The View waded into hot water this morning while discussing the recent college antisemitism hearing, in which Rep. Elise Stefanik grilled university presidents about their school’s codes of conduct and how protests over the Israel-Hamas War are affecting students.
After playing a clip of Harvard President Claudine Gay’s testimony at yesterday’s (Dec. 5) hearing — in which she repeatedly told Stefanik “context” matters in the cases of “calling for the genocide of Jews” — The View began a rather rocky chat about elite universities and antisemitic speech.
When it was time for Sunny Hostin to weigh in, she told the panel that the hearing should have been about free speech.
“The most hateful and heinous speech is the most protected speech,” the legal expert and former lawyer explained. “What you heard is them saying what is completely accurate under the law: it depends on the context.” As she explained that what constitutes as free speech differs depending on if its delivered in a crowd or in a one-on-one interaction, Alyssa Farah Griffin piped up to add, “but this is talking about the codes of conduct, it’s not talking about the law.”
Hostin shot back, “The codes of conduct must adhere to the law,” and told Griffin when she tried to protest, “It really can’t go against the Constitution of the United States.”
The debate only got more tense when Hostin said she thought college campuses were the “perfect” spots to “have these sorts of uncomfortable conversations.” Her words set off Griffin once more when she exclaimed, “Jewish students don’t feel comfortable on college campuses!”
Hostin appeared to shade Griffin when, toward the end of the first segment, she said, “The law is the law and I know that a lot of people don’t understand the law, but it is what it is—” but Griffin jumped right in again to repeat her earlier point, telling Hostin, “This is about campus codes of conduct, it’s not about the law. They can go much more reaching than the law goes.”
Hostin insisted, “No, they cannot,” but the show cut to a commercial before the chat could get any more chaotic. When the show returned from break, however, they picked right back up. Hostin told Griffin, “The court has protected swastikas on public property, the court has protected burning crosses—” but once again, Griffin returned to her point that “it’s not the courts, it’s the college codes of conduct.”
As Hostin geared up for a rebuttal, Joy Behar chided her. “Let her talk!” Behar said, and Griffin tore into the presidents who spoke at yesterday’s hearing, calling for them to resign “for their lack of moral clarity.” Hostin couldn’t help herself and asked incredulously, “Moral clarity because they’re following the law?!”
Griffin carried on nonetheless, saying, “The most prevalent hate crime victims in this country are Jews,” and later adding, “we need to be able to hold two collective thoughts … all while having the moral clarity to condemn genocidal language against Jews.”
Hostin emphatically added, “You can also protest in this country!”
The chat did not end smoothly, but Whoopi Goldberg tried her best, telling the panel, “let’s be consistent with whatever we do.”
The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.