NCAA President Condemns Anti-Israel Student Sentiment At Harvard, Ohio State, North Carolina, NYU, Columbia
NCAA president Charlie Baker criticized several member institutions for recent statements against Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
Baker appeared before a Congressional committee Tuesday that is attempting to fix some of the Name, Image & Likeness issues afflicting college athletics since NIL dawned in the summer of 2021. But U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) switched from NIL topics to some recent positions taken by students at college campuses across the country.
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) brought up college students across the country taking a stand against Israel at a congressional committee hearing on Name, Image & Likeness on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images)
"Students at Harvard wrote, 'They hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,'" Hawley said. "Students at Ohio State praised 'the heroic resistance in Gaza.'"
Hawley stressed the word "heroic" sarcastically.
"Students at the University of North Carolina claim 'it is our morale obligation to be in solidarity with the dispossessed. This includes violence,'" Hawley continued. "Students at New York University wrote, 'Peaceful discourse must be rejected, and there is no peace in a colonized people living under occupation, subjugation and apartheid,' referring to Israel."
Hawley added, "And finally, Columbia University was actually forced to close its campus when an Israeli student was assaulted and numerous Jewish American students were threatened. Would you condemn this rhetoric of violence an anti-Semitism at these campuses?"
NCAA President Charlie Baker Condemns Support Of Violence
Baker (R-Mass.), a former Massachusetts governor, said, "It is important that I say this as much as a former governor as the current head of the NCAA. For all of us, whether we agree with someone’s general political philosophy or not, to condemn any support for violence, there is never an excuse for unprovoked attacks on innocent people."
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 17: Charlie Baker, president of the NCAA, arrives for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Name, Image, and Likeness, and the Future of College Sports," in Hart Building on Tuesday, October 17, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Baker explained a cultural problem.
NCAA president Charlie Baker followed former president Mark Emmert last March (Getty Images).
"I said many times, and I said it a lot when I was governor, that we have gotten really casual about the way we think about violence in this country," he said. "And I said it all the way through the summer of 2020 when we had some really horrible things that happened to members of our Black community. I think we have a cultural problem there as much as anything else, senator, and I think it’s important for everybody on all sides of the political spectrum to call that stuff out."
John Hawley praised Baker.
"Good, I agree with you," he said. "I’m glad you’re willing to say it. I think it’s important that the NCAA be willing to say it. You’ve got many Jewish-American athletes."
Baker interjected, "and Jewish-American students."
Senator Hawley Does Not Accept Student Comments On Israel
"Indeed," Hawley answered. "And while the first amendment certainly protects the right of anybody on our campuses and across the country, to say what they want peacefully - peacefully – that doesn’t mean that we have to condone it and act as if it’s morally acceptable. And I think it’s vital that we take a stand on it."
Charlie Baker opened his comments about NIL to the committee by condemning Hamas.
"Before I begin, I do want to say on behalf of college sports generally, we condemn the recent violence perpetrated by Hamas," he said. "There acts were horrific, hard to comprehend, and our thoughts are with the people of Israel and the innocents that are involved in that conflict."
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