Introduction
The clash between the Trump Administration and the higher education industry, particularly Ivy League universities, over failures to address antisemitism and expunge DEI practices and pedagogy escalated to new proportions in April. As the administration froze Federal funds to universities and presented demands for widespread reforms, institutions reacted with shock and resentment. At a deeper level the clash is over the relationship of universities to American society at large. At the same time deportations of students, particularly pro-Hamas activists, have demonstrated both deep penetration by foreign agitators who explicitly argue for the end of both Israel and the US, and the willingness of left wing politics, including the Democratic Party and some American Jews, to defend them. Warnings from the left about the ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ and warnings that Jews will be blamed for the ‘destruction of universities’ are both ironic and potentially self-fulfilling.
Editor’s Note
The enormous growth of BDS-related antisemitism since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack has required the BDS Monitor to be greatly expanded. Readers are reminded that a shortened version appears in The Algemeiner.
Analysis
Attacks and Protests
Attacks on Jews and Jewish sites continued in April:
- The most notable attack was the an arson attack against the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion on the first night of Passover. The suspect, Cody Balmer, was apparently motivated by Governor Josh Shapiro’s “plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people” and stated Shapiro “needs to stop having my friends killed, and ‘our people have been put through too much by that monster.” Balmer stated further to police that he planned to attack Shapiro with a hammer. Puzzlingly, while the suspect’s motive clearly appear antisemitic Shapiro rejected comments from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and said hate crime charges would be “unhelpful;”
- In Montreal the Concordia University Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies was vandalized over Passover. Windows were smashed and pro-Hamas graffiti written on the building. The incident was celebrated by the campus pro-Hamas group and condemned by the university president;
- In Britain a pro-Hamas march was held through a heavily Jewish neighborhood of Southend on a Saturday at the end of Passover. Local police took no action;
- In London Greenpeace UK poured fake blood into a pond outside the American Embassy from containers marked “Stop Arming Israel”;
- In Greece the far left group ‘Revolutionary Class Struggle’ dedicated a series of recent bombings “to the Palestinian people and their heroic resistance” and denounced “the American-Zionist genocidal war in Palestine;”
- In the Berlin district of Neukölln a café that has hosted pro-Israel events was again vandalized.
Elsewhere, an arrest was finally made in the case of two Jewish students at DePaul University who were brutally attacked in November 2024. Adam Erkan of Chicago is alleged to have been one of six attackers. Three Pittsburgh residents were also indicted for vandalizing a Jewish facility and lying to Federal investigators. One, self declared “Hamas operative” and former Air National Guard member Mohamad Hamad, was also charged with building pipe bombs.
The attacks must be set in the context of spreading political violence, particularly from the left. Widespread attacks against Tesla attributed to Elon Musk’s role in the Trump Administration, ranging from vandalizing cars to arson attempts against dealerships, follow a now established pattern. Calls by prominent left wing individuals then put into motion non-violent protests organized by professionals, including some involved in pro-Hamas protests and associated movements such as ACORN, along with disruptive tactics such as blocking traffic, and finally a smaller hard core that employs direct action and violence. All are funded by the same constellation of left wing foundations such as Tides.
Despite the appearance of protests having slowed, pro-Hamas demonstrations continued in April on campuses and elsewhere:
- Seventeen students were arrested at Michigan State University protest organized by the local SJP chapter and other anti-Israel groups. Protestors had occupied the lobby of an administration building. The protest occurred after student representatives met with members of the school’s board of trustees to press their demands for “divestment from Israel, Saudi Arabia, and weapons manufacturers, adding social conscience back into investment policy, the creation of a Middle East North Africa/Arab Studies Institute, and protections for international students;”
- Protestors at Princeton University disrupted a talk by former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, eventually pulling a fire alarm that emptied the hall. Protestors yelled “Go back to Europe,” “They’re all fucking inbred!” and “inbred swine!” at attendees.
- Pro-Hamas protestors chased and harassed another University of Michigan regent, Sarah Hubbard, at her home, yelling “Your money has gone to kill Palestinian children. Your money has killed our families. We are your students, you answer to us.” Michigan Senate candidates, with the exception of Abdul El-Sayed, condemned the incident. The TAHRIR coalition of pro-Palestinian student organizations also held a public mock trial of Hubbard and other regents.
