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There Is Trouble on Campus as the 2024-2025 Academic Year Ends
Demonstrators take part in an “Emergency Rally: Stand With Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza,” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The Spring semester has ended with higher education in upheaval. The political and economic relationships with the Federal government are now rapidly changing, with billions of taxpayer funding frozen or and foreign student visas on hold.
Here are some recent incidents that have occurred on campus:
- Protestors briefly and violently occupied a library at Columbia University. Later reports indicated they were mostly Columbia students, Some 65 students were suspended by the university with many barred from campus. In court, the group’s lawyer described the action as a “teach-in”;
- At the University of Washington, pro-Hamas and Antifa protestors occupied a newly opened engineering building, setting fires and damaging equipment. Over 30 arrests were made, and damage to the building was estimated at $1.2 million. The state’s governor claimed those responsible would be held “accountable,” and a Federal investigation was launched;
- At Brooklyn College, protestors attempted to create an encampment, but were driven off campus by police. As protestors left, they stopped at the Hillel house where one individual gave a speech denouncing it as a “Zionist institution.” Altercations ensued, resulting in arrests;
- An encampment at Swarthmore College was removed by police, and nine individuals were arrested. The encampment was sparsely attended and Swarthmore activists reported frustration with “unambiguously ineffective” SJP tactics, hostility toward otherwise sympathetic supporters, and an “increasingly adversarial tone towards the general student body;”
- An encampment at Dartmouth College was dismantled after the administration agreed to provide subsidies to international students “in need” and to meet with protestors regarding divestment. Later in the month, protestors briefly occupied an area outside the university president’s office;
- At Rutgers University, a pro-Hamas demonstration was held outside the Hillel building, where Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) was holding a roundtable meeting. This resulted in four arrests. One police officer was assaulted;
A number of “Nakba Day” protests were held at universities including at Trinity College (Cambridge) and Tel Aviv University, and across major cities including New York and London.
Security precautions for Jewish communities and institutions were heightened after the Washington, D.C. murders. Even prior to this, Birmingham University’s Hillel house announced it would apply for permission construct a large fence around its property as protection from antisemitic protests and attacks.
In an especially disturbing development, a local Michigan judge considered ordering the state’s gay and Jewish Attorney General, Dana Nessel, to recuse herself from prosecuting pro-Hamas trespassers at the University of Michigan because of allegations that she is biased against Arabs and Muslims that were made in a separate case.
The Trump administration continues to target leading institutions, above all Harvard and Columbia, with funding cuts and other restrictions over their refusal to rapidly address new mandates regarding the eradication of DEI politics and campus antisemitism.
Other leading institutions including Vanderbilt University and Dartmouth College, which have explicitly adopted positions defending free speech as well as maintained campus safety and civility, have not been the focus of the Trump administration.
Administration efforts to remove foreign students who support Hamas and advocate for revolution against the US have been stymied by court orders. Most key individuals targeted by an early wave of deportation orders have been freed by courts — even though they openly supported a US-designated terror group on the streets of America.
The higher education industrial complex continues to complain about Federal cuts and pressure. A recent poll, however, indicates that significant numbers of Americans hold negative views of Ivy League institutions, suggesting that the elite sector of the industry has little social capital. But concerns remain that continued administration emphasis on antisemitism, along with DEI and resulting discrimination policies, will generate resentment and antisemitism as Jews are blamed for what is happening.
As the immense confrontation between the Trump administration and the higher education industrial complex unfolds, faculty find themselves trapped. The majority of faculty who are not pro-Palestinian — much less overt Hamas — supporters have been tarred by their ideologically committed colleagues, as have scientists who have found their funding and student staffing destroyed.
Professional organizations such as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) have been built as left wing pressure groups, which now give credence to far left factions explicitly in support of Hamas. Other professional organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, are suffused with antisemitism and anti-Israel bias to the point where they have now attracted political attention.
