'By now, it's also painfully clear that the moral failures of campus administrators go well beyond weak responses to student behavior... As the glaring moral rot on college campuses invites scrutiny, even further evidence of decline has emerged. Not only are some of the nation's most elite institutions breeding grounds for the world's oldest form of hate; they are also infested with academic misconduct.'
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Wednesday, February 28, 2024) – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding student loan socialism and collegiate anti-Semitism:
"Three days ago, a member of Harvard's anti-Semitism task force stepped down over concerns that the University would not actually implement the group's recommendations.
"Unfortunately, if recent events are any indication, this professor's concerns about the unchecked wave of hate on campus are well founded.
"A few weeks ago, multiple Harvard student groups circulated a blatantly anti-Semitic cartoon of Muhammad Ali and former Egyptian President Nasser being hanged by a hand bearing a Star of David with a dollar sign at its center.
"And true to form, the University's response amounted to... a sternly worded letter.
"Not to be outdone on this backslide into brutish hate, flyers were found on Columbia's campus depicting an Israeli flag in the shape of a skunk.
"And the Columbia Law School student senate rejected a proposal from fellow students seeking to form a club to combat anti-Semitism.
"By now, it's also painfully clear that the moral failures of campus administrators go well beyond weak responses to student behavior.
"Rutgers recently hosted an event with a professor who described the events of October 7th as 'awesome scenes...witnessed by millions of jubilant Arabs.' And City University of New York tried to schedule a panel titled, 'Globalize the Intifada.'
"As the glaring moral rot on college campuses invites scrutiny, even further evidence of decline has emerged. Not only are some of the nation's most elite institutions breeding grounds for the world's oldest form of hate; they are also infested with academic misconduct.
"Last month, Harvard's Chief Diversity Officer was found to have copied her husband's work extensively without citation. And perhaps even more shockingly, a top neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School was found to have falsified data in twenty-one different papers.
"Profoundly unserious behavior at a university that professes world-leading academic caliber.
"So it's no surprise to see donors continuing to vote with their checkbooks.
"Another prominent billionaire and longtime donor to Harvard University announced last month that he would end his support. He said that until Harvard got back on the right track and focused on educating future leaders, 'I'm not interested in supporting the institution'.
"For their part, American families are right to reconsider whether an Ivy League diploma is worth the cost – or, for that matter, the hate.
"Unfortunately, the Biden Administration isn't making it any easier for students and parents to make informed decisions.
"Beginning with a failure to launch last fall, the Department of Education was slow to post the Free Application for Federal Student Aid online.
"Now, months behind schedule, prospective students and parents are stuck with incomplete information on the cost of attending college.
"But while the department is slowing down and muddling the financial aid process, they are simultaneously speeding up their student loan socialism scheme roll out.
"It's almost as though the Biden Administration wants more young people to incur excessive debt so that they can turn around and force taxpayers to foot an even larger bill to bail them out!
"Not only has the Supreme Court ruled President Biden's student loan socialism unconstitutional – the scheme is also profoundly bad policy. And it won't help American families struggling to afford college.
"Heaping billions of dollars of student loan debt onto taxpayers will only drive up tuition prices at universities that are failing miserably at their most basic responsibilities.
"Perhaps it's time the government followed the lead of parents and business leaders, and stopped providing taxpayer subsidies to institutions that have clearly lost their grip on reality."
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