Two presidents of a top university have already resigned because of the uproar in the United States. The Finnish professor at the University of Pennsylvania believes that it is a political chase.
of the United States the final year of the top universities was exceptionally turbulent.
The terrorist attack by Hamas and the war in Gaza activated the students in the universities in late autumn to protests, which eventually led to the fact that the US Congress grilled the presidents of three top universities for anti-Semitism at the universities.
Chancellor of Harvard Claudine Gay and Chancellor of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Elizabeth Magill eventually resigned under public pressure.
In pennies a working Finnish professor Teemu Ruskolan according to it is a political chase.
The country's extreme right and the Republican “anti-intellectuals” are now trying to take over the universities as well, Ruskola tells HS by phone from the United States.
He works at Penn as a professor of law and East Asian studies.
Teemu Ruskola.
In Ruskola has decades of experience in US universities. After high school, he left Finland in 1985 as a scholarship to Penn University, from where he transferred to Stanford University in California to finish his degree. Ruskola received her doctorate from Yale University, after which she has mainly worked at US universities.
Ruskola says that the current war in Gaza aroused strong opinions on both sides among the students at Penn University.
The university has an obligation to discuss these historically, politically and socially difficult issues, says Ruskola
Problems only arose when outside parties intervened, he continues.
Penny In December, a van with billboards toured the university grounds. The billboards read that Penn's chancellor does not protect Jews. The signs also demanded his resignation.
A similar van toured Harvard in October. The billboard listed the students' names, which were linked to the statement that Israel was solely to blame for the war. Above the listing read “Harvard's leading anti-Semites”.
Behind the seizure was the conservative organization Accuracy in Media.
American newspaper The New York Times according to Accuracy in Media has also bought domain names bearing the name of students called anti-Semitic. The organization's plan is to set up websites demanding that the university punish the students in question.
According to Ruskola, after everything that happened, the students are wary and afraid of what kind of opinions they dare to say out loud.
Political posters at Harvard University.
Last for months, the attention has been especially on the top universities in the United States, which, as their name suggests, train top experts in various fields.
A congressional hearing was held for the rectors of the top universities in December, even though the Israel-Palestine situation has been taken quite widely in different universities.
The official purpose of the hearing was to find out how universities have dealt with anti-Semitism.
Ruskola is of the opinion that the question is not only or even mainly about anti-Semitism, but that under the guise of accusations of anti-Semitism, an attempt is being made to take over the tyrants of liberal values, as universities are seen in hard-line republican circles.
Top universities are a sore spot for hard-line Republicans, says Ruskola.
“They are mocked and laughed at, but at the same time they all want their children to go to top universities.”
In New York, there was a demonstration in favor of university diversity, equality and inclusion programs.
Hard line Republicans are above all concerned about universities becoming more diverse, Ruskola estimates.
The diversity, equality and inclusion programs of the universities have been brought to the fore, with the aim of eliminating structural racism in society.
Ruskola believes that the reason behind the pursuit of Harvard Chancellor Claudine Gay was that she is a woman and Harvard's first African-American president. It was seen as a threat to Harvard's traditions.
Claudine Gay said she fell into a “well-laid trap” at the congressional hearing.
Top universities the rectors' resignation has been demanded not only by political actors and organizations that promote their interests, but also by billionaires, whose donations the universities rely on.
According to Ruskola, we are now faced with a big question: who or who are responsible for what is taught in universities and how academic freedom is realized.
He says that in the past the building was named after the financiers of the universities, and with a smaller grant he was able to send his children to university. Now the power of donors has increasingly permeated university life.
Donors are given more and more seats on university boards, so that the universities would receive more and more donations. Donations, on the other hand, affect the prestige of the university.
“These people do not necessarily have the best view of how the university should be run. They may have their own agendas, which are not necessarily related to higher education,” says Ruskola.
Even earlier large donors have been in contact with universities and tried to influence them behind closed doors. According to Ruskola, the donors' activities are now even more public and blatant.
“They [lahjoittajat] clearly do not accept no for an answer, or they take the issue forward up to the level of political decision-makers.”
This is what Ruskola believes also happened when the rectors of the top universities were invited to a congressional hearing at the beginning of December.
He thinks it's absurd that the Congress, drowning in work, gathered for almost an entire day to hear three principals.
The two of you the series of events that led to the resignation of the president of a top university began with a Republican representative Elise Stefanik in a congressional hearing on the question of whether calling for the genocide of the Jews meets the marks of harassment at the universities they run.
The chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was present Sally KornbluthHarvard's Gay and Penn's Magill gave a multifaceted answer to the question, which Stefanik was not satisfied with.
He demanded a yes or no answer to the question, which the principals did not want to give. In their hearing, they had tried to highlight the importance of freedom of speech and how important it is to balance when freedom of speech turns into harassment.
Stefanik's question started the public torment of the principals.
Elizabeth Magill resigned as principal after a congressional hearing.
Mixed Both Magill and Gay later apologized for their responses.
Magill stated in his video message that he had given a legal answer to Stefanik's question, even though he should have said that calling for the genocide of the Jews is a call to brutal violence.
Gay told The Crimson, Harvard's student newspaper that they are sorry for the words that have reinforced the anxiety and pain.
Apologies did not calm the situation. Penn University Chancellor Magill resigned in early December.
Harvard University's Gay resigned from his post at the beginning of January, after he had also been repeatedly accused of plagiarism.
Gay wrote in the New York Times in a published op-ed after his resignation that he fell into a “well-laid trap” in a congressional hearing. According to Gay, Harvard University and he have been under attack for weeks.
“This was just one skirmish in a larger war to erode public confidence in the pillars of American society,” Gay wrote.
Republican representative Stefanik has considered the principals' differences as a political victory.
He wrote on the messaging service X “two removed, one left” after Ga
y's breakup. Kornbluth is still working as a chancellor at MIT.
Stefanik himself was ousted from the advisory board of the Harvard Institute of Politics in 2021 when he refused to accept Joe Biden victory in the 2020 US presidential election.
Stefanik is Donald Trump's strong supporter.
Ruskola according to it is still too early to say how all this will ultimately affect the academic freedom of universities. He describes academic freedom as “the most important capital of schools”.
According to Ruskola, these development costs should also be taken into account in Finland, where external funding for universities is increasingly desired.
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