- In a response to the Hubbard incident and others, local police and FBI raided the homes of TAHRIR members and supporters. Electronic devices were confiscated but no arrests were made;
- The Occidental College SJP disrupted the presidential inauguration, vandalized an administration building, and then launched a hunger strike, “consuming only water with zero-calorie electrolyte powder”;
- A building at Dartmouth College was vandalized with red paint during prospective student visits. The perpetrators stated “Let the blood that drips from Dartmouth Hall remind you of the price of silence”;
- Pro-Hamas protestors occupied the BBC’s Belfast offices after posing as tourists;
- A pro-Hamas mob protested in Grand Central Station at rush hour, barring doors and preventing the public from entering or exiting. A few arrests were made;
- The home of British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, a noted critic of Israel, was targeted by protestors who left ‘body bags’ on his front walk. Individuals from ‘Youth Demand also blocked traffic in north London;
- A talk by Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn resulted in violent protests which resulted in several arrests;
- Protestors waved Hamas flags outside of Auschwitz on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Predictably, news accounts have focused alleged wrongdoing by Jewish counterprotestors:
- In the aftermath of the Brooklyn protests media coverage focused on the alleged harassment of an individual by Jewish counterprotestors rather than the attempted “flood” of a Jewish neighborhood by an antisemitic mob organized by the Bronx Palestine Solidarity Committee and led by a BLM operative to “rise up against” the “racist Zionist Chabad-Lubavitch;”
- In the aftermath of the violent encampment that occurred in May 2024 on the campus of UCLA, the Los Angeles City Attorney has charged two Jewish counterprotestors and referred only one of the 300 pro-Hamas protestors for a diversionary hearing. The remainder of charges were dropped “for evidentiary reasons or due to a university’s failure or inability to assist in identification or other information needed for prosecution;”
- Two Harvard students facing assault charges for beating an Israeli student in 2023 will not face trial but “complete anger management programming, a Harvard course on negotiation, and 80 hours of community service — without the court-mandated apology that the District Attorney’s office had requested.”
Politics
The focus of opposition to antisemitism in April were orders by the Trump Administration to pause funding to Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, and other major universities from the Departments of Education, Defense, Health and Human Services, Energy, and Justice. Individual grants range from a few million to several billion dollars per institution. These are in addition to new caps on indirect costs for National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Energy Department grants. The NIH has also banned grants to schools with DEI programs or which boycott Israeli companies.
The suspensions and cuts appear to bypass established procedures and contractual obligations and their legality has been questioned. It also remains unclear whether funding has actually been suspended or permanently cut.
The Trump Administration issued a letter with a series of demands to Harvard which included demonstrating progress regarding governance, hiring, admissions, and disciplinary reforms, Title VI procedures related to antisemitism, dismantling DEI programs, and increasing viewpoint diversity.
Another key demand from the Department of Homeland Security was for “detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities.” The institution was threatened with loss of its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification for non-compliance. This would mean Harvard could no longer enroll foreign students, who are currently 27% of its student body. New reports regarding Harvard’s collaboration with Chinese paramilitary entities sanctioned by the US Government also raise questions regarding criminal liability. Unconfirmed reports suggested the Administration was preparing to instruct the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt status.
Finally, new Executive Orders directed the Department of Education to enforce laws requiring universities to reveal foreign funding, and to withhold or suspend Federal recognition of accreditors if they “engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives.”
Critics noted that the Obama and Biden Administration along with its non-profit allies pioneered demands, lawsuits, and threats to funding against universities in order to enact favored policies regarding transgender issues.
In response to the Administration’s demands Harvard University President Alan Garber set the tone for what have become standard arguments from the sector:
New frontiers beckon us with the prospect of life-changing advances—from treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes, to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, quantum science and engineering, and numerous other areas of possibility. For the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.
Garber complained about the “unprecedented demands” and the refusal to “work with us” regarding antisemitism and stated that “no government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
In an interview Garber later commented on the funding and antisemitism issues, saying “I would say at Harvard, we have a problem with antisemitism. We take it very seriously, and we are trying to address it. There’s no doubt about the severity of that problem. We don’t really see the relationship to research funding at Harvard and other universities. They are two different issues.”
Without mentioning the Trump Administration’s other issues, namely DEI, admissions, and intellectual diversity, Garber thereby cemented the connection between the funding crisis and antisemitism.
