The Review: The antisemitism hearings are getting boring

Plus: On "speaking as an X." ADVERTISEMENT [The Review Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. “Over the past decade,” Mark Lilla [wrote]( in our pages in 2017, “a new, and very revealing, locution has drifted from our universities into the media mainstream: Speaking as an X … This is not an anodyne phrase. It tells the listener that I am speaking from a privileged position on this matter. It sets up a wall against questions, which by definition come from a non-X perspective.” I was reminded of that passage during last Thursday’s congressional hearing on campus antisemitism, during which all three university leaders called as witnesses — Michael Schill of Northwestern, Jonathan Holloway of Rutgers, and Gene Block of UCLA — appealed to their ethnic and family backgrounds in their opening statements and throughout. “As the descendant of Holocaust victims and survivors,” Schill said, “rising antisemitism in the world affects and alarms me — personally.” Holloway invoked his great-grandfather, his grandfather, and his father, each of whom had leadership roles in Black education and civic culture. “I share this to make clear that a commitment to education and to providing access is in my DNA. ... I know something about the awful impact of discrimination.” Block: “I am fully aware that many of our Jewish students have had to confront rhetoric and images on campus that any reasonable person would find repugnant. Trust me, I understand their pain. I’ve lived it myself — as a Jewish kid growing up in the Catskill region of New York with relatives who were Holocaust survivors and victims.” These rhetorical invocations of identity are bids for authority. As the philosopher Olúfémi Táíwò has [observed]( the “cultural norms ... set in motion by prefacing statements with ‘As a Black man…'" and the like have become very widely diffused, at least in academe and other elite, largely liberal, professional spaces. Those norms include such practices of “epistemic deference” as “giving offerings, passing the mic, believing.” For the college presidents, long acculturated to environments in which “Speaking as an X” carries weight, the invocation of their own minority position was meant to buy them a little credit with their inquisitors. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. It didn’t work. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, interrupted Schill with the theatrical rudeness she has honed to a fine art over the course of these hearings: “No no no no. I’m asking the questions, you’re answering.” No epistemic deference here! Rep. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, was similarly hostile to Schill: “Your performance here has been very embarrassing to your school.” Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California Republican, accused Schill of “institutionalizing antisemitism” and called for his resignation; anything less, he said, would be an endorsement of hatred. Foxx, in her closing remarks: “President Schill ... I’m appalled by the condescension and contempt you’ve shown for the committee and towards your own Jewish students today.” Obviously, Schill’s family background carried no weight with the Republicans bent on tarring him and the other presidents as enablers of antisemitism — and even, they seemed almost to imply, as antisemites themselves. Some of Schill’s other rhetorical and argumentative moves fared better. As our Erin Gretzinger [wrote]( his attempts “to refute or reframe lawmakers’ inquiries” was a striking contrast to Nemat (Minouche) Shafik’s prostrate comportment during the second hearing; the stubborn or uncomprehending responses Schill elicited from Congress exposed the bad faith of much of the questioning. An even more important contrast with Shafik’s testimony, which Louis Menand in The New Yorker [called]( “a breathtaking ‘What was she thinking?’ episode in the history of academic freedom,” was the emphasis given to the importance of free speech. “Free expression and academic freedom,” Schill said, are “at the core of our mission.” Block, similarly: “No student should be threatened or excluded based on their beliefs or identity. While we’ll always have to strive hard to meet this obligation, we must also maintain our commitment to academic freedom and free speech.” For now, this is the last of the congressional hearings on campus antisemitism, although Peter Salovey, president of Yale, and Santa Ono, president of the University of Michigan, will be [scheduled]( to talk with the committee at some point in the future for “transcribed interviews.” Those discussions won’t be broadcast live, though. Perhaps the politicians are sensing that this theatrical ritual is losing a bit of its drama. ADVERTISEMENT UPCOMING PROGRAM [The Chronicle's Strategic-Leadership Program for Department Chairs | June 2024] [Join us in June]( for a professional development program tailored to the needs of department chairs. Experienced academic leaders will provide insights on the current trends in higher ed, effective ways to manage a department, strategic planning, and more. [Register today!]( The Latest THE REVIEW | OPINION [I Made Porn. That Shouldn’t Cost Me Tenure.]( By Joe Gow [STORY IMAGE]( The University of Wisconsin system took my chancellorship. Now it wants my job. ADVERTISEMENT THE REVIEW | ESSAY [Charles Taylor’s Sublime Shortcomings]( By Matthew Hunter [STORY IMAGE]( The great philosopher’s book about poetry is provocative but disappointing. 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