Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, estimated there are about 500 protesters who remain at at the anti-Israel encampment constructed at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
McCormick made the remarks following his visit to the Penn campus last week, telling The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show what he witnessed was a “disgrace” and a “travesty.”
“It’s a real disgrace that these encampments persist, most prominently at the University of Pennsylvania,” said McCormick.
He explained, “I visited there last Wednesday, and you have one of these situations where the administration has said very clearly what’s happening is an absolute violation of campus policy.”
The Senate candidate reported that his hosts estimated “probably 500 kids in that encampment” and “speculated only about a third of them are Penn students.”
McCormick added, “It is vicious, and it’s really intimidating to the Jewish kids and other kids to walk through there. They’ve shut down classes. It is a travesty and there is not enough moral leadership and leadership in general to get control of these things.”
The former Trump administration official then renewed his call for moral leadership to disperse the anti-Israel encampment.
“What I’ve said publicly is, if you’re the president of Penn, you should shut down that encampment,” McCormick explained. “If it’s students at Penn they should be expelled or have a disciplinary action. If it’s outside agitators they should be arrested by the police of the City of Philadelphia.”
He added, “Get control of this thing.”
Following his trip to the Penn campus last week, McCormick told The Pennsylvania Daily Star what he witnessed convinced him federal funding and tax breaks should be “revisited” for institutions that allowed anti-Israel protests and encampments.
“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,” said McCormick.
He added, “As senator, that’s something I’d actively be focused on.”
Organizers behind the protest met with university administrators for a third time this week after earlier declaring university officials were “nefarious” as well as “antagonistic and ablelist” in their treatment and descriptions of the anti-Israel encampment.
Watch McCormick’s full remarks:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for 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. Background Photo “Pro-Palestine Protest” by Becker1999. CC BY 2.0.