Late in the month Harvard announced it was suing the government to restore its funding, accusing the administration of acting illegally to “punish Harvard for protecting its constitutional rights.” It also launched a website that simultaneously linked the critical medical and scientific research that would stop without federal funding with an anodyne claim “Harvard continues to devote considerable effort to addressing antisemitism.”
In contrast, newly installed Columbia president Claire Shipman adopted a less strident tone, rejecting the Administration’s demand for a consent decree which would have installed a Federal judge to supervise the institution while appearing open to discussions regarding other matters.
But in a sign that Columbia trustees recognize their problems stem in part from unrestrained faculty, Shipman announced that the existing Faculty Senate model, created after the 1968 crises, would be reviewed and discussions held “how to create a Senate model that represents the complexity of our institution while enabling us to respond to the demands of the moment.” This seeming concession precipitated a confrontation with faculty who maintain that the trustees’ fiduciary duty includes defending concepts promoted by faculty such as DEI. The university also warned that new encampments would not be tolerated.
Observers have noted that the root of Columbia’s predicament is the assertion that there is a ‘Fourth Policy’ to the institution’s mission in addition to teaching, research and service. This was defined by former president Lee Bollinger as “the advancement of human welfare through the complex process of merging scholarly knowledge and our distinctive intellectual capacities with groups and institutions beyond the academy that respect what we do, possess the skills and power to bring about change, and are dedicated to doing that work in partnership with us.” This open-ended political and commercial enterprise is unconstrained and unsupervised.
The Trump Administration’s aggressive moves against universities have outraged liberal critics and upset otherwise sympathetic media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal. In the broadest sense, however, the proximal issues of DEI, antisemitism, and even Federal funding may be secondary to the question of redefining the relationship between academia and society, namely challenging academia’s ability to set fundamental terms and agendas for democratic society and reducing its broader legitimacy.
Backlash against the administration’s policies towards universities has been severe. Non-Orthodox Jewish groups such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs have been outspoken in defense of pro-Hamas organizers such as Khalil and against deportation policies and budget cuts, as have groups of faculty and students. From the outside these efforts to harness Jews against the administration appear organized and are deliberately cast as a ‘battle for the American Jewish soul.’ These themes are repeated in public letters from groups of non-Orthodox American Jews including left wing rabbis warning of the ‘cynical weaponization of antisemitism’ and the ‘undermining of democratic norms.’
Numerous opinion pieces have also appeared stating that the Trump Administration was responsible for ‘weaponizing antisemitism’ and ‘weaponizing Jewish identity,’ and warning that Jews and Israel will be blamed for the destruction of universities and science. Several university presidents have also made public statements against the administration on this basis as have five Democratic Senators. The Jewish background of many university presidents, such as Harvard’s Alan Garber, is routinely emphasized in order to create a dichotomy between Jews who oppose and those who ‘support Trump.’
At the individual level more than 1500 student visas attending more than 250 schools were revoked by the administration. While the data are still unclear most of the revocations appear to be related to criminal misconduct or visa issues and are not, as has been repeatedly claimed, antisemitism or other terror-related activities. Reports also indicate some 130 restraining orders against deportations have been issued. Late in the month the State Department appeared to reverse the visa revocations and announced it would develop a new policy on student visa holders with criminal violations.
Two of the individuals detained, Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, were clearly targeted for being leaders of anti-Israel protests. Mahdawi, aged 34, is a Columbia University senior with a long social media trail of Hamas support, who has attended a variety of colleges for 17 years, suggesting he is a professional organizer.
Congressional Democratic support for detained students emerged immediately, as it did for deported MS-13 members. Democrats have become increasingly strident with demands for “answers” regarding charges against detainees, who are routinely visited and characterized as “political prisoners.” Evidence of the role played by Mahdawi and others organizing pro-Hamas protests, and the right of the Secretary of State to revoke visas and deport individuals under the authority of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, has been ignored.
Congressional votes reinforced the notion that progressives have turned decisively against Israel. A Senate vote on a resolution calling for the cut off of arms sales to Israel sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was supported by 15 Democrats. In contrast, a series of absurd amendments offered by Rep. Rashida Tlaib requiring universities to disclose funding from ‘adversarial’ countries being investigated by the ‘International Criminal Court’ or whose leaders are under indictment by the same, failed by overwhelming margins. But public opposition from Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) to the nomination of Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun as special envoy to combat antisemitism demonstrates that Jewish members of Congress are increasingly unwilling to address antisemitism and defend Israel.
