A shouting match erupted Wednesday between former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain and former CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill on NewsNation during a discussion on campus antisemitism.
Swain and Hill appeared on “Cuomo” to discuss the push back against Harvard President Claudine Gay’s congressional hearing comments regarding antisemitism on campus. NewsNation host Chris Cuomo brought up the issue to the two guests, stating there would be no “context discussion” for campuses if protests targeted Black or transgender students.
Swain agreed with the host, noting if Black students were being harassed by White students, the gatherings would have been “shut down immediately.” Swain additionally called for the removal of Gay due to allegations of plagiarism against her, emphasizing her own work was one of the pieces plagiarized. (RELATED: ‘A White Male Would Probably Already Be Gone’: Scholar Speaks Out After Harvard President Gay Accused Of Plagiarism)
“If it was anything that came close to being offensive, and it was talking about Blacks or transgender kids, you wouldn’t have a context discussion on campuses,” Cuomo stated.
“If that had been black students being harassed by white students calling for their genocide it would have been shut down immediately all across America. And so the fact that they were Jewish somehow it was acceptable … It’s unacceptable. What happened was appalling,” Swain stated. “But I’m here because I’m one of the persons that she plagiarized and I think that that is important that they do need to fire her or she needs to have the decency to step down.”
However, Hill pushed back, claiming there has been a “misrepresentation” of what has been said on campuses. Cuomo then jumped in and disagreed with the former CNN commentator, noting there have been a “lot of examples” of students being harassed. (RELATED: ‘Everything’s On The Table’: Mike Johnson Suggests House May Cut Federal Funding To Universities Over Antisemitism)
“Again, I can’t allow the misrepresentation of what’s happening on campuses. People aren’t walking through campuses calling for the genocide of Jews. What they’re calling for is intifada. What they’re calling for is a free Palestine – sometimes ‘From river to sea.’ You all have the right to say that that’s how you interpret it but it’s very important to understand that that is not the dominant narrative,” Hill stated.
“It’s also not all that’s being said. It’s not as simple as them just shouting Pro Palestinian things. There are a lot of examples of signs and words, and the students have reported that they have been harassed and that they were saying things about Jews being the problem, being anti-zionist. You know, these are things that make kids feel harassed, and that’s the standard for everybody else, Mark. If you feel harassed, you are harassed,” Cuomo stated.
As Hill began his rebuttal knocking Swain previous comments, the former Vanderbilt professor attempted to defend herself. However, it turned into a shouting match between the two. Hill could be heard stating he wanted his “last word,” with Cuomo trying to calm both down.
“Guys, we can do better than this. You can do better,” Cuomo repeated. “We can do better than this. I appreciate you both.”
“I was given the last word. I’d like you all to allow me to have it,” Hill stated. “The point here is as a black person, I’m offended by Blue Lives Matter. I feel like it’s a call to genocide against black people, for example. But I think people have a right to march through campus saying it. And if somebody were to say that that was a call to genocide, a president would be smart and principled to say, ‘Well, if that’s what you call genocide then we need some context.'”
“Let me tell you, if kids were marching through campus saying ‘blue lives matter,’ I guarantee you they would have been in trouble that these kids were not, especially on these campuses,” Cuomo concluded.
While Gay has been under fire from donors and students, the university has decided to back her amid rising claims she plagiarized multiple academic papers, including her Ph.D. thesis.