Faculty groups continue to provide largely anonymous support for pro-Hamas protestors and anti-Israel policies:
- The University of Washington chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine strongly condemned the university for taking action against protestors who caused over $1 million in damage to an engineering building and for accepting donations from Boeing;
- Columbia University’s American Association of University Professors condemned the institution’s handling of the library takeover and for plans to revise “shared governance” structures;
- The George Washington University Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine condemned the university’s response to a student commencement speaker who had excoriated Israel. She was later barred from campus;
- The University of Toronto Faculty Association also narrowly voted to divest from Israel and demanded the university follow suit.
Largely in contrast to university administrations, faculty-led groups have also rewarded student protestors. In one example, two Harvard Law School students who had assaulted a Jewish student were awarded fellowships while other anti-Israel students were recommended for Rhodes and Truman scholarships. Also at Harvard, an honorary degree was awarded to Berkeley faculty member and BDS supporter Elaine Kim.
In parallel, reports continue to appear regarding the pervasiveness of anti-Israel bias in British university classrooms, and the systematic purging of Jewish adjuncts from the City University of New York’s accounting department. These and other incidents indicate that disparate faculty members have continued or even intensified both anti-Israel and antisemitic efforts in spire of media and Federal scrutiny.
Students continued to protest against Israel with particular emphasis on the anniversaries of 2024 encampments and “Nakba Day.” One protest strategy that has reemerged are hunger strikes by students and faculty, including at Stanford University, Yale University, Occidental College, Cal State Long Beach, and San Francisco State University.
As has been the norm in previous years, commencements were the scene of pro-Hamas protests. Columbia students drowned out president Claire Shipman’s remarks, including favorable comments regarding detained student Mahmoud Khalil, which produced angry jeers from the crowd. Later several students burned their diplomas. Two students were arrested. Barnard College president Laura Rosenbury was jeered by graduates who shouted “shame.” Graduates at many institutions waved Palestinian flags and jeered, including at Brooklyn College.
In another notable case at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, the student commencement speaker deviated from the speech he had originally submitted and excoriated the US and Israel saying, “I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been live streamed to our phones for the past 18 months.” Students applauded the speech and the university stated the student “lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules.” It then withheld his diploma.
Other students deviated from approved remarks and called for divestment and accused Israel of “genocide” and their schools of complicity in their commencement speeches, such as at MIT and George Washington University. Disruptions were reported at City University of New York, Columbia University and Rutgers University. Faculty members dressed in keffiyehs at New York University.
Another commencement related incident saw Salman Rushdie, who was almost murdered by a Muslim protestor in 2022, withdraw as commencement speaker at Claremont McKenna College after complaints by the local CAIR branch and threats to protest by the school’s Muslim Student Association.
K-12
Anti-Israel bias and overt antisemitism continues to be integrated into K-12 education through teachers’ unions and “ethnic studies.” The continued promotion of “anti-Palestinian racism” as the pinnacle of intersectionalism is an especially ominous development. The concept, which sacralizes Palestinian narratives regarding “nakba” and Israeli evil, and makes factual counter-narratives and potentially Jewish expressions of identity and belief illegal on the basis of hurt feelings, is now official policy in Toronto public schools.
A variety of reports have shown how radical teachers in Philadelphia public schools have systematically dominated teacher training and curriculum development in the name of “racial justice,” and against Israel and Jews.
The role of teachers’ unions in promoting “Palestine” as a core principle is most developed in Britain. There, the National Education Union has been at the forefront of anti-Israel organizing with “days of action,” workshops to “advocate for Palestine in our schools,” celebrating Nakba Day, and circulating BDS petitions, all ostensibly aimed at teachers rather than students. In reality, reports continue to document how teacher routinely indoctrinate students against Israel and Jews both inside and outside classrooms, employing crude and vicious terms such as “ZioNazis.”
In the US, local teachers’ unions such as the Beaverton Education Association and internal affinity groups such as “NY Educators for Palestine” and “Teaching While Muslim” continue to push indoctrination efforts such as “Teach Palestine Week.” At the national level, the Democratic Socialists of America is currently running several candidates for the leadership of the United Federation of Teachers.
