06.700 The faculty has been teaching the same poison.
00:17:08.560 And I'll note that clip you played while I was questioning at the hearing on anti-Semitism, as I noted, not a single Democrat senator was in the room.
00:17:19.380 The hearing room was empty.
00:17:21.520 And that really spoke volumes.
00:17:23.560 They don't want to talk about this.
00:17:25.840 And the problem is a political problem.
00:17:27.780 In today's Democrat Party, there is a real and meaningful pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party.
00:17:34.540 And the Democrats are terrified of that pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party.
00:17:39.280 The question I've asked repeatedly, and look, most of the people who listen to verdict are, I think, politically right of center or conservative or libertarians.
00:17:48.760 But we actually have a fair number of reporters who listen to verdict.
00:17:51.480 And, you know, I'm hoping we have a handful of open-minded, free-thinking liberals, people who consider themselves left of center, but recognize that if you want to actually have an intelligent understanding of the issues, then you want to hear from a wide spectrum of views and try to process and ascertain what is right.
00:18:12.560 If you at home are one of those, let's say you're a Democrat who lives in New York City, let's say you voted for Kamala Harris, you voted for Joe Biden, maybe you voted for Barack Obama.
00:18:23.340 Now, if you disagree with the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party, if you don't like the vile anti-Semites that have flourished on college campuses and that have threatened the safety of Jewish students, you ought to ask yourself very seriously what happened in the last week.
00:18:41.920 Colombia got its money cut off, one of the organizers of the protests is going to be deported.
00:18:50.800 Why didn't any of that happen under Joe Biden?
00:18:54.460 There was nothing to prevent the Biden administration from doing this.
00:18:57.640 They had every bit of legal authority.
00:18:59.720 As far as I can tell, they didn't even investigate it.
00:19:02.060 They didn't ask where the money came from.
00:19:05.100 I certainly asked the attorney general and the FBI repeatedly if they were doing that.
00:19:08.740 If they were investigating it, they refused to tell the Senate.
00:19:11.600 They refused to tell me.
00:19:13.060 And we do know that no one paid any consequences for it because no one was indicted.
00:19:17.920 And that ends up encouraging more of this.
00:19:21.420 And you have to ask yourself, was that an accident or was there a reason?
00:19:27.060 Listen, if Kamala Harris, God forbid, had been elected president in November.
00:19:31.560 Ben, let me ask you this.
00:19:32.540 What do you think are the odds Columbia would have had that 400 million cut off if Kamala Harris were president?
00:19:36.500 No, 0%, and I bet you the anti-Semitism would explode on college campuses because they would not have any worries of Trump or anybody else.
00:19:43.980 She might be marching with the pro-Hamas protesters.
00:19:46.540 And by the way, this organizer who's being deported, the odds of his being deported if Kamala were president are zero.
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00:20:27.380 So let's talk about this one student and expand on that just for a second, because I do think this is probably, in my opinion, more than just a, quote, example.
00:20:39.600 For me, this looks like this is the beginning.
00:20:43.200 This isn't just a one-off.
00:20:44.940 I think it's very clear the Trump administration is saying, if you are here as a student on a visa and you go out and you participate in this, there's going to be accountability.
00:20:57.340 We're not screwing around.
00:20:58.660 I don't think this is the last time we're going to see this.
00:21:01.540 Well, and there was an example I used in my Senate questioning that I want to flesh out a little bit, because some people will say free speech, free speech.
00:21:08.760 And it is absolutely right that an American citizen has a right to engage in free speech and to say things that are horrible, that are bigoted, that are hateful.
00:21:17.940 You have a right to say that.
00:21:19.180 I will defend your right to say that.
00:21:21.700 But it doesn't mean that you are entitled to be immune from the consequences of what you say.
00:21:28.020 And so one example I gave, if you're a university student, and let's say a university student dressed in a Klan outfit and went onto campus and burned a cross and began screaming that we should murder all the African-American students.
00:21:45.300 If that university student was an American citizen, he or she would have a First Amendment right to say that.
