drop in illegal immigration including an international bridge in eagle pass, texas, two crossings in azo, and another near s diego, cafornia. lawmakers are negotiating a deal to combine increased border security measures with foreign aid, specifically, military assistance to ukraine. read more at reuters.com. c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? it is way more than that. comcast is partnering with 1000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled a lift so students from low income familieset the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front-row seat to democracy.

good morning it's wednesday, january 3 20 24. the house and senate are formally open today. before they do, we are with you for the next three hours. harvard president resignati after testimony before congress. we want to hear about your level of trust in higher education in america. if you do have confidence in the higher education system (202) 748-8000, if you say no (202) 748-8001, a special line for college students and parents at (202) 748-8002, in the fall line for educators at -- and the line

for educators (202) 748-8003. cebook.com/cspan on facebook. you can start calling and now, this was the story posted on the harvard website yesterday. harvard president claudine gay resigned after fierce criticism of the university' response to the attack on israel after her disastrous congress testimony. she announced her resigna saying that with a heavy heart and love for har that i will be sg down as president. i did not come to this decision si after consultations it's

in the best interest of harvard so they can navigate extraordinary challenges of the institution rather than any individual. this is the headline in the washington post, this comes at a divisive time for campuse that's wh were talking about this morning, your level of confidence in higher education. as the story impacted your level of confidence in the trust you have in higher education? 37% of the country has a bachelors degree or higher and we want to know your thoughts. you do have confidence in the higher edution system that number is (202) 748-8000, if you say no, (202) 748-8001. students and parents of college students (202) 748-8002, and all

educators at (202)48-8003. we believe those phone lines up as we hear from r in w york city. what is your level of nfidence in higher education? caller: good morning, thank you r c-span. you do a tremendous job, we appreciate that. host: thank you for that, what are your thohts? caller: i myself was not the greatest student but i audited college classes in the 70's. i was just a regular guy, showing up and seeing what they had to say. i met the most brilliant people before i audited those classes, i thought education was a hokey,

folksy they had did not trust. t when i got on their, it's really great to exnd your mind. i am a democrat but i have some conservative tendencies. i would say that the lerals have gone too far. i dug the libels when i was in college, i thought it was cool. they are not playing their hand wisely. host: do you mean on college campuses or the wider spectrum of the country? caller: both. thanks f clarifying what i was trying to say. that's it. the liberals have gone too far liberal for their own good and the good of the country and politics.

i hate to say one group or another needs to settle down but if they were smart and they wanted to further their cause they would settle down a little bit. i'm not trying to take away anyone's voice but for the furtherance of different causes they would be smarter to play their hand in a more subtle way. thank you c-span. host: we have tim from st. louis , missouri from the line th says no they do not have confidence. caller: i think the causes the de i programs that they have adopted. not just in higher education but an average school districts. my schl district has dei

bureaucrats. the programs they allowed have become the poison that has affected the university system and is causing the downfall. host: what about diversity, equity and inclusion? caller: that has nothing to do with education. i think they have no point, no value. and what we know to be educion. education is about ideas and knowledge and dei does not bring any value to the educational landscape. host: stuart, your thoughts on higher education in the wake of

this recent resignation, now two colle presidents have resigned since that congressional hearing last month. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. the point i would like to make is i agree with a lot of the callers that dei is a problem but what is far worse is when we start meddling in our universities. you have a great educational system in this country because of freedom. but the university's work through their own problems. let usebate let harvard run haard. let penn run penn. when we have politicians meddling with our scholarly institutions, that is when we have real problems. ho: that was stuart out

michigan. claudine gay a professor before taking on the top job at harvard and she served as dean of faculty for five years. she seed as president for six months. she was the second president to resign after that appearance in front of congress to discuss anti-semitism. here is one of those key moments from that hearing. claudine gay her back and rth with a least a phonic. [video clip] >> does the killing of jews count as anti-semitism?

do you understand that testimony is dehumanizing for them? that's part of anti-semitism? i will ask you one more time, does calling for the genocide of jews violate harvard's rules of bullying and harassment? >> anti-semitic rhetoric when it crosses into conduct that amounts into bullyg, intimidation, that is actionable conduct and we do take action. >> so the answer is yes? calling for the killing of jews violates harvard's code of conduct? >> it depends on the context. >> it does not depend on the context and this is why you should resign. host: that was a month ago on september the fifth. this w elise stefanik noting

to down. this was a long ovdue force resignation. it is ju the beginning of the greatest scandal of any college in history. byron donalds saying that what claudine gay did was a disgrace to thonce profound reputation of harvard. b good saying this is known as a good start. parents should stop sendin their kids to these wel radical anti-american indoctrination camps.

