{"id":138528,"date":"2023-12-07T00:05:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T05:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=138528"},"modified":"2023-12-06T15:06:27","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T20:06:27","slug":"lawmaker-questions-harvard-president-about-flying-ukraine-flag-not-israels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/lawmaker-questions-harvard-president-about-flying-ukraine-flag-not-israels\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker questions Harvard president about flying Ukraine flag, not Israel\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Harvard president: Predecessor made \u2018exception to longstanding rule\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Harvard University President Claudine Gay confirmed Tuesday that her school made an exception when it flew the Ukrainian flag on campus last year but refused to do the same for Israel this fall.<\/p>\n<p>Her <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kcjohnson9\/status\/1732175256092057799\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comments<\/a> came in response to questioning by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, during a House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing about rising antisemitism on college campuses. The presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/calling-for-genocide-of-jews-not-always-bullying-elite-college-presidents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">also testified<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When Stefanik asked if Harvard was contacted \u201cabout flying the Israeli flag over Harvard yard\u201d in October, Gay said the school was but it did not fly the flag.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been standard protocol at the university for years to only fly the American flag unless we have a visiting dignitary,\u201d Gay said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why the university flew the Ukrainian flag in 2022, Gay said the decision was \u201cmade by my predecessor as an exception to a longstanding rule.\u201d She succeeded President Larry Bacow on July 1 of this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it was an exception,\u201d Stefanik said, adding, \u201cThe university made an exception for the Ukrainian flag but not the Israeli flag?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gay responded, \u201cThat was a choice made by my predecessor.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Another remarkable exchange w\/Harvard pres. Gay.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepStefanik?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RepStefanik<\/a>: did univ decline request to fly an Israeli flag after 10\/7?<br \/>Gay: &quot;standard protocol at the university for years&quot; to only fly the US flag&#8211;only to concede after followup Q that Harvard flew the Ukraine flag last year. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mnitmvFHU8\">pic.twitter.com\/mnitmvFHU8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kcjohnson9\/status\/1732175256092057799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>The College Fix<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/harvard-flew-the-ukrainian-flag-in-solidarity-why-not-israels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> about Harvard\u2019s inconsistency involving the flags in mid-October as controversy raged over higher education leaders\u2019 responses to the Israel-Hamas conflict and antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, the Ivy League school <a href=\"https:\/\/vpia.harvard.edu\/ukraine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">raised<\/a> a Ukrainian flag on campus in solidarity with its people within four days of the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n<p>While doing so, university leaders also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harvard.edu\/president\/news-and-statements-by-president-bacow\/2022\/statement-on-the-russia-ukraine-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">condemned <\/a>the \u201cdeplorable actions\u201d of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including his \u201cwanton aggression\u201d against the neighboring European nation.<\/p>\n<p>However, Harvard leaders did not take similar action in the weeks after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, murdering more than 1,300 innocent civilians \u2014 women, children, families, <em>The Fix<\/em> found.<\/p>\n<p>At the time,<em> The Fix<\/em> contacted Harvard media relations, Gay\u2019s office, and the vice president\u2019s office several times to ask about the matter, but none responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Others also questioned Harvard\u2019s inconsistency on social media, including journalist Abigail Shrier who <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AbigailShrier\/status\/1712700603435287001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accused<\/a> Gay of equivocating \u201cfor days on whether even to condemn Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gay issued a statement Oct. 12 about the \u201cWar in the Middle East,\u201d in which she condemned \u201cthe terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one\u2019s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing Tuesday, Gay said she has made mistakes while trying to balance free expression with responses to hate on campus since the Oct. 7 attack, <em>NPR<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/12\/05\/1217459477\/harvard-penn-mit-antisemitism-congress-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During these difficult days, I have felt the bonds of our community strained,&#8221; Gay said. &#8220;In response, I have sought to confront hate while preserving free expression. This is difficult work and I know that I have not always gotten it right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/calling-for-genocide-of-jews-not-always-bullying-elite-college-presidents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Calling for \u2018genocide of Jews\u2019 not always \u2018bullying\u2019: elite college presidents<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IMAGE: Harvard University<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harvard president: Predecessor made \u2018exception to longstanding rule.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1334,"featured_media":135906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1367],"tags":[31913,13111,2737,51467,52135,10238],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/UkraineflagHarvard.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-A2k","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138528"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138541,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138528\/revisions\/138541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}