Local pushback against teachers’ unions, such as in Massachusetts, has had limited impact, since unions operate with impunity. Control of oversight institutions such as school boards has become critical, since these too are routinely taken over by BDS supporters. In an unusual outcome, in the New Rochelle, NY, school board vote a progressive candidate endorsed by former Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D) lost resoundingly to both another Black candidate and Jewish candidates. She then blamed anti-Blackness and her support for “Gaza.” Jewish and centrist voters had mobilized vigorously against her on the basis of Bowman’s endorsement.
The author is a contributor to SPME, where a completely different version of this article was published.
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Harvard Faculty Oppose Deal With Trump, Distancing From Hamas Apologists: Crimson Poll
Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A recently published Harvard Crimson poll of over 1,400 Harvard faculty revealed sweeping opposition to interim university President Alan Garber’s efforts to strike a deal with the federal government to restore $3 billion in research grants and contracts it froze during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.
In the survey, conducted from April 23 to May 12, 71 percent of arts and sciences faculty oppose negotiating a settlement with the administration, which may include concessions conservatives have long sought from elite higher education, such as meritocratic admissions, viewpoint diversity, and severe disciplinary sanctions imposed on students who stage unauthorized protests that disrupt academic life.
Additionally, 64 percent “strongly disagree” with shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, 73 percent oppose rejecting foreign applicants who hold anti-American beliefs which are “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence,” and 70 percent strongly disagree with revoking school recognition from pro-Hamas groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC).
“More than 98 percent of faculty who responded to the survey supported the university’s decision to sue the White House,” The Crimson reported. “The same percentage backed Harvard’s public rejection of the sweeping conditions that the administration set for maintaining the funds — terms that included external audits of Harvard’s hiring practices and the disciplining of student protesters.”
Alyza Lewin of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law told The Algemeiner that the poll results indicate that Harvard University will continue to struggle to address campus antisemitism on campus, as there is now data showing that its faculty reject the notion of excising intellectualized antisemitism from the university.
“If you, for example, have faculty teaching courses that are regularly denying that the Jews are a people and erasing the Jewish people’s history in the land of Israel, that’s going to undermine your efforts to address the antisemitism on your campus,” Lewin explained. “When Israel is being treated as the ‘collective Jew,’ when the conversation is not about Israel’s policies, when the criticism is not what the [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism] would call criticism of Israel similar to that against any other country, they have to understand that it is the demonization, delegitimization, and applying a double standard to Jews as individuals or to Israel.”
She added, “Faculty must recognize … the demonization, vilification, the shunning, and the marginalizing of Israelis, Jews, and Zionists, when it happens, as violations of the anti-discrimination policies they are legally and contractually obligated to observe.”
The Crimson survey results were published amid reports that Garber was working to reach a deal with the Trump administration that is palatable to all interested parties, including the university’s left-wing social milieu.
According to a June 26 report published by The Crimson, Garber held a phone call with major donors in which he “confirmed in response to a question from [Harvard Corporation Fellow David M. Rubenstein] that talks had resumed” but “declined to share specifics of how Harvard expected to settle with the White House.”
On June 30, the Trump administration issued Harvard a “notice of violation” of civil rights law following an investigation which examined how it responded to dozens of antisemitic incidents reported by Jewish students since the 2023-2024 academic year.
The correspondence, sent by the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, charged that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a torrent of racist and antisemitic abuse following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, which precipitated a surge in anti-Zionist activity on the campus, both in the classroom and out of it.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the four federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Harvard again on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Citing Harvard’s failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated other forms of hatred in the past, The US Department of Educationthe called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Balancing Act: Lebanese President Aoun Affirms Hope for Peace with Israel, Balks At Normalization
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday carefully affirmed his country’s desire for peace with Israel while cautioning that Beirut is not ready to normalize relations with its southern neighbor.
