Prof. Barbara J. Risman never expected to retire early from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a place she’s called her “beloved academic home” for the past 17 years.
A College of Arts & Sciences distinguished professor of sociology, Risman was committed to the university’s social justice mission. But after the October 7 Hamas onslaught on southern Israel, both subtle and overt displays of anti-Israel and antisemitic behavior have gripped the campus to the point that Risman finds she no longer recognizes the institution.
“UIC prides itself on being progressive and engaged. It’s become a very alienating place to be right now. It’s shocking when you think you are a part of a community and you realize in many ways that you are not,” Risman said in a Zoom interview from her campus office.
Risman, who spent more than 10 years co-chairing the university-wide committee on faculty equity and once enjoyed a longstanding affiliation with the Department of Women and Gender Studies, recently penned an opinion piece for The Chicago Tribune about her experience.
“UIC is no longer an institution comfortable for me, as a Jew who believes Israel has a right to exist,” Risman said, adding that according to the American Jewish Committee, more than 80 percent of Jews in America share her belief. “When university departments and programs publish statements implying support for the destruction of the state where more than half of all Jews alive today live, they have crossed the line from simple micro-aggressions against Jewish students and faculty to outright institutional antisemitism,” Risman wrote in her op-ed.
And while an anti-Israel encampment hasn’t yet sprouted on UIC’s campus as many others have on campuses around the nation, there have been numerous concerning incidents since last October. In November 2023, posters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas were ripped down, and anti-Zionist rhetoric and shows of support for terrorism peppered several campus demonstrations.
Days after Hamas terrorists slaughtered some 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped 252 to the Gaza Strip while burning, torturing, raping and dismembering civilians young and old — often while filming the violence — and well before Israel responded militarily, UIC faculty in the Women and Gender Studies and the Black Studies departments posted a joint statement on their websites to let Palestinian and Muslim students know that faculty members were concerned for their welfare.
Moreover, the faculty of both departments denounced “the ongoing escalation of settler colonial violence” and expressed solidarity with those “targeted by colonialism, racism, heteropatriarchy, ableism and state-sanctioned violence,” Risman wrote.
There was no mention of antisemitism, the terrorist killings, or the 252 hostages taken, she said.
“When it comes to Jews, they do not care. Antisemitism is not considered one of those ‘isms’ the university has to be concerned about,” Risman said.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The Times of Israel: You said you’re retiring early in large part because of the antisemitism coming from various departments and the University of Illinois at Chicago administration itself.
Prof. Barbara Risman: I am acutely aware that the definition of antisemitism is hotly debated at the moment. I don’t think that calls for a ceasefire or criticism of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu are antisemitic.
I consider it antisemitic when there is a lack of concern for Israeli deaths after October 7 and when there is a call for the destruction of Israel, where more than half of all Jews live. Many countries were created after World War II, but the only one that people call to destroy is the only Jewish one.