Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s viral congressional hearing—where she questioned university presidents about whether advocating for the genocide of Jews violated campus policies and received responses that it depended on context—has been viewed over a billion times. Described by Stefanik in her new book as “the most-watched congressional hearing in history,” the video propelled her to national prominence but not an immediate leadership role.
Stefanik, who was reportedly considered for President Donald Trump’s 2024 vice-presidential nomination and later nominated to be U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, withdrew both nominations after suspending her campaign for New York governor in March 2025. Her debut book, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities, focuses on how Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel reverberated across American campuses.
In the book, Stefanik condemns university leaders for failing the most basic moral test imaginable. She details Harvard University—where she attended—as a case study in institutional failure, citing incidents such as senior fellow Penny Pritzker hiring her own legal team separate from the university and interim president Alan Garber dismissing concerns about Donald Trump’s election prospects. At Yale University, students were accused of antisemitic acts by officials who labeled them “political speech.”
Stefanik identifies systemic issues including left-wing faculty hiring for conformity, diversity initiatives, social media influence, and foreign student contributions as drivers of campus problems. She proposes solutions like syllabus transparency for parents and donors, and a shift toward universities with stronger conservative values such as Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, Emory, Clemson, and the University of Austin.
The book has been praised for emphasizing how the crisis extends beyond Jewish communities, stating it “determines whether we strive for academic excellence or political indoctrination at our most esteemed colleges.” While minor inaccuracies were noted—such as Harvard’s absence of a “Middle Eastern Studies Department”—Stefanik’s colleagues in Congress highlight her analysis as more grounded than that of university leaders like Claudine Gay or Liz Magill.
As Stefanik states: “the American people, much smarter than these university presidents, said enough is enough.”