Since last Wednesday, a scandal has rocked elite universities in the United States. Three leaders of leading universities have refused to condemn calls for genocide against Jews by students at their institutions.
The responses of these leaders are reprehensible. To the point where one of them resigned. But digging deeper, it appears 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. Rather than offering a clear condemnation, they scattered themselves into explanations which amounted to saying: it depends on the circumstances.
Their response should have gone something like this: We unreservedly condemn calls for genocides. However, the United States Supreme Court has ruled numerous times that the First Amendment to the Constitution protects even calls for violence. Our universities, which are private, are not subject to the First Amendment as such. Knowing this, by following our regulations, it is possible to condemn calls for genocides.
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Fear of university leaders
But now, these university leaders tremble before the wokes. However, Wokism and its limitless support for certain minorities have pushed students to take up the cause of Hamas. Hamas, which wants to eradicate the Jews from Israel, that is to say, commit genocide.
The debate would be simple if certain extremist conservative forces behind Benjamin Netanyahu were not also in favor of genocide, this time of the Palestinians.
Some commentators believe that all this debate about free speech on campus is actually a subterfuge by the US government to distract public opinion from what the Israeli army is doing in Gaza.
It is true that the US Congress has many other pressing issues to deal with, rather than pro- or anti-Israeli demonstrations at universities. Inviting university leaders to explain themselves before a congressional committee, as was done last week, can even be seen as an attack on academic freedom.
Moreover, several Republican elected officials, led by Ron DeSantis, do not hide their desire to intervene in the subject taught at the university.
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Ideological impasse
But Wokism is incapable of reasoning well about Gaza. He is incapable of condemning Hamas and religious fundamentalists, because according to followers of this ideology, such condemnation would be “Islamophobic.”
Likewise, pro-Israel zealots equate any criticism of Israel with anti-Zionism or worse.
In any case, the debate surrounding the war in Gaza shows that American universities are increasingly hostage to intransigent ideological movements over which facts have little influence.
This is exactly the opposite of the academic ideal.