During the exchange, Stefanik pressed Gay on whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violates Harvard’s code of conduct. Gay replied that “it depends on the context.” Clips of the exchange have since gone viral, spurring outrage online. Gay clarified her remarks on X on Wednesday.

“Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account,” Gay said in the statement posted on Harvard’s X account.

The statement has done little to satisfy those who viewed Gay’s remarks as dangerous and antisemitic.

“The lack of moral clarity is unacceptable,” Emhoff said of the testimony during his remarks on Thursday at the annual lighting ceremony of the National Menorah in Washington. “We’ve seen a restaurant owner accused of genocide because he’s Jewish. Students afraid to go to class. We’ve seen it in our markets, synagogues and in our streets.”

Emhoff isn’t alone. Democratic lawmakers piled on the three presidents following the hearing. And more than 1,500 Penn alumni, donors and students are calling on Magill to resign. While Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro didn’t join that call, he said the university’s board of directors had a “serious decision” to make in response to Magill’s comments and needed to “meet soon, to make that determination.” On Thursday, Axios reported that Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, was withdrawing a gift to the school worth around $100 million.

College campuses have been roiled by conflict as the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas has escalated, and college presidents have struggled with messaging since protests began shortly after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7. The testimony on Tuesday ended up sending the three presidents into an even deeper quandary: The House Education and the Workforce Committee announced that it would investigate the universities, saying the institutions’ leaders failed to sufficiently condemn student protests calling for “Jewish genocide.”