00:21:50.320 But I think the odds are 100% the university would expel them.
00:21:55.240 There could be consequences for your speech when they are so vile and hateful.
00:21:59.080 And if someone did that, advocating for the murder of their fellow students, they would be expelled.
00:22:03.240 Now, they wouldn't be incarcerated.
00:22:04.840 It is not a crime to say that.
00:22:08.120 But a university would be within its rights to say that we are not going to tolerate this level of hate directed at our fellow students.
00:22:15.800 That is what the pro-Hamas protesters were saying when they said from the river to the sea, when they said at the University of Washington to Jewish students, you go back to the ovens.
00:22:27.300 They were arguing when that Colombian woman held the sign saying Al-Qasam's next target pointing at Jewish students.
00:22:34.360 They were arguing for their fellow students to be murdered in this instance because they are Jews.
00:22:39.140 A university is fully within its right to expel that student for doing so.
00:22:43.640 Now, secondly, if someone is not a U.S. citizen, if they are on a student visa, a student visa is a privilege.
00:22:50.880 It is the United States making the decision.
00:22:53.500 We think it is beneficial to us to let you come to our country and study in our schools.
00:22:59.660 It is a permissive grant.
00:23:01.760 And if you are organizing radical protests and harassing Jewish students with vicious anti-Semitism,
00:23:08.520 and mind you, vicious anti-Americanism, these bastards are burning American flags while in many instances taking federal money and student aid and basking the protection of the federal government.
00:23:21.320 Listen, I am confident this guy is not the first foreigner who has been a radical who's been admitted under the Obama administration and Biden administration who's going to have his visa revoked and who's going to be deported.
00:23:33.220 And he should. It doesn't mean that an American who said that says this would go to jail for saying it, but there are consequences for speech.
00:23:42.040 And that is entirely consistent with protecting robust free speech.
00:23:46.700 Well, let's remind people, because I do think it's so important that people just remember where this started.
00:23:54.320 And I want to go back to the Harvard president over the students calling, and you mentioned this, for Intifada on campus.
00:24:02.460 It was a very simple question she was asked by Lisa Phonic, and it didn't go well.
00:24:08.120 And that's where I think there was that first moment for many Americans that couldn't believe, as you described it, of these radical extremists taking over our Ivy Leagues,
00:24:18.580 taking over our college campuses beneath the Ivy Leagues, and indoctrinating people with this type of hate.
00:24:25.640 Let's go back to 2023.
00:24:28.160 This was back in December, on December 5th of 2023.
00:24:31.700 Dr. Gay, a Harvard student calling for the mass murder of African Americans is not protected free speech at Harvard, correct?
00:24:40.240 Our commitment to free speech...
00:24:41.700 It's a yes or no question. Is that corrected? Is that okay for students to call for the mass murder of African Americans at Harvard?
00:24:47.860 Is that protected free speech?
00:24:50.320 Our commitment to free speech extends...
00:24:52.020 It's a yes or no question.
00:24:54.400 Let me ask you this. You are president of Harvard, so I assume you're familiar with the term Intifada, correct?
00:24:59.400 Correct. I've heard that term, yes.
00:25:02.180 And you understand that the use of the term Intifada in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the state of Israel,
00:25:11.760 including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews. Are you aware of that?
00:25:17.340 That type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me.
00:25:21.260 And there have been multiple marches at Harvard with students chanting, quote,
00:25:24.960 there is only one solution, Intifada revolution, and, quote, globalize the Intifada. Is that correct?
00:25:31.880 I've heard that thoughtless, reckless, and hateful language on our campus, yes.
00:25:38.100 So based upon your testimony, you understand that this call for Intifada is to commit genocide against the Jewish people in Israel and globally, correct?
00:25:47.340 I will say again, that type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me.
00:25:54.800 Do you believe that type of hateful speech is contrary to Harvard's code of conduct, or is it allowed at Harvard?
00:26:02.360 It is at odds with the values of Harvard.
00:26:05.840 Can you not say here that it is against the code of conduct at Harvard?