let's hear from you know, do you have confidence in higher education? what has this resignation and the controversy ovethe past month on for your level of confidence? (202) 748-8000 if you have confidence, if no (202) 748-8001 , college students and parents (202) 748-8002, educators (202) 748-8003. bill in illiis. caller: good morning c-span. thank you for taking my call. i have no confidence when higher education is run by white men only. that iwhat they are trying to get. i think it is wrong, it'sull of racism. thank you. host: who is they? caller: white men and white

people, got it? host: here is loretta in clevand, ohio. caller: good morning john. good morning america. i watched that hearing those three ladies said the same ing as the fbi director side. the question was about otecting kids on campus from racism. they were saying you c't do anything until someone does an action which is the same thing that christopher wray said. you can arrest somebody until

they do something. i don't understand why stefanik made a big deal about it,idn't she just want brownie points or make a fool out of somebody? it makes me mad that the public wants to chime in on things and they need to pay attention to what was going on. hbcus have been targeted during the entire trump administration and nobody did anything, anything. this is what possesses me off out america. they don't want to fix something and tell it starts happening to somebody else. i don't think jewish kids are any different than black kids. if black kids are being targeted

on campus, why isn't anything done about that? host: in conneccut, paul, a parent of a student. caller: i love the program. by the way, am a lifelong learner as they would say. a high school dropout who went into the service in the 70's. without e control of the academy, the strong political forces in this country would never been able to get away with going slavery, capitalist exploitation, imperialist activies overseas. the academy is the first one to

go but we have a dirty little secret and when people start to expose the dirty little secrets what happens? they hunkered down. a historical conte against those centers, that's been going on for eons. i experienced it in 1995 at the university of connecticut. host: was such a negative historical view, you are a parent of a child who goes to college? caller: grandparent. my youngt granddauger is going to school and ssachusetts. host: do you think that's a go thing for her to do? caller: we have to start meplace. if i was jaded all the way

through i would never been able to sustain myself and places of higher education. i went and because of the injustices of the world. what about the environmental issue? i supposthe trumpees want to shut tt down so they can have unfettered control. look at that movie dark waters about the polluting of an entire town with a chemical issue. host: the census bureau fm last year, 23.5% of the country has a bachelor and another 14.4 have me kind of advanced agree. we are asking this morning if

you have confidence in higher education. gail is on that line for parents out of new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i can ly tell you what i experienced. my son graduated in 2006 and he wento harvard for underground. he started in 2006 and in 2007 he said they are teaching us the opposite of what i learn in school. i said to him, yoknow the difference between wrong and right? and he said yes. and he was smart enough to realize.

and then he ended up going to the university opennsylvania. i noticed all these clubs but they are not integrating people with each her, they are exclusive. the african-american club, the asian club, all of these clubs and nobody is integrating with each other. i thought that was how college should be. and that's my experience even though i have no higher education. i feel you have to keep your kids close. we have to teach them your beliefs and hopully ty will have good beliefs. host: in new york ts is the editorial board of the wall street journal, president gaze resignation offers a chance for

an educational reset. they note that what has been happening results from the failure of leaders to support traditional liberal values of free debate. administrators keep flinching as opposed to drawing hardlines. that was their op-ed from today. this is for michigan. caller: good morning, regarding the issue of higher education and harvard sets a good example with theesignation of president gay. comments about her wting to go back and make corrections oher thesis, it's like a bank robber.

steals all this money and profits of so many years and now he's not calling it a robbery. he wants to go back and sign the loan documents. host: let me give people a wrap up of is plagiarism aspect of the story. comments grew with allegation that she plagiarized other academics in academic paper including her dissertation which looked at the political significance of black political success. reviews of her work uncovered some instances of inadequate citation but those submissions did not meet the bar of research misconduct. she has asked for for

corrections on two papers. ahead martin. caller: a doctor can have his medical license revoked and lawyers can be disbarred so why is she allowed to continue to teach there at harvard? she did not earn her ph day, they should resend it immediately. host: she is going back into teaching. thank you for the call. this is kyle from buffalo, new york. caller: good morning john, i am a little disturbed with all of these conversations. we are in 2024 and aot of our caller have not been to a college campus, maybe their kids

are not in college anymore. there was a caller from new york that say there are clubs that are separatist, the spanish club, asian club. i don't see it that way. i was involved in allf those clubs. we had a diversity of college kids when i went to school. host: when did you graduate? caller: i graduated class of 2000 and i got my masters in 2016. i teach a business class at one of our community college a i am also a high school teacher here in buffalo. colleges over the 30 years have been more integrated with people of color. people don't understand the history of hbcus because people

