“Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct, yes or no?” Stefanik asked Magill at a Tuesday House hearing on campus antisemitism.
To which Magill responded: “If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment.”
Stefanik slammed the response, saying: “Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? The speech is not harassment? This is unacceptable.”
Each of the presidents were asked the same question and responded similarly. They also said while they personally did not agree with the rhetoric used by those students, they are committed to preserving free speech on campus.
Stefanik, who previously called on Gay to resign, on Wednesday called for all three presidents to be fired.
“They don’t deserve the dignity of resigning,” Stefanik said on Fox News. “They need to be fired.”
Democrats pile on the presidents
Democrats are also needling the presidents over their responses, though stopping short of demanding their resignations.
The White House on Tuesday responded to the House hearing by slamming “calls for genocide” as “antithetical to everything we represent as a country.” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a first-term Democrat, also slammed Magill’s testimony as a “failure of leadership.”
“That was an unacceptable statement from the president of Penn,” Shapiro said in response to Magill not condemning calls for genocide. “Frankly, I thought her comments were absolutely shameful. It should not be hard to condemn genocide.”
More than 1,500 UPenn alumni, donors and students are calling on Magill to resign. And while Shapiro did not outright join the call, he said the university’s board of directors has a “serious decision” to make in response to Magill’s comments and needs to “meet soon, to make that determination.”
At the White House press briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to say whether the presidents should resign and said the White House does not “get involved in private university processes and how they run their university.”
“We do not stand for calls for genocide,” Jean-Pierre said. “That is unacceptable. That is vile. We will call that out.”
Gay told House lawmakers Tuesday that the rhetoric is “at odds with the values of Harvard,” but she also said free speech allows students to express “views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful.”
On Wednesday, she put out another statement amid the backlash the presidents have received for their responses at the hearing.
“There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students,” Gay said. “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.”
Magill has not released a statement.