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Sarah Lawrence Has Allowed and Encouraged Antisemitism; I Would Not Send My Own Children There
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) members inside the Westlands administrative building at Sarah Lawrence College. Photo: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)/Screenshot
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel and perpetrated the biggest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
On that same day — while these atrocities were occurring — Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) professor Suzanne Gardinier made 17 social media posts with the hashtag “#freepalestine.” In one of the posts, Gardinier appeared to celebrate the attack.
On Oct. 8, 2023, Emmaia Gelman — Sarah Lawrence professor and Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism — made an Instagram post featuring a photo of Hamas invading Israel by breaking through a barrier fence with the accompanying comment, “Solidarity with those who break prison walls.”
A reader responded, “The romanticization of an event whose sole purpose was to murder innocent civilians is a bewildering level of delusion.” Another reader replied, “This is by far the most fu**ed up thing I have seen on social media.”
A Sarah Lawrence student at the time, Sammy Tweedy, responded, “#youshouldbefired.”
Later that school year, Tweedy — son of the singer Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame — made news for publicly addressing antisemitism at Sarah Lawrence.
Sammy Tweedy told the politically progressive Forward that he was “excommunicated” on campus “for just going to Israel.” Tweedy shared, “If you’re Jewish and you have an identity where Israel is a part of it, you are dehumanized. People called me a Nazi. People called me genocidal.”
According to this 2023 Forward report, Tweedy “said he has filed bias incident reports with the school along with more than 100 screenshots of online harassment, including students identified by name saying ‘they want me to die,’ but the school has taken no action.”
In a column published just this week, Sarah Lawrence professor Samuel J. Abrams discussed a current student who is fearful to be on campus:
As a Jewish Zionist, the student — like others — has faced threats and harassment. The college experience has been anything but normal. No real campus life. No security. No peace. Sarah Lawrence has let this happen. It has become a place where students like this one, and professors like me, are targeted for our faith, heritage, and belief in Israel’s right to exist.
As a professor and a Zionist, I find it heartbreaking. No student should fear their own campus. No student should have to choose between safety and an education.
On Oct. 9, 2023, the SLC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) celebrated Hamas’s pogrom on social media, referring to the rapes, massacre, and hostage-taking of Israelis as “the uprising in Palestine.” Interestingly, the SLC-SJP post used the same photograph of a Hamas bulldozer breaking into Israel that Gelman used a day earlier. In March, SLC-SJP featured Gelman at an event, referring to her as a “fantastic” speaker.
According to a report by The Algemeiner, “No sooner had the [Oct. 7] tragedy occurred than Briana Martin — SLC director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) — called on students to ignore Jewish suffering by attending on Oct. 9 an ‘Hour of Solidarity with Palestine,’ an event co-sponsored by SJP.”
On Feb. 6 of this year, Gardinier shared someone else’s post on X which stated, “Palestinians did not commit a crime on Oct. 7.”
The next day, Gardinier shared two posts on X blaming Israel — not Hamas — for most of the Oct. 7 murders and denying Hamas’s use of mass rape against Israeli women and girls. One post read, “Most of the people killed on Oct. 7 were actually killed by Israel.” The other stated, “israel [sic] killed most of its own people on oct 7 and there was no mass rape, it was all atrocity propaganda.”
Even the United Nations — an organization viewed by many as notoriously anti-Israel — is clear: “On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups killed approximately 1,200 persons in Israel.” And The New York Times — a publication often accused of being biased against Israel — published a widely read, in-depth investigation titled, “How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7.”
On Nov. 24, Gardinier wrote on social media that it was “an honor” to stand with others at the SLC encampment. She did not mention the prominent support of terrorism on display at the encampment as clearly encapsulated by a large banner promoting Samidoun. Samidoun was designated by the US Department of the Treasury under President Biden as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”
As reported by the ADL, the banner also included “the image of convicted terrorist Georges Abdallah, formerly with the PFLP, who was sentenced to life in prison in France for the 1982 murders in Paris of an Israeli diplomat and an American military attaché.”
