From New York Times, I'm Michael Barbero. This is the Daily.

Today, the story behind a congressional hearing that ended the career of one university president,

jeopardized the jobs of two others, and kicked off an emotional debate about anti-Semitism and free

speech on college campuses.

I speak with my colleague, Nick Confessori.

It's Wednesday, December 13th.

Nick. 13th. Nick, thank you for coming in here.

It's good to be here, Michael.

I want you to give us the backstory that brings us to this now infamous Congressional hearing last week, featuring several of the country's top college

presidents and to the uproar that this hearing ultimately ends up triggering.

Where does that story start?

It begins in the aftermath of the October 7th attacks, when around the country campuses begin to

be roiled by protests about the attacks, the aftermath of the attacks, the Israeli response.

You had students chanting from the river to the sea,

you had students chanting from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, which for some

of the protesters were meant as more generic statements of Palestinian freedom, but for many

Jews,

sound like calls for ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel.

Because between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea

is Israel in its current borders.

Correct.

And they're all right. They're going to be. Correct. That means uprising, but which many people, especially people of a certain age, sounds like an endorsement of the violent tactics of the second and the father suicide attacks.

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