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Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik reveals how America’s elite universities, once proud symbols of academic excellence, have become centers of far-left indoctrination, division, and moral rot in this riveting, behind-the-scenes inside account. Drawing on her experience as the highest-ranking woman in Congress and the chief questioner of Ivy League university presidents in the hearing heard around the world, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik exposes the failures of American higher education and the reckoning facing universities.
For decades, conservatives have warned about the decline of higher education. Now, for the first time in modern history, Americans are taking action.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alumna herself, lit the fuse when she posed basic questions to the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, such Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s rules on bullying and harassment? Their inability to answer with moral clarity sparked a national reckoning causing multiple Ivy League presidents to resign. It was the most-watched Congressional hearing of all time. But that was just the beginning.
Poisoned Ivies delivers an unflinching account of what has gone wrong on America’s college campuses. Stefanik exposes how the nation’s most prestigious institutions abandoned their founding ideals of freedom of thought, open debate, and academic excellence, and instead embraced a culture of censorship, radical leftist groupthink, antisemitism, and moral cowardice that has spread far beyond campus walls to every corner of American life.
Both a damning exposé and a blueprint for reform, Poisoned Ivies is a timely story of courage and conviction and the power of one voice to challenge the status quo in American higher education and delivers a long-overdue reckoning. A must-read for anyone concerned with the fight for our nation’s soul.
For decades, conservatives have warned about the decline of higher education. Now, for the first time in modern history, Americans are taking action.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Harvard alumna herself, lit the fuse when she posed basic questions to the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, such Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s rules on bullying and harassment? Their inability to answer with moral clarity sparked a national reckoning causing multiple Ivy League presidents to resign. It was the most-watched Congressional hearing of all time. But that was just the beginning.
Poisoned Ivies delivers an unflinching account of what has gone wrong on America’s college campuses. Stefanik exposes how the nation’s most prestigious institutions abandoned their founding ideals of freedom of thought, open debate, and academic excellence, and instead embraced a culture of censorship, radical leftist groupthink, antisemitism, and moral cowardice that has spread far beyond campus walls to every corner of American life.
Both a damning exposé and a blueprint for reform, Poisoned Ivies is a timely story of courage and conviction and the power of one voice to challenge the status quo in American higher education and delivers a long-overdue reckoning. A must-read for anyone concerned with the fight for our nation’s soul.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
April 15, 2026
Excellent account of the moral rot on some university campuses. It's important to read to the end because she lists many campuses that are NOT guilty, i.e. Dartmouth, Univ of Florida, and what they are doing to fight anti-semitism.
April 19, 2026
Not exactly surprising given what we all see coming out of our Ivy League universities today, but this quick read was a good resource on an important topic.
April 15, 2026
The book was a PERFECT look into the protected world of Liberal schools. I'm sure many of those anti free speech advocates are review bombing this book right now. See for yourself the brilliance of a woman like Elise fighting for academic honesty in a corrupt, liberal ivy League world.
April 19, 2026
The October 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel ended up as a watershed moment for American higher education, showing how clearly antisemitism had woven itself onto prominent universities. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik did some amazing work in Congress in peeling back the curtain and showing exactly how higher education is failing, not just Jews, but everyone. It’s a good read that makes you think. I gave it four stars because it seems to place a little too much emphasis on one question from one Congressional hearing. But overall, this shows why American higher education is in decline and how we can change that.
May 5, 2026
Not easy to listen to. Story after story of the horrendous anti-Semitism that took over universities immediately following Hamas' terror attack on Oct 7th, and the cowardly or depraved presidents of these Ivy League schools who allowed, condoned, or encouraged it. I am glad she mentioned some other university presidents who enforced their policies and protected the Jewish students. It revealed that it could be done.
As much as I utterly despise Donald Trump, I am glad to hear he is holding some universities' feet to the fire for discrimination, extreme anti-Semitism, and rabid anti-American sentiment, and is challenging DEI.
As much as I utterly despise Donald Trump, I am glad to hear he is holding some universities' feet to the fire for discrimination, extreme anti-Semitism, and rabid anti-American sentiment, and is challenging DEI.
April 23, 2026
This book promises to expose problems at elite schools but disappoints. The book feels more like a political attack than a fair, fact-based investigation. It repeats the same points a lot and uses few reliable sources, so many claims seem oversimplified or one-sided. The tone is angry and confrontational, which will put off readers looking for a calm, balanced look at the issues. Fans of the author's views might like it, but most readers wanting clear evidence and careful reasoning will probably be let down. As a middle of the road independent with an open mind I was disappointed.
