‘Words Matter’, by John M. Grondelski

John Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) is a former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. All views herein are exclusively his.

In the Confiteor, Catholics acknowledge they sin “in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done, in what I have failed to do.”  One can wrong another in many ways.

 That perspective seemed to be missing in the testimony of three prestigious university presidents – Harvard’s Claudine Gay, MIT’s Sally Kornbluth, and Penn’s already-defenestrated Elizabeth Magill – before a House committee about on-campus antisemitism.  All three were excoriated for being unable to say whether employing antisemitic slogans – like “from the river to the sea” (the Palestinian saying about being free from Jews) – violated student codes.  They repeatedly claimed that it depended on “context.”

They may have been lawyerly in their responses in order to evade liability or establish a precedent.  But the heart of the question wasn’t legal, but ethical: Are antisemitic threats inconsistent with the values of your university? ….

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