Public response to the administration conflict with universities over DEI, antisemitism, and funding is difficult to gauge since mainstream media coverage is predictably skewed. One important polling experiment, however, suggests that the public is far less inclined to support universities punishing Palestinians for harassing Jews than any other category of perpetrator, such as European neo-nazi, or victims, such as LGBTQ or blacks. The “striking double standard” was especially notable among Democrats and younger voters, as opposed to Republican or older voters.
The experiment indicates that the “social or political motivations of the agitator” and “preferred geopolitical narrative” shape double standards. This suggests that antisemitic harassment of Jews by Palestinians is acceptable to a broad portion of the population on the left. Earlier research also suggests that a significant portion of younger voters and Democrats regard the murderous violence of October 7th as justifiable. Newly released ADL statistics regarding antisemitic incidents confirm that the continually increasing numbers of hate crimes now appear mostly connected to Israel and Zionism.
At the local level reports indicate that the Administration’s antisemitism task force has requested meetings with city officials including in Boston. The timing of those meetings remains uncertain.
Israel also continues to be a key issues particularly in the contentious New York City mayoral primary. ‘Democratic Socialist of America’ candidate Zohran Mamdani has continued making clear his support for arms embargoes against Israel and BDS even as he courts New York’s Jewish voters. Mamdani further blamed Israel for conditions in New York City saying, “it is hard for me to explain to my constituents, who live in the largest public housing development in North America, in Queensbridge, why they have to live in substandard conditions because the government refuses to fund public housing all while we continue to find billions of dollars to drop bombs that kill tens of thousands of Palestinians over more than a year now.”
Other progressive candidates, such as Ghazala Hashmi, who is running for Virginia Attorney General, have praised anti-Israel protestors while Abdul Ed-Sayed, running in Michigan for a US Senate seat, is relentlessly hostile. In general the entry of both immigrant and second generation American Muslims into politics has revealed widespread consensus on the issue of hostility towards Israel. Demographic and electoral strength has also transformed politics locally in school boards and city councils.
In the international sphere, British Muslim and pro-Hamas representatives are organizing Muslim voters in advance of May elections. Voters are being instructed to vote for anti-Israel council representatives because “Allah sees everything” and to support Israel boycotts.
A similar process of Islamization around the theme of ‘Palestine’ is underway in Canada where 300 candidates endorsed a “Palestine Platform” created by “VotePalestine” which is associated with the pro-BDS Palestine Youth Movement. The stated goal is to “Make Palestine unavoidable this federal election.” During the campaign NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and newly elected Liberal prime minister Mark Carney both supported the calumny that Israel is committing ‘genocide.’ Carney also noted that Canada has an arms embargo against Israel which is now likely to expand.
The hostility towards Israel adopted by the Australian Green Party is similarly aimed at appeasing the country’s rapidly growing Muslim electorate and out of ideological alignment with global anti-Israel politics.
The centrality of ‘Palestine’ to British trade union ideology was also illustrated in a statement from the Fire Brigades Union instructing firefighters not to assist law enforcement in actions against pro-Hamas protestors and emphasizing “a long and proud history of standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine. This solidarity extends to all those currently protesting for cease-fire and an end to the supplying of arms to Israel.”
University Administrations
Universities reacted to the Administration’s policy changes with alarm verging on hysteria, along with anger and expressions of entitlement, stances echoed in the press, especially regarding biomedical research. In general university administrations are caught between their faculties and students, who demand public ‘resistance’ and actions that will further erode relations with the Federal government and public trust.
Reports indicate universities have formed informal collectives to coordinate responses to the Administration but many, including Harvard and George Washington University have hired well-connected Washington lobbying firms in order to aid with their messaging and restore relations with both Congress and the White House. One report also indicated that Harvard president Garber had reached out to Jared Kushner, Harvard graduate and presidential son in law, who declined to help.
A statement released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and signed by over 150 institutional leaders decried “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education but claimed “We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.” Antisemitism was not mentioned.
The statement advanced now standard arguments for supporting higher education including healthcare research and implausibly claimed “Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.”
This ‘resistance’ was hailed by the New York Times which ironically aligned wealthy universities with the ‘fighting oligarchy’ narrative being promoted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Reductions in Federal funding have prompted universities to seek alternatives including commercial loans and both taxable and tax exempt municipal bonds in addition to tapping endowments, most of which are comprised of investment vehicles with donor restrictions. Brown University announced it was negotiating loans while Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Northwestern announced they would be issuing bonds. In the past universities have typically issued bonds for capital projects.