May 28, 2026
I watched these hearings televised live and was incredibly impressed with Elise Stefanik’s commitment to exposing moral rot and antisemitism on college campuses. I appreciated more of the examples she went into in this book, but it also felt self-congratulatory and left-bashing, both of which took away from the power and importance of her messsge.
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April 17, 2026If you didn’t follow the hearings or been following what has been going on since n higher learning take a listen or read this
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May 9, 2026I fail to Understand
This is a great book to explain the U.S. response to the 10-7 massacre in Israel by Hamas. I especially liked the examination of anti-Jewish propaganda and harassment at American universities and colleges. I thought for a while that I was reading chapters in Exodus by Leon Uris pertaining to the late 19th and early 20th centuries' activities in what became the British Mandate after WWI. Except the players were reversed. I have never understood Jew hatred from time immemorial. I thought I was reading a version of the Dreyfuss affair. SMH.
This is a great book to explain the U.S. response to the 10-7 massacre in Israel by Hamas. I especially liked the examination of anti-Jewish propaganda and harassment at American universities and colleges. I thought for a while that I was reading chapters in Exodus by Leon Uris pertaining to the late 19th and early 20th centuries' activities in what became the British Mandate after WWI. Except the players were reversed. I have never understood Jew hatred from time immemorial. I thought I was reading a version of the Dreyfuss affair. SMH.
June 7, 2026
I just finished reading Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities by Elise Stefanik. Congresswoman Stefanie laid out the recent history of deterioration of Ivy League and similar colleges. These colleges out tolerated violence and bullying against Jewish people, and political conservatives. This book is a brilliant expose specifically of the mishandling of the wave of anti-Jewish campus activity in the wake of the October 7, 2023 massacres and generally of rising discrimination against Jews and other successful minority groups.
The book focused on Harvard, Columbia and university of Pennsylvania,whose presidents she questioned under oath before her Congressional committee. They were shorter segments on other colleges such as Yale and Brown. It was also a discussion of colleges that have handled matters well, including Dartmouth and Vanderbilt.
As many know, Congresswoman Stefanik asked questions of college presidents as to whether or not antisemitic bullying and violence would violate campus codes of conduct. The president uniform said “it depends on the context.“ The thesis of her book is that there is an absence of any concept of right or wrong on many, but not all campuses.
My criticism of the book is that in my view, having gone to an Ivy League college in the second half of the 1970s, there were similar problems. Without a functioning Internet, they just were not as well known. Additionally, the book lays out societal suggestions, but no guidance for parents whose children are approaching college age. I give this book a 4 1/2, rounded down to four.
The book focused on Harvard, Columbia and university of Pennsylvania,whose presidents she questioned under oath before her Congressional committee. They were shorter segments on other colleges such as Yale and Brown. It was also a discussion of colleges that have handled matters well, including Dartmouth and Vanderbilt.
As many know, Congresswoman Stefanik asked questions of college presidents as to whether or not antisemitic bullying and violence would violate campus codes of conduct. The president uniform said “it depends on the context.“ The thesis of her book is that there is an absence of any concept of right or wrong on many, but not all campuses.
My criticism of the book is that in my view, having gone to an Ivy League college in the second half of the 1970s, there were similar problems. Without a functioning Internet, they just were not as well known. Additionally, the book lays out societal suggestions, but no guidance for parents whose children are approaching college age. I give this book a 4 1/2, rounded down to four.
April 22, 2026
This book was a great summary of what is going on in college campuses and some instances the United States today. Stefanik is a great writer who has lived through these racial protestors at Harvard and was able to put the ivory towers accountable for these actions.
June 11, 2026
I can't really say I loved this book, because as a former educator, the rot and decay of our educational system is sickening. The only reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars is because I got lost in some of the statistics. There was so much- which is substantiating her claims, but I was occasionally overwhelmed. Otherwise, incredibly eye opening and completely frustrating. I can only hope this stirs the general populace to ACTION. Here are all the notes I took as I read. It's a lot, yes, but wow do we need to overhaul our ENTIRE school system.
Historically, Ivy League colleges were known for their institutional prestige, academic excellence, esteemed faculty, rigorous and extremely selective admissions processes, groundbreaking research, and extraordinarily successful alumni networks. They were the crown jewels of the education system worldwide. They were considered bastions of knowledge and vibrant intellectual life. Today, however, most Americans understand the Ivy League schools to be hotbeds of radical ideology, groundless elitism, intellectual laziness, and anti-American hatred. Students are not only showing up academically unprepared, but they are leaving uneducated, unemployable, radicalized, and deeply out of touch with American values. Today, much of what passes for education at top universities is specifically designed to instill hostility toward the United States, our Founders, and our founding ideals. An institution that helped educate the men who put their lives at stake for liberty and equality is now a breeding ground of race hatred and violence. And unfortunately, what happened at these schools wasn’t the exception- it was the rule…it set the tone and standard, and most other higher education institutions across the country have followed suit.
