Following his visit to the anti-Israel encampment constructed at the University of Pennsylvania, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick told The Pennsylvania Daily Star Thursday that he will urge senators to “revisit” federal support and tax breaks afforded to top schools if Pennsylvanians send him to Washington, D.C. in November.
McCormick noted that Pennsylvania taxpayers subsidize many schools that boast anti-Israel encampments, either through federal funding or the “huge benefit” of an “enormous endowments” that remain tax exempt.
“I think we should revisit all that,” he confirmed to The Daily Star.
McCormick explained, “If these are going to be places that can’t stand up to bigotry, can’t ensure enforcement of the law and the rules, and ensure that all the students, including Jewish students, are able to have an opportunity to learn without being intimidated or subject to violence, then they shouldn’t get federal support.”
According to McCormick, the encampments are sufficient cause “for a revisiting of all the support the federal government is giving these universities.” He clarified, “As a senator, that’s something I’d actively be focused on.”
McCormick made similar remarks on the Penn campus on Wednesday, where Eyal Yakoby told him Jewish students have been subject to antisemitic name calling and intimidation.
"Zionism = Racism"
"Al-Qassam make us proud, take another soldier down."
"You’re literally Nazis. You're Hitler’s children.”
These terrible slurs have been hurled at Jewish students at @penn this past week.@EYakoby showed me the Penn encampment this afternoon. It must be… pic.twitter.com/ay8i1xnGyR
— Dave McCormick (@DaveMcCormickPA) May 1, 2024
When asked about how parents of college students should respond to the encampment by The Daily Star, McCormick referenced his own six daughters and suggested campus antisemitism represents a test for university officials.
“It’s heartbreaking, because you see these kids that don’t realize the difference between right and wrong; don’t know the difference between good and evil, and you say my God, how could that happen at universities like Penn?”
McCormick answered, “Then you see those college presidents testify a couple months back and you see how it happened,” referring to the recent congressional testimony of disgraced former Harvard University Claudine Gay and other university administrators who struggled to explain their policy on antisemitism on campuses.
“We’ve got to take strong action, break up these encampments, discipline the kids, throw them out of school,” the Republican argued.
He added, “If a student’s on a visa, send them home. Exercise some leadership and moral clarity.”
He then turned toward his political opponent, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA).
“This is a test,” McCormick told The Daily Star. “Sadly, many of our leaders across our country, including my opponent Bob Casey, are failing.”
McCormick added he is “very excited” about the state of his campaign after a recent poll showed him just four percent points behind Casey, who is completing his third term in the Senate.
Of Democrats, McCormick said, “They should be worried because they’re failing the American people, and Bob Casey is failing Pennsylvanians.”
He added, “If you want change, you’ve got to hire someone who is an outsider, who has been a leader, who has a vision for Pennsylvania and America that’s going to take us in a dramatically different direction.”
McCormick also suggested recent articles published by The New York Times, which establish the facts surrounding his childhood in rural Pennsylvania, are evidence of concern from Democrats.
The publication, McCormick explained, sent “a team to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania in April for a Senate race. That’s evidence the Democrats should be worried.”
He dismissed the Times‘ coverage as a “Democratic oppo piece that was designed to try to call into question my Pennsylvania roots.” Instead, according to McCormick, “it did the opposite.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dave McCormick” by Dave McCormick.