The deep exposure of universities to private equity, venture capital, and real estate rather than liquid assets like stocks and bonds has expanded academia’s vulnerability as a result of market volatility. In what might be a harbinger, Northwestern’s decision to sell bonds appears designed to cover much or all of its research spending. Unconfirmed reports suggest Yale University has begun to sell holdings in private equity order to avoid potential capital gains should its tax exempt status be revoked.
Other universities, however, have decided to continue or expand their traditional relationships. Georgetown University, for example, renewed its agreement with the Qatar Foundation regarding the university’s Qatari campus for another ten years. The university also awarded the ‘President’s Medal’ to outspoken Hamas supporter Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. A new study indicates that Qatar and China remain the largest donors to US universities. Overall, $29 billion in foreign donations were made to American universities from 2021 to 2024, a tremendous increase over previous years.
At the same time Harvard’s decision to replace the leadership of its Center for Middle East Studies, revoke a fellowship invitation to notable Israel opponent Columbia University professor and Human Rights Watch staff member A. Kayum Ahmed, to cut ties with Bir Zeit University in the Palestine Authority, and rename its DEI office, have been interpreted as gestures to stave off additional Federal oversight.
Finally, disciplinary moves against pro-Hamas protestors continue to be made by universities, sometimes long after the fact. In one example, local prosecutors have now charged 12 Stanford University students with felony vandalism after a June 2024 attack on an administration building.
Faculty
Faculty members have been outspoken in opposition to new Trump Administration policies and in some cases their own institutions responses. This has primarily taken the form of public letters demanding resistance and lachrymose depictions of the dire effects of budget cuts on medicine and science. Little mention has been made of the specific antisemitism or DEI concerns that motivated the administration’s moves. One notable example came from Columbia medical faculty and staff demanding the trustees oppose the Trump Administration, support foreign students, reimplement DEI, and provide backup funding for research. In the case of Dartmouth College, faculty have condemned the president’s decision not to sign an industry-wide letter attacking the Administration.
Faculty senates have emerged as centers of ‘resistance.’ Some continue to condemn disciplinary procedures for pro-Hamas demonstrators, such as at the University of Wisconsin. A faculty authored report at Columbia University also condemned the university for not deescalating the May 2024 building takeover by allowing the perpetrators to simply leave without the police becoming involved.
Faculty at Rutgers University have proposed that faculty senates at a number of schools band together to ‘resist’ the Trump Administration, likening the alliance to NATO. The move would offer symbolic help as well as joint “legal representation, amicus briefs and expert testimony, legislative advocacy, and communications efforts.” The Rutgers “Center for Security, Race, and Rights” has emerged as a concentrated center for anti-Israel and pro-Muslim faculty at any public university.
Numerous faculty members have spoken in support of individual students targeted for deportation including Khalil. At the extreme, individual faculty associated with the BDS movement have characterized any limitations on campus revolutionary activity, and any willingness to hold conversations with the US administration, as ‘collaboration’ worthy of boycott.
Jewish faculty members at a variety of institutions have also issued letters decrying the administration’s move and in support of students. A typical example from George Washington University faculty claimed the moves made “In the name of protecting Jews it will demand actions that run counter to our deeply held values, and that will make us feel less rather than more safe, as they exacerbate tensions and endanger the very freedoms that protect all minority communities, including our own.” These are complemented by explicit claims that higher education is indeed being destroyed in the name of the Jews. These and similar statements are designed to position progressive Jews as defenders of the status quo and to evade blame for unwanted changes.
Easily scheduled events such as conferences and talks continue to feature anti-Israel speakers. In a typical move to highlight anti-Israel voices, the annual James Baldwin Lecture at the University of Massachusetts will be given by BDS supporter Steven Salaita of the American University of Cairo. Salaita, who lost a tenure bid over social media threats to Jews, will speak on the topic of honesty and dishonesty on campus. In another egregious example of a one-sided ‘dialogue,’ the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University featured a talk by Jewish anti-Zionist Peter Beinart and Islamist Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA School of Law on “Religious Ethics in Dark Times: A Muslim-Jewish Dialogue on Gaza.”
Such events are in addition to the structural domination of ‘Palestine’ within universities. This includes units such as Brown’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, especially its “New Directions for Palestinian Studies” program that seeks to “shape the agenda of knowledge production,” with programming aimed at K-12 teachers, Harvard’s Center for Health and Human Rights, where faculty members celebrated October 7th, and San Francisco State University’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies program, which routinely features PFLP speakers and is allied with terror support groups such as Samidoun.
