Context-Dependent Stones

Context-Dependent Stones

 

 

Rep. Stefanik asked Claudine Gay, president of Harvard, if calling for the genocide of Jews is against Harvard’s code of conduct. Gay said, that’s a matter of context. That reply was legalese as fluent as the output of ChatGPT. It was also a PR disaster.

 

Since then the president of Harvard has been plausibly accused of plagiarism. I love an academic in-fight; the tactics are nasty because the stakes are small. Claudine Gay lives in a glass plagiarism house, and she threw context-dependent stones.

 

What I question is not her intent but her competence. If I were in her place, my weasel-wording would have been much more slippery than hers. I’d have answered:

 

Of course calling for genocide is against Harvard’s code of conduct. Now the question is: does calling for intifada call for genocide, and does the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ call for genocide?

 

“Intifada” means armed resistance, a kind of war. There have already been several such wars in that region. None have been genocidal as yet, but there are genocidal factions in those wars, including Hamas, which has genocide against Jews in its charter.

 

“Palestine will be free / From the river to the sea” clearly calls for ethnic cleansing; and this becomes obvious if you replace the word “Palestine” by the word “Israel”.

 

So now the question is: Is calling for war or ethnic cleansing against Harvard’s code of conduct?

 

That, I think, would have deflected the issue, at least awhile. Answering a question with another question is an ancient academic delaying tactic; I am astonished that Harvard’s president didn’t come up with it, or her Board advise it.

 

Of course she would then have had to consult with the Board about that question.

 

My own answer is: It should be against Harvard’s code of conduct to call for war between two other nations. Historically, there have been plenty of calls from Harvard for war by the USA upon another nation, and it is pointless to regulate retroactively. Likewise, the historical record shows that all calls from Harvard for ethnic cleansing have been domestically directed. Calling for ethnic cleansing abroad is against precedent, and we should draw the line somewhere.

 

So Harvard’s code of conduct should sanction calling for war or ethnic cleansing, between or by other nations. But alas, that answer is too honest.