Faculty often use the hiring process to police ideological boundaries and instead of hiring for diversity, they hire for conformity. Political bias and fear of reprisals can shift entire fields of research over time. When faculty all agree on a political agenda, or when certain assumptions go unchallenged, it hurts scholarship by promoting orthodoxy and discouraging dissent. Scholars then come to confuse their political biases with established scientific facts, which creates a more dangerous situation. As we have all seen in recent years, this sort of thinking has also infected the natural sciences as well.
Activism has come at the cost of education. Students are not learning the skills in the classroom that once defined a college graduate. The not so hidden agenda of DEI: it’s NOT about securing greater justice or equality. It’s mostly about wielding a club against people and views that the progressive activists do not like. DEI is a magic wand to turn ordinary people into racists, bigots, transphobes, islamophobes, and more.
CRT also inundated the system. First, they see racism everywhere. Nothing is untouched by the pollution of racism. If a tool, system or institution claims to be neutral, it has only failed to recognize its own internal bias. Second, to prove oppression one need only show disparity between groups. So if one group performs better on tests than another group, it MUST be the result of bias somewhere in the educational system. Finally equity must be imposed. Equity is not equality, which is about opportunities. Equity is about outcomes. They expect equal outcomes of everyone, regardless of any/all factors.
A study by Network Contagion Research Institute found that exposure to DEI materials can actually “engender a hostile attribution bias and. Heighten racial suspicion, prejudicial attitudes, authoritarian policing, and support for punitive behaviors in the absence of evidence for a transgression deserving punishment.” DEI’s hierarchy of victimhood has encouraged a campus climate of suspicion, discrimination and ultimately civil rights violations.
Courses recently/currently offered: *Princeton- “ Black + Queer in leather: Black Leather and BDSM Material Culture” *Cornell- “Natural History of the Magic Kingdom: Understanding Animal Behaviour Through Animated Films” (which include studying the Lion King, and Queer Girlhood using Barbie and the PowerPuff Girls cartoons. These are only two examples. It's ridiculous.
Not only are students now showing up to colleges academically unprepared, but they are leaving uneducated, unemployable, radicalized, and deeply out of touch with American values.
The campuses are now characterized as completely bereft of freedom of thought, obsessed with politically correct DEI, and a purging and silencing of conservative voices and viewpoints.
Campuses now all have safe spaces and “trigger warnings” intended to ease the burden on students of having to encounter perspectives that they might find uncomfortable because they are different than their own. They have become obsessed with making students feel as “safe” as possibly- not physically, but emotionally. This has ultimately created extreme weakness.
A vast majority of students on college campuses now say “using violence to stop campus speech is acceptable”…which is a stunning statistic and even more disturbing after the Charlie Kirk assassination (in which the main purpose of his events was to engage in respectful discourse and peaceful debate). Many, including some elected officials, CELEBRATED the loss of his life, saying it was somehow justified and deserved.
*University of Pennsylvania: Their latin motto: “Laws without moral are in vain.” Ironic, given what is being promoted.
Americans want academic exceptionalism, not indoctrination.
“The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.” ~Thomas Sowell
Historically, Ivy League colleges were known for their institutional prestige, academic excellence, esteemed faculty, rigorous and extremely selective admissions processes, groundbreaking research, and extraordinarily successful alumni networks. They were the crown jewels of the education system worldwide. They were considered bastions of knowledge and vibrant intellectual life. Today, however, most Americans understand the Ivy League schools to be hotbeds of radical ideology, groundless elitism, intellectual laziness, and anti-American hatred. Students are not only showing up academically unprepared, but they are leaving uneducated, unemployable, radicalized, and deeply out of touch with American values. Today, much of what passes for education at top universities is specifically designed to instill hostility toward the United States, our Founders, and our founding ideals. An institution that helped educate the men who put their lives at stake for liberty and equality is now a breeding ground of race hatred and violence. And unfortunately, what happened at these schools wasn’t the exception- it was the rule…it set the tone and standard, and most other higher education institutions across the country have followed suit.
Faculty often use the hiring process to police ideological boundaries and instead of hiring for diversity, they hire for conformity. Political bias and fear of reprisals can shift entire fields of research over time. When faculty all agree on a political agenda, or when certain assumptions go unchallenged, it hurts scholarship by promoting orthodoxy and discouraging dissent. Scholars then come to confuse their political biases with established scientific facts, which creates a more dangerous situation. As we have all seen in recent years, this sort of thinking has also infected the natural sciences as well.