of color and females were not allowed to attend white male universities. the caller from ohio who talked about things in that category. we have a big jewish population and i have a lot of jewish friends we talk about it, the racial issue. if you say anything negative about a wish person you are considered an anti-semite and i don't understand. they talk about black people all the time, when psident obama was president you heard the out roar from the tea party and institutions who protested. the young republicans were so

ti-obama, it was close to being a racial topic. host: you talkeabout teachin at community colges, is there a difference between community colleges and ivy league schools like harvard which has grabbed the spotligh caller: i think they're all the same. i am a business teacher. i don't bring any politics into the classroom i ju teach the content. most of my students when even know which political group i belong to. i just want to see both sides. host: do you think that's the case it ivy leue schools? caller: i think so. you may take a class a deals with topics like that but for the most part, you're going to economics, physics

i'm pretty se those teachers are speaking on off-topic things. college campus h always been a place for political protest. the civil rights movement, most college campus were addressing the issues othe civil rights moment. every generation has approaches to protest. we have diverse population and our campus represents thought. a lot of students who were protesting were upset because palestinians were getting slaughtered based on what happened on october 7. wasn't anti-semitism,t was people post off that one side is getting slaughtered and the

otr side took a hit. it sought on both sides but you have to ha these kind of political outrage from our youth beuse they are the future and they are tired of seeing this racial divide and bs that we created. that's why we have the club because our forefathers thought it was ok to discriminate based on color and gender. and i hear these caller and a lot of them e white. host: a lot of time people don't indicate what race they are. caller: iaveeen on c-span since 98, you can tell the once. es. you can sense. i think most people would agree.

regardless of their tone and the way their accent is in the areas the call from. i get frustrated because our college campuses areupposed to be a place where the yng generation are going to be included in america and they have to be allowed to address their political theories. host: we are about halfway throh our segment we have a lot of calls waiting to talk. we are talking this morning about higher education and your confidence in higher education in this country in lightf the president harvar's stepping down. the phone lines for you to call and if you say yes you have confidence (202) 748-8000, if you say no (202) 748-81,

students and parents (202) 748-8002, and educators (202) 748-8003. a few of your comments from social media, we have been checking those. jason writing and from x, harvar yale anotr ivy leaguel don't represent all higher education. the real tragedy was elise ste fanik's grandstanding. therere plentyf colleges that uerstand the importance of ecation and not liberal indoctrination. e world to attend ourll over i have better confidence in a higher edu when they taught youedge and critical tnking. one gets the feeling that

ege students are told what to think rhe than how to think. militant activism has no place in higher education. caller: i can only speak to my experience in ohio since i was born and raised and lived in ohio all my life and i'm retired now. i got a bachelor's from ohio university and four of my siblings attended college and my kids attend a college. i know it is changed because governor dewine and his lieutenant governor are working hard to get colleges and universities to gear them wards the intel workforce.

i can only speak to ohio from my experience. i had an economy professor who was excellent. i can only speak from my experience. host: did you graduate with any college debt? did your kids graduate with student loan debt? caller: no, there were seven of us and my dad told me at an early age that i was responsible for my own education and i was a resident assistantf three of my four years before i got my bachelors. and i was a substitute teacher. i am retired now.

i can only say good things about my experience. host: carolyn thank you for your call. the student loan debt balance has increased 66% over the past decade and totals more than $1.77 trillion according to the federal reserve. a today breaking down those numbers. more than 92% of student loan debt is federal student loan debts while remaining amounts are owned by private student loan companies. you could look up those numbers if you would like. this is a wire from brooklyn, new york on the line for parents. caller: good morning everybody. good morning black america.

i graduated from the same school as rudy giuliani. at the same time, i have a child who was about to graduate high school and he wan to go to college. you get a chance to visit to see what it's like on campus, you get their points of view. i'm concerned about my child going to school a i graduated with a degree om community college in new york city. there's a big difference betwn why black people and othe people go to college.

the main purpose is to improve your earnings and ability to earn money. my child this about to do that and i'm still trying to do that. i'm ying to geviable work to live on a basic level. at the same time, you go through a pross of trying tget the degree but you still have to eat everday. my child still has to eat. you find aob which i did when i was in college. but could not go to sool and work at the same time. host: did you or your child take out student loan caller: i didn't want to take

out student loans and that's what i'm trying to do for my son. i didn't want to have a degree but not having a way to pay for it. i was fortunate, i was able get financial aito go to school for free. it was community college, but community colleges in new york city are aweme. host: this is ryan in phoenix, you are next. caller: good morning c-span, great show. let me cover a couple points. i though e the other college

presidents were unprofessional and i'm glad they are stepping down. we hold these kids to a certain standard. they should be suspended but they let the president sit there until the students finally came together to step down. she was very subpar with her performance at work. am glad she is stepping down but it's ridiculous she was allowed to continue as long as she did. obviously, she was not qualified. host: here's more from clotting gay from that hearing tha brought that spotlight on harvard. [video clip]

