Investigative journalist Sara Carter traveled to University City, Philadelphia to speak with college students after now-former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned following a highly-criticized appearance at a House hearing on antisemitism on campus.
Magill was criticized from across the political spectrum in Pennsylvania, including from the state's Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, who is also the first Jewish person to hold that seat.
Shapiro, a nonvoting member of the UPenn board, called Magill's testimony "unacceptable" and "shameful," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer – while the top State Senate Republican Shapiro defeated in 2022 launched a legislative effort to curb antisemitism on campus statewide.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, said in a statement that Pennsylvanian's tax dollars should not subsidize collegiate institutions that "enable antisemitic behavior," while also calling for Magill's resignation.
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The lawmaker's bill would cut state funding for one year to any school participating in or supporting antisemitism.
Meanwhile, in University City, Carter told "Hannity" that some of the students she spoke with also wavered as Magill had on whether calls for Jewish genocide violated the school code of conduct.
"[M]any of them equated calls for genocide as just someone else's opinion," she said.
One student said they weren't sure how they felt about Magill's resignation, but stated it is indeed big news for good reason.
"Just because they're very scrutinized on a national level, I think right now and whatever they say, there's probably going to be a lot of commentary about it," a second student added. "So I think it was hard for them to answer, even though I don't think it should have been."
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The first student Carter spoke with later added he didn't feel qualified to answer, citing heated opinions on both sides of the issue on campus.
"I expect people to not be violent… My personal stance on genocide is against it, but I'm not going to force anybody of my political views," a third student told Carter.
One final student stated that even though Magill's position was "difficult," the question from Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., was not difficult.
Offering a postmortem to "Hannity," Carter said her interactions were at times "mind-blowing" when she heard people could not succinctly state genocide is wrong and that there should be any wavering on the issue.
"But I got to tell you this: This isn't an anomaly. This is the reason why so many people are standing up and speaking out and calling for the removal of the leadership of MIT and Harvard," she said.
Host Sean Hannity later reported that he viewed a poll showing 20% of young people between 18 and 29 believe the Holocaust was a myth. An Economist/YouGov poll with matching figures was reported on Monday by the Times of Israel.