Activism has come at the cost of education. Students are not learning the skills in the classroom that once defined a college graduate. The not so hidden agenda of DEI: it’s NOT about securing greater justice or equality. It’s mostly about wielding a club against people and views that the progressive activists do not like. DEI is a magic wand to turn ordinary people into racists, bigots, transphobes, islamophobes, and more.
CRT also inundated the system. First, they see racism everywhere. Nothing is untouched by the pollution of racism. If a tool, system or institution claims to be neutral, it has only failed to recognize its own internal bias. Second, to prove oppression one need only show disparity between groups. So if one group performs better on tests than another group, it MUST be the result of bias somewhere in the educational system. Finally equity must be imposed. Equity is not equality, which is about opportunities. Equity is about outcomes. They expect equal outcomes of everyone, regardless of any/all factors.
A study by Network Contagion Research Institute found that exposure to DEI materials can actually “engender a hostile attribution bias and. Heighten racial suspicion, prejudicial attitudes, authoritarian policing, and support for punitive behaviors in the absence of evidence for a transgression deserving punishment.” DEI’s hierarchy of victimhood has encouraged a campus climate of suspicion, discrimination and ultimately civil rights violations.
Courses recently/currently offered: *Princeton- “ Black + Queer in leather: Black Leather and BDSM Material Culture” *Cornell- “Natural History of the Magic Kingdom: Understanding Animal Behaviour Through Animated Films” (which include studying the Lion King, and Queer Girlhood using Barbie and the PowerPuff Girls cartoons. These are only two examples. It's ridiculous.
Not only are students now showing up to colleges academically unprepared, but they are leaving uneducated, unemployable, radicalized, and deeply out of touch with American values.
The campuses are now characterized as completely bereft of freedom of thought, obsessed with politically correct DEI, and a purging and silencing of conservative voices and viewpoints.
Campuses now all have safe spaces and “trigger warnings” intended to ease the burden on students of having to encounter perspectives that they might find uncomfortable because they are different than their own. They have become obsessed with making students feel as “safe” as possibly- not physically, but emotionally. This has ultimately created extreme weakness.
A vast majority of students on college campuses now say “using violence to stop campus speech is acceptable”…which is a stunning statistic and even more disturbing after the Charlie Kirk assassination (in which the main purpose of his events was to engage in respectful discourse and peaceful debate). Many, including some elected officials, CELEBRATED the loss of his life, saying it was somehow justified and deserved.
*University of Pennsylvania: Their latin motto: “Laws without moral are in vain.” Ironic, given what is being promoted.
Americans want academic exceptionalism, not indoctrination.
“The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.” ~Thomas Sowell
April 16, 2026
Pure propaganda - any relevant point she starts to make is quickly overshadowed by her self-serving motive for this unbalanced account
April 23, 2026
Takes advantage of real antisemitism to further her ulterior motives and political standing. This topic deserves more discussion though.
May 22, 2026
In 2025, numerous United States universities and colleges, including elite Ivy League campuses, experienced major shutdowns and violent attacks because of Hamas’s barbaric attack on civilians in Israel on October 07, 2023. Students were blocking buildings, setting up tents on communal locations, and vandalizing many students at the colleges. Jewish students were being threatened and attacked because of their religion. The protesters set up tents which lasted for several days.
These activities were not about a Hamas’s actions. They were about Israel’s response which brought suffering to Gazan civilians. The protests were organized by antisemitic leaders, some of whom were students at those schools.
As a result, Congress called a committee hearing to investigate. Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York State, was a Harvard graduate. She became the chief questioner.
In POISONED IVIES, Elise Stefanik thoroughly examines what lead to the ability of the students to carry out these assaults. Freedom of speech was the most aspect.
I read the appendix of the book before I read the book itself. It contains testimony, including that from college Presidents at Harvard, MIT, The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Northwestern at U.S. House Committee meetings on December 5, 2023, April 17, 2024, and May 23. 2024.
The responses to the congressional questions were astounding and led to major reactions throughout the country. The most common response from the respondents was “it depends on the context.” In other words, they were saying that taking over a college campus, intimidation, assaults, vandalism, and threats against students based on their religion was okay depending on the context. Freedom of speech was most important aspect.
Stefanik discussed several causes for the changes of College campuses over the years. One was grade inflation. The major importance, however, was the addition of billions of dollars of foreign money and foreign students in United States universities. This influenced what was being taught.The primary donors were Qatar and China. In some cases, there were more foreign students than American students enrolled, many of whom did not pay tuition.