In a 2024 zine written by “Anonymous Sarah Lawrence Students,” the authors state that they answered Hamas’s call for “escalation” by occupying a building on campus.
Considering that student groups have promoted fundraisers for Gaza and considering the student support for Hamas and Samidoun, the college — as well as local and federal authorities — should investigate the possibility that funds may have been provided to organizations that support terrorism.
In November of 2024, Abrams published a column about the now dismantled SLC encampment, titled “Sarah Lawrence Has Fallen,” explaining the anti-Israel fervor on campus:
In the dead of night on Nov. 21, a group of students linked to Sarah Lawrence College’s (SLC) Divestment Coalition stormed Westlands, the school’s main administrative building, and announced their occupation through social media. This was no quiet protest. Hiding their identities behind masks, the group decorated the building with signs, barricaded doors, and blocked windows with plywood, effectively shutting down the school’s operations. Dozens of students living in the dormitory above were trapped and access to key school offices were blocked. Outside, an encampment took shape, turning the scene into a spectacle broadcast across social media for the world to witness.
Abrams, a Jewish professor, added that SLC students “issued demands not for dialogue but for destruction. They called for harm against Zionists, the eradication of Israel, and displayed deeply inflammatory slogans such as ‘Long live the intifada!’”
In the end, students failed in their efforts to have Sarah Lawrence divest from Israel, and the encampment was dismantled.
Recently, anti-Israel students at SLC have encouraged fellow students to boycott Abrams’ classes. Abrams explained that the boycott is because he supports “Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself” and because he is a “Zionist Jew.”
This week, on a Sarah Lawrence alumni social media page, a graduate of the college wrote, “May no Zionist, be they Christian, Jewish, or atheist (because all of these exist) be safe from harassment just as white men who espouse white supremacy should not be safe from harassment either.”
In early 2025, the US Department of Education opened a Title VI antisemitism investigation into Sarah Lawrence in response to a complaint filed by Hillel accusing the college of fostering a hostile environment towards Jewish students.
I received a rigorous education at Sarah Lawrence and am proud of it. For decades, I recommended Sarah Lawrence to anyone who asked. Now, I would not send my own children to Sarah Lawrence.
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
The post Sarah Lawrence Has Allowed and Encouraged Antisemitism; I Would Not Send My Own Children There first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show
Orthodox Jewish man waiting for the train in the New York City subway. Photo: Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect.
Jews in New York City were victims of more hate crimes in March than any other group even as crime across the Five Boroughs fell to “historic” lows, according to statistics issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday.
39 hate crimes targeted Jews last month, the Algemeiner reviewed data shows, outstripping the combined total of all other groups combined — 28 — and constituting 58 percent of all hate crimes reported to authorities. So far, there have born 85 antisemitic hate crimes in New York City through the first three months of 2025, with the month of February seeing a 100 percent increase in them over the previous year and March seeing no improvement at all.
The data continues a trend that has persisted for several years and concurred with a rise in antisemitic incidents across the US.
Jews represented a disproportionate share of hate crimes perpetrated in New York City in 2024 as well. Of the 641 total hate crimes tallied by the NYPD that year, Jews were victims of 345, which, in addition to being a 7 percent increase over the previous year, amounted to 54 percent of all hate crimes in the city.
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, antisemitic hate crimes have posed a major threat to the quality of life of New York City’s Orthodox Jewish community, which was the target in many of the incidents. In just eight days between the end of October and the beginning of November, three Hasidim, including children, were brutally assaulted in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. In one instance, an Orthodox man was accosted by two assailants, one masked, who “chased and beat him” after he refused to surrender his cellphone in compliance with what appeared to have been an attempted robbery.
In another incident, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily Jewish neighborhood. Less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking in Brooklyn. Days after the week-long antisemitic hate crime spree, three men attempted to rob a Hasidic man after stalking him through the Crown Heights neighborhood.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration
(Source: Reuters)
NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza.
The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians.
Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”
In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza.
Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories.
The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation.
“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement.
The post NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.
Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.
The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.
Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.
“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”
Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”
The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”
Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.
In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Additionally, 60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.