>> i know many in our harvard jewish community are hurting and experiencing grief, fear and trauma. i have heard from faculty, students, staff and alumni of incidents of intimidation and harassment. i have seen reckless and thoughtless rhetoric shared in person and online, on mpus and off. i have listed to leaders in our jewish communities who are scared and dissolution. at the same time, i know members of the muslim and arab communities are hurting. during this past month, the world, our nation and campuses have seen a rise of islamophobia. during theseifficult days i have felt the bonds of our community strain.

in response, i have thought to confront hate while preserving free expression. this is difficult work and i know i have not always done it right. the free exchange of ideas aa foundation upon which harvard is built in safety and well-being are the prerequisites for engagement in the community. without both of ese things, our institions flounder. host: that was former harborview president clotting gay. that was back in december. this is from the new york times column on the lesson that harvarshould learn after clotting gaze resignation. -- claudine gays resignation.

people will strive for influence for its own sake and status but status without excellence is eroded. 200,000 or more is a lot to pay for lessons about antiracism. there are plenty of reasons to send your kid to college but no one should doubt the intellectual brought is pervasive and will not stop spreading until universities return that their purpose is to liberate mines and not engineer utopias. do you have confidence in the united states today? diane from st. paul, minnesota. caller: john, good morning.

i do have confidence in higher education because i had it not being for that system lifting me out of poverty. i was able to obtain my masters degree from the university of minnesota. had it not been for the campus we had, during apartheid during south africa. i believe that is wha's happening with the students how ordinary people of palestinian dissent have been treated ever since israel was created in 1948. i have five kids and four of them are college graduates.

i agree that they should stop killing those people over there in palestine. and treat them like they are doing, like they are animals. i have been to 14 countries in israel so i have seen what has been happening around the world. i have a brother and he things just like most of these people calling in today. i am native american and african-american. we need to learn our history. there was no diversity, we fought to get diversity. when i went to college in 1979 to get my degree, there was nothin about cultural diversity in the state of minnesota. host: did your brother go to the

same university? caller: he went to trade school. he made good money all of us live but they don't get the same training that higher education gives people. you have a chance to be provided information, check it out to see what is real. ever since i started going to school, i ve been told his story, but not my story. we have not been able to tell our story untiwe got cultural diversity. host: this is james from new hampshire, on the line for educators. caller: i am a retired person but i was formerly on the faculty of harvard. i am personally famiar with

the previous harvard president. the politician in new york, ms stefanik. two university presidents have been fced to resign or fired. what concerned me, dr. gay was recently put into that post following an excellent president. host: are you referring to larry summers? caller: larry bacco. he was the president of m.i.t., tufts, an

then harvard. and he retired of his own choice. my question would be, how much of this is political influence driven by political pressures on the u.s. environment to cause a woman who essentially just got there and why was she appointed if these deficiencies were identified or is this someone manufactured and patched together so they could displace her? i'm not sure what is driving this or why she was allowed to proceed through the process of selecting her and within a

tter of months, she has been dismissed. who was the committee that qualified her and why was this politically driven why she has been released so fast before she has a chance to play along? host: she was the first black president and blk female president of harvard. lo in youngswn, ohio. good morning you were next. caller: good morning john. first and foremost, ms. stefanik should be the one resigning.

this hearing should never have taken place. if i was the three women sitting up there i wld've told them, i want to see the evidence and where was anyone calling for the genocide of e jewish people? this is the nail in the cofn of higher education, freedom of speech. that's where the whole proble is. i graduated with a masters degree from youngstown university. we have bill johnson who has wormed his way in, a right wing lunatic. he is not wanted youngstown. i don't want him as a former student that graduated with a masters degree. this is all about race.

all of these ivy league institutions have ways been embeddedith white supremacy. i want to know where stefanik's outrage about the genocide going on in palestine right now. host: ohio republican bill johnson set a takver youngstown later this month. this is barry and hkins, south carolina. caller: good morning john, i am a graduate of the university of south carolina. my daughter has a nursing practice and attending the university of south carolina. last night we were talking about her student loan and she said i will be 80 years old when i pay off my student loan.