Stefanik examined what created the acceptance of these types of activities and the lack of accountability on campuses.
I also looked at many reviews of the book. I was surprised to see that most of the low reviews were given by people who were upset because Jews were the victims. If they had been Black, Hispanic, or Arab, would the people be upset about all the about the protests?
My biggest criticism of the book is that Elise Stefanik spent too much time praising Donald Trump.
I also looked at many reviews of the book. I was surprised to see that most of the low reviews were given by people who were upset because Jews were the victims. If the targets had been Black, Hispanic, or Arab, I wonder what if their ratings would have been higher. .
These activities were not about a Hamas’s actions. They were about Israel’s response which brought suffering to Gazan civilians. The protests were organized by antisemitic leaders, some of whom were students at those schools.
As a result, Congress called a committee hearing to investigate. Representative Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York State, was a Harvard graduate. She became the chief questioner.
In POISONED IVIES, Elise Stefanik thoroughly examines what lead to the ability of the students to carry out these assaults. Freedom of speech was the most aspect.
I read the appendix of the book before I read the book itself. It contains testimony, including that from college Presidents at Harvard, MIT, The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Northwestern at U.S. House Committee meetings on December 5, 2023, April 17, 2024, and May 23. 2024.
The responses to the congressional questions were astounding and led to major reactions throughout the country. The most common response from the respondents was “it depends on the context.” In other words, they were saying that taking over a college campus, intimidation, assaults, vandalism, and threats against students based on their religion was okay depending on the context. Freedom of speech was most important aspect.
Stefanik discussed several causes for the changes of College campuses over the years. One was grade inflation. The major importance, however, was the addition of billions of dollars of foreign money and foreign students in United States universities. This influenced what was being taught.The primary donors were Qatar and China. In some cases, there were more foreign students than American students enrolled, many of whom did not pay tuition.
Stefanik examined what created the acceptance of these types of activities and the lack of accountability on campuses.
I also looked at many reviews of the book. I was surprised to see that most of the low reviews were given by people who were upset because Jews were the victims. If they had been Black, Hispanic, or Arab, would the people be upset about all the about the protests?
My biggest criticism of the book is that Elise Stefanik spent too much time praising Donald Trump.
I also looked at many reviews of the book. I was surprised to see that most of the low reviews were given by people who were upset because Jews were the victims. If the targets had been Black, Hispanic, or Arab, I wonder what if their ratings would have been higher. .
April 15, 2026
I rarely say this about a nonfiction book, but Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities by Elise Stefanik completely gripped me from the first page to the last.
This is not just a political book or a cultural critique—it feels like a front-row seat to one of the most important debates of our time: what has happened to America’s most prestigious universities?
Stefanik writes with remarkable clarity and conviction, combining personal experience, historical insight, and investigative detail.
What impressed me most is how she connects the long history of institutions like Harvard and other Ivy League universities with the dramatic controversies unfolding on campuses today.
The narrative builds toward the now-famous congressional hearing that shocked the public and sparked a national conversation about academic freedom, campus culture, and leadership in higher education.
What makes the book powerful is that it is both informative and emotionally compelling. Stefanik clearly cares deeply about education and about the role universities should play in shaping thoughtful, courageous leaders.
Her argument—that elite institutions must rediscover their commitment to truth, open debate, and moral clarity—is presented with urgency but also with a sense of hope that reform is possible.
The storytelling is surprisingly engaging for a policy-focused book. It reads almost like a political thriller at times, especially when recounting the congressional hearing and the extraordinary reaction that followed. I found myself constantly wanting to read the next chapter.
Whether one agrees with every conclusion or not, this book is undeniably important. It raises difficult questions about intellectual diversity, campus activism, leadership, and the future of higher education.
For readers interested in politics, education, or cultural change, it is both eye-opening and thought-provoking.
In my view, Poisoned Ivies is one of the most compelling nonfiction books about modern universities that I have read in years. It is bold, timely, and deeply engaging.
Highly recommended.
More at https://www.probinism.com/poisoned-iv...
This is not just a political book or a cultural critique—it feels like a front-row seat to one of the most important debates of our time: what has happened to America’s most prestigious universities?
Stefanik writes with remarkable clarity and conviction, combining personal experience, historical insight, and investigative detail.
What impressed me most is how she connects the long history of institutions like Harvard and other Ivy League universities with the dramatic controversies unfolding on campuses today.
The narrative builds toward the now-famous congressional hearing that shocked the public and sparked a national conversation about academic freedom, campus culture, and leadership in higher education.
