From left, Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University; Liz Magill, president of University of Pennsylvania; Pamela Nadell, professor of historical past and Jewish research at American University; and Sally Kornbluth, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testify earlier than the House Education and Workforce Committee on Dec. 5 in Washington, D.C.

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From left, Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University; Liz Magill, president of University of Pennsylvania; Pamela Nadell, professor of historical past and Jewish research at American University; and Sally Kornbluth, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, testify earlier than the House Education and Workforce Committee on Dec. 5 in Washington, D.C.

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Controversy over final week’s congressional listening to concerning antisemitism on faculty campuses continues to play out at Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania.

Over the weekend, Penn President Liz Magill resigned after calls mounted for her elimination amongst college students, college and donors. Now, all eyes are on Harvard and whether or not its president, Claudine Gay, may even step down amid intense strain.

Critics say Magill, Gay and MIT president Sally Kornbluth did not persuade Congress and the general public that they will adequately defend their Jewish college students. Those issues largely erupted after the college presidents had been requested whether or not “calling for the genocide of Jews” would violate their faculty’s code of conduct. Many felt their solutions had been too legalistic and lacked moral clarity at a time when each antisemitism and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim incidents are on the rise within the nation.

But not everyone seems to be in favor of their departure. A rising variety of college students and college oppose the requires the presidents to go, arguing that such measures go in opposition to faculty values round independence and freedom speech.

Here’s what to know:

Calls for Gay and Kornbluth’s elimination stay agency

On Monday, New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer instructed Morning Edition that he supported Gay’s elimination.

“This wasn’t the first incident,” he mentioned. “Despite the fact that these incidents have been brought to the attention of the president of Harvard and the other presidents, there’s been no action.”

Gottheimer was one of many 74 members of Congress who signed a letter final week urging the governing boards of Harvard, Penn and MIT to take away their presidents. Congress continues to analyze their insurance policies and disciplinary procedures.

In an open letter on Sunday evening to Harvard’s governing boards, alum and billionaire investor Bill Ackman additionally accused of Gay damaging the college’s repute.

“Knowing what we know now, would Harvard consider Claudine Gay for the position? The answer is definitively ‘No,'” he wrote, including that the choice of whether or not to fireside Gay “could not be more straightforward.

Earlier on Sunday, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who posed the question around the schools’ code of conduct, ominously wrote on X: “One down. Two to go.” She added, “@Harvard and @MIT, do the fitting factor. The world is watching.”

Support grows for MIT and Harvard presidents

On Monday, the executive committee of the Harvard Alumni Association expressed its support for Gay and asked the university’s governing boards to publicly do the same.

“President Gay is the right leader to guide the University during this challenging time,” the committee wrote. “We are confident President Gay will address antisemitism, and other forms of hate, effectively and courageously.”

Similarly, over the weekend, greater than 650 Harvard college members signed a letter to the college’s prime governing board, urging it to maintain Gay as president, The Harvard Crimson reported. They pressured that yielding to such political pressures is at odds with the varsity’s values round educational freedom.

“The critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces,” they wrote, in line with The Crimson.

At MIT, the college’s board mentioned final week it stood by Kornbluth, including that it has religion in her management, judgement and ethical compass.

“She has done excellent work in leading our community, including in addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate, all of which we reject utterly at MIT,” the MIT Corporation wrote on Thursday. “She has our full and unreserved support.”

A second in contrast to every other in faculty historical past

College campuses have lengthy been a flashpoint for political controversies however the turmoil unfolding on faculty grounds over the Israel-Hamas battle can be unprecedented in some ways.

Angus Johnston, a historian of American scholar activism at Hostos Community College of The City University of New York, mentioned no difficulty in latest a long time has divided scholar activists inside the similar faculty just like the Israel-Hamas battle.

“It is rare for there to be simultaneous protests on many American campuses where students are taking diametrically opposed positions,” he mentioned.

That’s not solely a problem to navigate for friends, but additionally for college presidents, who’re balancing the pursuits of scholars, college, donors and even lawmakers.

“The presidents of MIT, Harvard and UPenn were under fire in a tense, polarized Congressional hearing. That’s a unique and different environment for most college presidents,” mentioned Jason Shepard, a communications professor at California State University, Fullerton.

He added that the present political local weather can be sophisticated by social media, which may produce viral moments and knee jerk reactions.

“Ten-second snippets of viral videos can move like wildfire, and this sets up a whole new world for university presidents to effectively communicate with a broad and diverse range of constituencies,” Shepard mentioned.

This second in larger training would possibly change into much more perilous with the autumn of one other college president, Johnston mentioned.

“There is a huge amount of pressure right now on college presidents to restrain student protests,” he mentioned. “If we see the departure of another very high profile university leader, then that pressure is going to mount even further.”