my daughter does have a student loan and my wife and i were blessed to not have one. my comment this morning i have two. as a black man i benefited from college protest. i remember us a little boy, the college students coming to ou church and we would raise money to give to them to fight for the cause during the civil rights movement. if they would have not put their necks on the line to protest against racism, where would i be today? just recently at the university of south carolina i was pleased to see a group of students stand up for the workers who support the university to get pay raises.

as the next student, as an activist mysf, i was so pleased with those kids because we have a new generation coming on. they don't do things the way we do them. and i do not want to retired their growth. i want them to go through the process of maturing. in the president of harvard, i can't imagine the vetting process they put that lady through. and then to come six months in and say oh she plagiarized. t me tell you something, plagiarism has a different definition than it had when i was attending college. i don't quite understand how

harvard's vetting process did not pick up on these discrepancies. thank u for taking my call. host: that was very out of south carolina. we are asking you if you have confidence in the higher education system? james from wilmington, delaware. go ahead. caller: good morning. within the context of your conversation, i don't think i have confidence in higher education. i graduated from undergrad in 1979. i went to an eastern liberal arts colge. there is no doubt it was left leaning. we made phone calls home in the hallway door and called home collect.

that was college was like when i went. i remember the conversation with my father describing how his small business business was exploiting the workingman and he said you are going to a communist school. host: what was that talk like? when you got home? caller: it was calm and rational. my father was an intelligent man and he fell that college was for people who were too stupid to figure things out themselves. he use the library to educate himself. he verrationally walked me through wise centralized decision-making was inferior to a free market. host: he was ok with you going to school? caller: absolutely.

and i did my graduate work at nyu for a in social work. i think the issue being discussed, the professor at harvard, whatever her title was. she was not caught in an active anti-semitism but caught i an active hypocrisy. when all a conservative speaker could step on campus and get shooed away before speaking a word. that is such start contrast of calling for the elimination of

the jewish people. that was grinding the gears of even the most strident people to accept. if this was a call for the extermination of african-american people there would be no hesitation, she would've said yes or no. the only hedging comes is when it's a call for the extermination of jewish people and that makes it anti-semitism. that's all i have to say. host: this is john out of new jersey, good morning. caller: thank you for the opportunity. i've a feeling it's simplistic to ask about higher education across the u.s.. the u.s. universities are the

best in the world but there is a lot of range. the for-profit universities, their graduates can't get jobs. it's hard to justify. it's hard to be specific. host: what do you teach? what kind of educator are you? caller: i taught physics, i've worked it different laboratories. host: the spotlight has been on the ivy leagues in the culture of ivy league schools. as that too broad of a question? why don't you focus on ivy league? caller: with the faculty there

is nothing they would rather do than prove their colleagues wrong. there is a lot of diversity of opinion and i think picking out anyone faculty member statement at one time it can be entertaining but it's an oversimplification of what goes on in universities. i'm talking about the overall nature of education. what she said on one particular day in front of a demanding audience, you make mistakes or

if they don't get their words perfect they will get misinterpreted. it's highly developed skill in the political arena. host: this is george in virginia beach, virginia. caller: claudine day, i fully support her. was she said was legally and morally accurate. representative elise stefanik is jim jordan in a skirt. after this hearing, i watch the whole thing. and several other hearings like it. attacks by the right wing and zionist groups, you know who i'm

talking about. they went crazy and they still are. 22,000 palestinians are dead and there is still not much coverage, some coverage but not enough. definitely no sympathy for the people they are killing over there. that is all i've got to say. host: eddie from los angeles, mind for parents. caller: happy new year to all of america. the thing about it for me, they're supposed to be a separation of church and state. if congresswoman stefanik which she banned the bible because of revelations, they're supposed to be a separation of church and state. they have no business putting people over there.

when she banned the bible because of revelations 2:9, 3:9. host: from houston, texas,. caller: i am saddened from people not recognizing, they're talking about a group of people trying to create genocide. to resolve it, people get hurt. that doesn't mean palestinians

should -- you cannot genocide any population. until educators recognize that, they don't belong in these institutions. host: that was our last caller in this segment. stick around plenty to talk about this morning. the first primary vote is just days away, we will speak with david becker from center for election innovation & research on how they are preparing. and then later steve clemons, will prepare us for the political stories ahead. stay with us. ♪

>> the house and senate are in recess and they will meet to avoid a government shutdown. >> we are ready to the work but we are waiting the other side to come forward with a number we can agree upon. >> leader mcconnell and i will figure out the best way to get this done. we do not want to shut down. >> follow the progress when congress returns on the c-span networks, c-span now or anytime online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. announcer: if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it any time online at

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