What makes the book powerful is that it is both informative and emotionally compelling. Stefanik clearly cares deeply about education and about the role universities should play in shaping thoughtful, courageous leaders.
Her argument—that elite institutions must rediscover their commitment to truth, open debate, and moral clarity—is presented with urgency but also with a sense of hope that reform is possible.
The storytelling is surprisingly engaging for a policy-focused book. It reads almost like a political thriller at times, especially when recounting the congressional hearing and the extraordinary reaction that followed. I found myself constantly wanting to read the next chapter.
Whether one agrees with every conclusion or not, this book is undeniably important. It raises difficult questions about intellectual diversity, campus activism, leadership, and the future of higher education.
For readers interested in politics, education, or cultural change, it is both eye-opening and thought-provoking.
In my view, Poisoned Ivies is one of the most compelling nonfiction books about modern universities that I have read in years. It is bold, timely, and deeply engaging.
Highly recommended.
More at https://www.probinism.com/poisoned-iv...
June 14, 2026
Wow…
My husband and I listened to this book.
1-Elise Stefanik is just phenomenal. Her background, her hard work, her intellectual gifts, her command of the English language, and her moral clarity on a wide range of issues are beyond impressive. Just listening to her (I listened to this book, and she narrated it) made me want to up my intellectual game, she is just an inspiring human being.
2-my husband and I listened to the first half of this book together on a road trip. He didn’t want to finish it. He was so angry and upset. I admit I had to put it down and step away for a while, but my OCD wouldn’t let me not complete it, and I admit I was hoping for some good news at the end. It was hard to listen to. So many friends have children who have dealt with these issues on college campuses over the past few years. Our daughter dealt with numerous instances at the University of Denver at the graduate level. Questioning or disagreeing with policies/political leaders in any country is absolutely fair game. The thought rot, and uninformed group vandalism & targeting which has been funded by countries, historically, vocalizing hatred of the US is not ok.
3-Elise Stefanik did a phenomenal job of breaking this down. She covered the history of how we got here, the level to which the poison has leaked into the academic body in the US, as well as identifying what can and should be done about this issue, and the larger picture of the American educational system.
Excellent, I highly recommend.
My husband and I listened to this book.
1-Elise Stefanik is just phenomenal. Her background, her hard work, her intellectual gifts, her command of the English language, and her moral clarity on a wide range of issues are beyond impressive. Just listening to her (I listened to this book, and she narrated it) made me want to up my intellectual game, she is just an inspiring human being.
2-my husband and I listened to the first half of this book together on a road trip. He didn’t want to finish it. He was so angry and upset. I admit I had to put it down and step away for a while, but my OCD wouldn’t let me not complete it, and I admit I was hoping for some good news at the end. It was hard to listen to. So many friends have children who have dealt with these issues on college campuses over the past few years. Our daughter dealt with numerous instances at the University of Denver at the graduate level. Questioning or disagreeing with policies/political leaders in any country is absolutely fair game. The thought rot, and uninformed group vandalism & targeting which has been funded by countries, historically, vocalizing hatred of the US is not ok.
3-Elise Stefanik did a phenomenal job of breaking this down. She covered the history of how we got here, the level to which the poison has leaked into the academic body in the US, as well as identifying what can and should be done about this issue, and the larger picture of the American educational system.
Excellent, I highly recommend.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
(I received an advance copy from the publisher.) This book is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. It's half self-aggrandizing mush designed to position Stefanik strongly in the 2028 Republican primary, half screed about higher education's response to the Oct. 7 attacks. It's not the worst book in the world - it actually does point out several flaws with our higher education system, many of which, I suspect, are pretty bipartisan - but it's mostly just a dumb political book by a politician trying to make herself stand out from all the rest. The word "rot" appears 18 times in this book (once in the subtitle), usually after the word "moral" or "intellectual." There are several references to the fact that Stefanik herself is a Harvard alumna, which I think is designed to make you respect her intellect more (wow! she got into Harvard!) and to lend her more legitimacy when she's attacking her alma mater. How well it succeeds on these fronts is up to the individual reader's interpretation. There's also a very long and melodramatic account of a flu-ridden Stefanik braving her runny nose for the testimony of Claudine Gay, Liz Magill, and Sally Kornbluth, which eventually led to the resignations of the first two. It's clear that should Stefanik run for president in 2028, this book, and the role she played in the eventual resignations of those college presidents, will have laid the groundwork for signaling her virtue to Republican voters.