00:26:09.020 We embrace a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.
00:26:18.840 It's when that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying, harassment, and intimidation.
00:26:25.580 Does that speech not cross that barrier?
00:26:28.080 Does that speech not call for the genocide of Jews and the elimination of Israel?
00:26:32.680 You testify that you understand that is the definition of Intifada.
00:26:36.580 Is that speech according to the code of conduct or not?
00:26:40.880 We embrace a commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, outrageous, and defensive.
00:26:49.240 You and I both know that's not the case.
00:26:51.260 You were aware that Harvard ranked dead last when it came to free speech.
00:26:55.280 Are you not aware of that report?
00:26:57.720 As I observed earlier, I reject that characterization of our campus.
00:27:02.740 It's the data that shows it's true.
00:27:04.160 And isn't it true that Harvard previously rescinded multiple offers of admissions for applicants and accepted freshmen for sharing offensive memes, racist statements, sometimes as young as 16 years old.
00:27:16.380 Did Harvard not rescind those offers of admission?
00:27:19.420 That long predates my time as president.
00:27:21.360 But you understand that Harvard made that decision to rescind those offers of admission.
00:27:25.660 I have no reason to contradict the facts as you present them.
00:27:28.800 Correct, because it's a fact.
00:27:30.100 You're also aware that a Winthrop House faculty dean was let go over who he chose to legally represent, correct?
00:27:38.200 That was while you were dean.
00:27:40.220 That is an incorrect characterization of what transpired.
00:27:42.680 What's the characterization?
00:27:44.560 I'm not going to get into details about a personnel matter.
00:27:47.680 Well, let me ask you this.
00:27:49.520 Will admissions offers be rescinded or any disciplinary action be taken against students or applicants who say, from the river to the sea or intifada, advocating for the murder of Jews?
00:28:01.660 As I've said, that type of hateful, reckless, offensive speech is personally abhorrent to me.
00:28:08.680 Are you saying today that no action will be taken?
00:28:11.700 What action will be taken?
00:28:12.900 When speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies, including policies against bullying, harassment, or intimidation, we take action.
00:28:22.420 And we have robust disciplinary processes that allow us to hold individuals accountable.
00:28:28.300 What action has been taken against students who are harassing and calling for the genocide of Jews on Harvard's campus?
00:28:37.240 I can assure you we have robust disciplinary processes.
00:28:40.040 What actions have been taken?
00:28:41.120 I'm not asking, I'm asking what actions have been taken against those students.
00:28:47.040 Given students' rights to privacy and our obligations under FERPA, I will not say more about any specific cases other than to reiterate that processes are ongoing.
00:29:00.060 Do you know what the number one hate crime in America is?
00:29:02.620 I know that over the last couple of months, there's been an alarming rise of anti-Semitism, which I understand is the critical topic that we are here to discuss.
00:29:15.740 That's correct.
00:29:17.220 I'm just going to stop it there.
00:29:19.040 And I think it's so important just to remind people of where we were.
00:29:23.360 And as you mentioned, Senator, elections have consequences.
00:29:28.400 The good news is she's no longer the president.
00:29:31.760 And that testimony ended her tenure within days.
00:29:35.820 The immediate fallout of that testimony, she lost her job.
00:29:40.020 Now, mind you, Harvard gave her a cushy job paying her $900,000 a year.
00:29:44.120 So they're still she's just not the president anymore.
00:29:47.420 But but they didn't run very far.
00:29:50.600 No.
00:29:51.200 And others at least lost their jobs being in charge.
00:29:54.760 But like you said, I still think there's a lot of this on college campuses.
00:29:58.560 I still think it would be flourishing if we didn't have Donald Trump in office.
00:30:02.260 And that's why this moment for us to not, as I would say, stop shining the light on this is so vitally important.
00:30:09.760 Fully agree.
00:30:10.440 Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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00:30:18.180 We will keep talking about these important issues even after the media stops and moves on to something else because it is important.
00:30:25.880 And the Senate and I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.
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