(NewsNation) — Leaders of some top universities around the U.S. are facing pressure to resign after House testimony over antisemitism on campuses, but one expert says the issue warrants a bigger conversation.
“I think we have to have a larger reckoning with what’s going on on our college campuses. And I think it’s on all of us to engage in this dialogue,” said Jim Malatras, former chancellor at the State University of New York.
Malatras joined “NewsNation Now” to discuss what it would mean for additional college presidents to step down after UPenn president Liz Magill resigned from her position.
“This runs deep. It’s not about one person. It’s about a whole collective infrastructure which, by the way, in colleges and universities, presidents are a part of a shared governance model, which means they’re one piece of the larger leadership model, but faculty, staff, students are all engaged in that overall approach on campuses,” Malatras pointed out.
Malatras said the real issue at hand is not about removing the universities’ presidents but the balance between free speech and diversity and inclusion.
“There’s a double standard, which is being exposed, and in other examples, people were quick to react. But when it came to Jewish students or issues of antisemitism, there was inaction, and in fact, the reverse of that,” Malatras said. “So now, I think you have to get on college campuses and have that broader discussion, have that moral reckoning, or these issues will just continue to fester and grow.”