May 28, 2026
24/73
There is something refreshing about a politician who tells the reader exactly where she stands before the argument even begins. Stefanik does that in Poisoned Ivies, and it helps frame the book less as detached scholarship and more as a political indictment of elite American academia after October 7. The strongest parts are not really the outrage (outrage is cheap now?!) but the documentation of institutional cowardice, administrative doublespeak, and the strange moral contortions universities performed when faced with antisemitism that did not fit their preferred ideological categories. Stefanik is sharpest when describing how bureaucratic language became a shield for paralysis.
Still, the book occasionally narrows itself into a prosecutorial brief rather than a fuller diagnosis. At times the argument feels too eager to compress an enormously tangled intellectual ecosystem into a single ideological conspiracy. That makes some chapters read as contrived or selectively framed, especially for readers who have watched anti-colonial discourse spread far beyond American campuses into places like the Vietnamese blogosphere, where these themes carry genuine historical memory and emotional legitimacy. Imperialism is not an abstract classroom slogan in much of Asia.
Ironically, that broader global context also reveals how performative much state rhetoric can be. Even governments loudly condemning the Israel-Palestine crisis often stop at carefully calibrated statements. The gap between moral language and actual commitment is not unique to universities. That is probably the book’s unintended insight: institutions everywhere protect themselves first.
There is something refreshing about a politician who tells the reader exactly where she stands before the argument even begins. Stefanik does that in Poisoned Ivies, and it helps frame the book less as detached scholarship and more as a political indictment of elite American academia after October 7. The strongest parts are not really the outrage (outrage is cheap now?!) but the documentation of institutional cowardice, administrative doublespeak, and the strange moral contortions universities performed when faced with antisemitism that did not fit their preferred ideological categories. Stefanik is sharpest when describing how bureaucratic language became a shield for paralysis.
Still, the book occasionally narrows itself into a prosecutorial brief rather than a fuller diagnosis. At times the argument feels too eager to compress an enormously tangled intellectual ecosystem into a single ideological conspiracy. That makes some chapters read as contrived or selectively framed, especially for readers who have watched anti-colonial discourse spread far beyond American campuses into places like the Vietnamese blogosphere, where these themes carry genuine historical memory and emotional legitimacy. Imperialism is not an abstract classroom slogan in much of Asia.
Ironically, that broader global context also reveals how performative much state rhetoric can be. Even governments loudly condemning the Israel-Palestine crisis often stop at carefully calibrated statements. The gap between moral language and actual commitment is not unique to universities. That is probably the book’s unintended insight: institutions everywhere protect themselves first.
June 8, 2026
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
This was a very good read, but also a pretty sad one.
The fact that a book like this even needs to be written says a lot about where some of these schools are now. These are supposed to be the most respected universities in the country. They are supposed to teach students how to think clearly, argue honestly, and stand up for basic right and wrong. Instead, too many of them seem scared of their own students, trapped by politics, and willing to look the other way when Jewish students are being harassed or threatened.
What stood out to me most was not just the politics of it, but the failure of leadership. You can disagree on plenty of issues, but there should not be confusion when it comes to antisemitism or calls for violence. The fact that so many administrators needed pressure before saying the obvious is embarrassing.
This book is direct, easy to read, and unfortunately very necessary. It left me thinking less about one politician or one hearing, and more about what these schools are actually producing if this is the moral standard they are willing to accept.
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
This was a very good read, but also a pretty sad one.
The fact that a book like this even needs to be written says a lot about where some of these schools are now. These are supposed to be the most respected universities in the country. They are supposed to teach students how to think clearly, argue honestly, and stand up for basic right and wrong. Instead, too many of them seem scared of their own students, trapped by politics, and willing to look the other way when Jewish students are being harassed or threatened.
What stood out to me most was not just the politics of it, but the failure of leadership. You can disagree on plenty of issues, but there should not be confusion when it comes to antisemitism or calls for violence. The fact that so many administrators needed pressure before saying the obvious is embarrassing.
This book is direct, easy to read, and unfortunately very necessary. It left me thinking less about one politician or one hearing, and more about what these schools are actually producing if this is the moral standard they are willing to accept.
May 29, 2026
Years ago I read "God And Man At Yale", by William F. Buckley. The Ivy League was starting to rot back then and has continued in its spiral downward. "Inside American Education" by, Thomas Sowell was yet another dark dive into the destruction of American Education. "Battle for the American Mind", by Pete Hegseth brought us even more up to speed. But Stefanik's book really hits home because now under congressional hearings, which are partially recorded at the end of the book, we find the truth of how corrupt these elitist professors, boards, trustees and presidents are. No moral values, no integrity with an indoctrination that leads young students to violence and hatred instead of learning and developing skills that leads one to good citizenship. If you have kids or grandkids, are in college yourself or are a taxpayer, this is a must read. We are being ripped off. At the same time, there is hope. People are waking up and moving on from the dopey elites to other places of education that are not indoctrination camps - trade schools, new college start ups, The Classical School and so much more. Good work Miss Elise!
