Since last Wednesday, a scandal has rocked elite universities in the USA. Three leaders of leading universities have refused to condemn calls for genocide against Jews by students at their institutions.
The reactions of these leaders are reprehensible. To the point where one of them resigned. But if you look closer, it seems that the debate touches on the roots of free speech, wokism, the conflict in Gaza and republican criticism of universities.
The leaders were asked whether calls for genocide against Jews violated their university's regulations. Instead of issuing a clear condemnation, they scattered statements that amounted to saying, “It depends on the circumstances.”
Your answer should have been something like this: We condemn calls for genocide without reservation. However, the United States Supreme Court has ruled several times that the First Amendment protects even calls for violence. Our private universities are not subject to the First Amendment as such. If we know this and follow our rules, it is possible to condemn calls for genocide.
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Fear of university management
But now these university leaders are trembling to wake up. However, Wokism and its unconditional support for certain minorities have pushed students to join the Hamas cause. Hamas, which wants to exterminate the Jews from Israel, i.e. commit genocide.
The debate would be easy if certain extremist conservative forces behind Benjamin Netanyahu did not also advocate genocide, this time against the Palestinians.
Some commentators believe that this whole debate about free speech on campus is actually a pretext by the US government to distract public opinion from what the Israeli army is doing in Gaza.
It is true that the US Congress needs to address many other pressing issues rather than pro- or anti-Israel demonstrations on campuses. Asking university leaders to explain themselves to a congressional committee, as happened last week, can even be seen as an attack on academic freedom.
In addition, several Republican elected officials, led by Ron DeSantis, have made no secret of their desire to intervene in the subject taught at the university.
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Ideological dead end
But wokism is incapable of thinking well about Gaza. He is unable to condemn Hamas and religious fundamentalists, as such condemnation would be “Islamophobic” according to supporters of this ideology.
Likewise, pro-Israel zealots equate any criticism of Israel with anti-Zionism or worse.
Regardless, the debate over the war in Gaza shows that American universities are increasingly becoming hostage to intransigent ideological movements over which facts have little influence.
This is exactly the opposite of the academic ideal.