Re: the Congressional hearings
MIT, Harvard and Penn didn’t stop being academically elite because their presidents made fools out of themselves. I doubt the president of MIT is antisemitic. She’s Jewish. These presidents were poorly coached by a law firm how to stay out of court based on their comments.
Antisemitism is not new. Because I lived in “Jewville” in high school, my father drove an Cadillac and missed schools on three holidays (schools didn’t observe them then) it was obvious I was Jewish. You would never know by looking at me. The Scandinavian genes on my father’s side somehow won out. In high school coaches called me “Kike.” All I could do is take it from coaches. A football coach beat me up in practice. He told me to my face he didn’t like Jews. That was fifty years ago.
The antisemitic protests on college campuses did not occur organically. The Muslim Brotherhood/CAIR has been prepared for this moment (October 7) for years.
I was an undergrad in the mid to late Seventies. The political activity on campus wasn’t much different than now. I was very politically different than what was expressed in protests. It had no bearing on the college I chose. The decision was all academics and baseball.
Most college campuses are left leaning. I had mostly left leaning professors and TA’s almost fifty years ago. The only thing that changed on campuses like MIT, Harvard and Penn is asking, “Am I safe?” I have cousins with kids currently in grad school. While they’re very aware of their surroundings at all times they haven’t been bothered.
If a baseball player got assaulted on campus I’m guessing the perpetrators would have thirty something teammates to answer to.
I’m chuckling thinking back to an event in college where a future NFL edge rusher caught up to a group of “tough guys” in the cafeteria who had cornered one of his teammates. He challenged them all at the same time. They backed down.
i can have a sense of humor about being Jewish. I’m listed in two of the world’s smallest books … Jews who co-captained a high school football team and Jews who were co-captained multiple sports in high school. As the high school coach who hated Jews told me, “You’re not supposed to play football. You’re supposed to own the team.”