On a more positive note, Macalester University faculty voted against a motion calling for the school to end including Hebrew University and the University of Haifa from its approved semester abroad lists.
Students
Students have continued their opposition to Israel by supporting a variety of pseudo-academic presentations, such as that at the University of Massachusetts by Rabab Abdulhadi on “Resisting the New McCarythism & Complicity.” Another covert intervention was documented at Harvard Law School where a ‘Wikipedia Edit-a-thon’ targeted the web pages of major law firms that were critical of student protests. A typical example was changing the term ‘antisemitic incidents’ to ‘pro-Palestinian protests.’ At the same time, reports indicate that dozens of students have requested the removal of op-eds or their names from ‘pro-Palestine’ opinion pieces published in student newspapers.
Disciplinary actions against pro-Hamas protestors continued in April:
- The Bryn Mawr College chapters of SJP and JVP were placed on interim suspension after disrupting an admitted student event. They then protested a trustee meeting;
- The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee was suspended and its events canceled until July after it violated regulations on campus demonstrations;
- McMaster University suspended the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights pending an investigation into the group’s misconduct;
- McGill University revoked a memorandum of understanding with the school’s student society after the group orchestrated a three day strike in support of ‘Palestinian rights’ that involved blocking campus access and vandalizing an administration building.
In what has become a normal occurrence, the ACLU of Pennsylvania has sued the University of Pittsburgh on behalf of the SJP chapter which was suspended in March. Numerous lawsuits were also filed nationwide to prevent deportation of foreign students.
BDS resolutions and referendums continue to be voted on by student governments in April:
- In a typical occurrence, a BDS referendum at Georgetown University was scheduled for Passover in order to minimize Jewish participation. Upon exposure the vote was rescheduled and then passed; The university quickly announced it would not implement any of the student demands;
- The University of Kansas student government passed a “A Resolution to Recognize the Ongoing Genocide in Palestine.” The resolution was then vetoed by the student government president;
- A contested referendum calling for divestment from companies implicated in ‘human rights abuses’ was passed at the University of Maryland. Less than 10% of students voted.
Student provocations against administrations continued in April. One example was a temporary encampment at Yale University, which dispersed after threats of disciplinary action from the administration. The ostensible reason for the encampment was the appearance on campus of right wing Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The university then revoked the ‘official club status’ of Yalies4Palestine, apparently in response to the protests and possibly after exposure of appeals from the group on behalf of the designated terrorism support organization Samidoun. The university also warned of individual disciplinary actions against students. Ben-Gvir’s talk was protested and bottles were thrown at attendees leaving the event. Protestors also chanted “we will honor all our martyrs.”
In what appear to have been another deliberate provocation, the Cornell University student government selected R&B singer Kehlani, noted for her pro-Hamas stance and support for ‘intifada,’ to perform at the annual Slope Day concert. After complaints and consultations with students university president Michael Kotlikoff rescinded the invitation.
More positively, maintenance staff at Columbia University have filed a lawsuit against pro-Hamas students and organizations alleging they were held hostage and both physically and verbally abused in the May 2024 building takeover. Named in the suit are a number of professional organizers as well as organizations including The People’s Forum, WESPAC, National SJP and American Muslims for Palestine.
K-12
Pro-Hamas organizing in the K-12 sector remains at crisis levels. But in what might be a sign that universities are responding to both Trump Administration financial pressure and unwelcome publicity, Brown University announced it was discontinuing a curriculum development program that had been severely criticized for its anti-Israel content. At the same time, however, the Rhode Island General Assembly is considering legislation that would mandate Ethnic Studies in the state’s public high schools.
Teachers unions and educational consultants continue to center anti-Israel and antisemitic curriculums. The American Educational Research Association’s annual conference, for example, will feature 23 roundtables which include ‘Palestine’ with numerous individual presentations emphasizing “decolonization,” “liberation,” the “right to resist,” as well as occupation, genocide, and settler-colonial and imperial violence.” Similarly, the Oregon Educators for Palestine has announced plans to hold a “community teach-in” on “Teaching Palestine” along side “Rethinking Schools” and the Portland Association of Teachers’ Social Justice and Community Outreach Committee .