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May 18, 2026I like ideas. I read books by people I don't think I'll agree with -- all the time -- and find that I learn and grow from doing so. This book did not have that effect on me. She starts with bombast and straight up lies and just keeps rolling. She's not wrong that American's opinions of higher education have changed. She fails to address how her own attacks on higher education have contributed to this. I agree that Jewish people should be protected on campus. I believe everyone should be safe on campus and that religion and gender and sexuality are all equally important to be recognized and protected. This goes hand in hand with free speech, which she claims to want to protect. It's horrible and wrong that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. He did great work as a champion of free speech on campus. I do believe in her right to state her opinion. I wish it were tempered even a little genuine kindness.
May 31, 2026
Representative Stefanik presents a critique of the responses of major universities across the country to the October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli civilians. In doing so, she provides well-documented examples that the actions were a continuation of a longer history of "moral rot" (her words) existing in higher education. Although sometimes falling into a pattern of praising the current administration and berating the previous one, as well as some self-aggrandizement, Stefanik provides compelling evidence for a lack of diversity of thought and a lack of tolerance within ivy league schools.
(Through pure coincidence, at the same time I also read "Israel:What Went Wrong", by Omer Bartov, which, although not specifically about higher education, provides a train of thought that illustrates Stefanik's concerns. I urge the readers to also see the review of this book).
(Through pure coincidence, at the same time I also read "Israel:What Went Wrong", by Omer Bartov, which, although not specifically about higher education, provides a train of thought that illustrates Stefanik's concerns. I urge the readers to also see the review of this book).
April 22, 2026
Although the book was supposed to examine the decline and decadence of the Ivy League and other elite universities in America, it focused excessively on antisemitism. The discussion returned to that issue repeatedly and at such length that what was said could easily have been summarized in a single page. I had expected a more substantive analysis of how institutions such as Harvard University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, and Stanford University have deteriorated in governance, academic standards, campus culture, or intellectual life. Instead, I finished the book feeling that it offered little useful insight or concrete information on those broader issues.
May 3, 2026
Thank you Congresswoman Stefanik for everything you have done to fight antisemitism. You have no idea what your voice means to our family. This book is a phenomenal account of the sickening rot in our educational system, that you have brought to light. I pray that we can get past this. It is brave people like yourselves that give us hope and light. My daughter is a freshman at a school in the south- and could not be happier about this decision, for the exact reasons you highlight so well in the book. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I pray that everyone reads this book to better understand what is going on with our educational system.
June 1, 2026
I had read most of this as it was happening in Harvard and Columbia. I was not aware of the extent in other schools. It is mostly a clear account of what happened on college campuses post Oct 7. Its chapter on why Ivy Leagues have become this way I found a bit lacking. I wish she’d dove into some of the journalism about the lack of academic standards as well. Finally what to do next was only a single chapter.
I would recommend this, but if you’ve been following the coverage of this you won’t hear new information
I would recommend this, but if you’ve been following the coverage of this you won’t hear new information
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June 4, 2026I was interested in the topic, was impressed by Stefanik from the college president hearings, and didn’t want to avoid the book just because we disagree politically. Some of it was repetitive, especially the self-promotion (and praise!) and complaints about the “left”. it sounds like the universities have had issues for a long time. There were fewer solutions and more going into each school’s poor actions and inactions. There was some mention of schools that got it and continue to get it right on all issues.
May 3, 2026
Such a great book written by someone who has actually been on this inside of this and offers facts and insight to the hypocritical and disturbing racism in colleges and universities. I must say that these kids were indoctrinated long before entering college and sadly, they still lack basic education and independent thought.
May 9, 2026
A HEALTHY READ
Finally an analysis of the deep seated ideology of American universities.
Over the last 60 years a creeping disease has infected the very roots of higher learning ..
What a situation we have given birth and nurture too.
Time for a review of the fundamental soil that America needs.
Finally an analysis of the deep seated ideology of American universities.
Over the last 60 years a creeping disease has infected the very roots of higher learning ..
What a situation we have given birth and nurture too.
Time for a review of the fundamental soil that America needs.
May 24, 2026
This a very thorough accounting of what has been happening lately in the top universities in America. I appreciated hearing a first person account by Congresswomen Stefanik, who narrated the audiobook very well. If you’ve been paying attention to the news the last few years none of this will be particularly new information but I appreciate her take on the topic.
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