In a recent local example, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (CA) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to continue a contract with the ethnic studies curriculum provider Community Responsive Education whose product includes endorsements of BDS. The debate over the curriculum was also notable for the overt antisemitic comments from at least one trustee, who accused Jews of being “segregationists” with “economic power.”
In another example, the Liberty Union High School District (CA) has proposed purchasing a Grade 9 ethnic studies textbook that emphasizes “whiteness” and describes how Jewish Americans, Italian Americans, and others have experienced “whitening.”
Meanwhile, the California Department of Education has found that the Campbell Union High School District used biased content and systematically discriminated against Jewish students. The New York City School Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos was also forced to apologize after the monthly Office of Student Pathways Newsletter, sent to select teachers and parents, included a bullet point entitled “Guidelines for teaching about genocide” and which linked to a US Campaign for Palestinian Rights document titled “STOP GAZA GENOCIDE TOOLKIT.” Aviles-Ramos has ordered a “thorough investigation.”
The University of California Academic Senate voted down a proposal to make Ethnic Studies an admission requirement for the state’s universities. The core of the proposal demanded that students study “dominant cultures, institutions, and structures that perpetuate racial violence, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression.” The working group which made the proposal is comprised of academics from the system’s Ethnic Studies Council which has made repeated efforts to implant its anti-Israel bias in various parts of the university and K-12 enterprises.
While the Trump Administration’s various efforts to expunge DEI in higher education have been met with obfuscation, in the K-12 sector the response has generally been defiant. The terms of the defiance has taken the form of continued explicit embrace of curriculums that promote antisemitism and anti-Americanism, policies that actively promote transgenderism through placing of biological males in females spaces such as locker rooms and sports, and racially preferences in hiring of teachers and segregation of students.
Internationally, as part of a motion that asserted that Israel was committing ‘genocide in ‘Palestine’ Britain’s National Education Union voted to sever connections between schools and defense firms. The motion, which jeopardizes STEM and vocational education, also called for an arms embargo on Israel and for teachers to “advertise national and local PSC demonstrations and encourage members to attend with trade union banners.” The Irish National Teachers Organisation also endorsed the BDS movement and condemned Israeli ‘genocide.’
Arts and Culture
In the arts sphere, anti-Israel/pro-Hamas orientation remains the baseline. One recent
Journalists now routinely complain of censorship and pressures to self-censor regarding coverage of Israel and Palestinians. Reports indicate journalism students have expanded requests to remove or anonymize articles for fear of ‘protecting sources’ and visa revocation. Professional journalists in the US and elsewhere, including Germany where sensitivities regarding antisemitism are unique, also report pressures to censor stories for fear of appearing too anti-Israel or anti-Palestinian. The reality, however, appears to be that most German (and European) journalists outside a small number of Jewish or pro-Israel individuals, are relentlessly hostile to Israel and present radically one-sided or ludicrously simplistic views.
Conversely, the editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, Sewell Chan, reported that he was fired by the journalism school after among other things criticizing a student for both writing about and writing in a pro-Hamas web platform. A piece that appeared after his firing depicted him as mean to students.
The controversy over Wikipedia’s hijacking by cabals of anti-Israel editors has expanded. The interim US Attorney for Washington DC, Edward Martin, has sent a letter to Wikipedia’s parent foundation warning that it has engaged in activities that jeopardize its tax exempt status, namely “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public.” The letter is unusual since it did not come from the IRS, which handles tax exempt status, nor does it indicate that an investigation is underway. The letter notes further that “If the data provided is manipulated, particularly by foreign actors and entities, Wikipedia’s relationship with generative AI platforms have the potential to launder information on behalf of foreign actors.”
Finally, in an incident that represents the convergence of traditional Irish and progressive antisemitism, the rap group Kneecap performed at the Coachella music festival in front of signs reading “Fuck Israel, Free Palestine” and “Israel is Committing Genocide Against the Palestinians.” The performance was also streamed by anti-Israel media personality Hasan Peker. A video of an earlier performance showed the group chanting “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah.” The outcry prompted the cancellation of several bookings and a police investigation in Britain for expressions of support for terrorism.
In response the group claimed that “Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah.” The group added elsewhere that “We do not give a fuck what religion anyone practices. We know there are massive numbers of Jewish people outraged by this genocide just as we are,” the statement read. “What we care about is that governments of the countries we perform in are enabling some of the most horrific crimes of our lifetimes — and we will not stay silent.”