Aoun called for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, according to a statement from his office, while reaffirming his government’s efforts to uphold a state monopoly on arms amid mounting international pressure on the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah to disarm.
“The decision to restrict arms is final and there is no turning back on it,” Aoun said.
The Lebanese leader drew a clear distinction between pursuing peace and establishing formal normalization in his country’s relationship with the Jewish state.
“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment,” Aoun said in a statement. “As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy.”
Aoun’s latest comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressed interest last month in normalizing ties with Lebanon and Syria — an effort Jerusalem says cannot proceed until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.
Earlier this week, Aoun sent his government’s response to a US-backed disarmament proposal as Washington and Jerusalem increased pressure on Lebanon to neutralize the terror group.
While the details remain confidential, US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack said he was “unbelievably satisfied” with their response.
This latest proposal, presented to Lebanese officials during Barrack’s visit on June 19, calls for Hezbollah to be fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from its five occupied posts in southern Lebanon.
However, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem vowed in a televised speech to keep the group’s weapons, rejecting Washington’s disarmament proposal.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” said Qassem, who succeeded longtime terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israel killed him last year.
“We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region,” the terrorist leader continued. “We will not accept normalization [with Israel].”
Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s attacks on Jerusalem — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.
Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — calling this “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide
Chef and head of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres attends the Milken Institute Global Conference 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, US, May 5, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake.
Renowned Spanish chef and World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés called the Oct. 7 attack “horrendous” in an interview Wednesday and shared his hopes for reconciliation between the “vast majority” on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide who are “good people that very often are not served well by their leaders”
WCK is a US-based, nonprofit organization that provides fresh meals to people in conflict zones around the world. The charity has been actively serving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. Since the Hamas attack, WCK has served more than 133 million meals across Gaza, according to its website.
The restaurateur and humanitarian has been quoted saying in past interviews that “sometimes very big problems have very simple solutions.” On Wednesday’s episode of the Wall Street Journal podcast “Bold Names,” he was asked to elaborate on that thought. He responded by saying he believes good meals and good leaders can help resolve issues between Israelis and Palestinians, who, he believes, genuinely want to live harmoniously with each other.
“I had people in Gaza, mothers, women making bread,” he said. “Moments that you had of closeness they were telling you: ‘What Hamas did was wrong. I wouldn’t [want] anybody to do this to my children.’ And I had Israelis that even lost family members. They say, ‘I would love to go to Gaza to be next to the people to show them that we respect them …’ And this to me is very fascinating because it’s the reality.
“Maybe some people call me naive. [But] the vast majority of the people are good people that very often are not served well by their leaders. And the simple reality of recognizing that many truths can be true at the same time in the same phrase that what happened on October 7th was horrendous and was never supposed to happen. And that’s why World Central Kitchen was there next to the people in Israel feeding in the kibbutz from day one, and at the same time that I defended obviously the right of Israel to defend itself and to try to bring back the hostages. Equally, what is happening in Gaza is not supposed to be happening either.”
Andres noted that he supports Israel’s efforts to target Hamas terrorists but then seemingly accused Israel of “continuously” targeting children and civilians during its military operations against the terror group.
“We need leaders that believe in that, that believe in longer tables,” he concluded. “It’s so simple to invest in peace … It’s so simple to do good. It’s so simple to invest in a better tomorrow. Food is a solution to many of the issues we’re facing. Let’s hope that … one day in the Middle East it’ll be people just celebrating the cultures that sometimes if you look at what they eat, they seem all to eat exactly the same.”
In 2024, WCK fired at least 62 of its staff members in Gaza after Israel said they had ties to terrorist groups. In one case, Israel discovered that a WCK employee named Ahed Azmi Qdeih took part in the deadly Hamas rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Qdeih was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in November 2024.
In April 2024, the Israel Defense Forces received backlash for carrying out airstrikes on a WCK vehicle convoy which killed seven of the charity’s employees. Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the airstrikes were “a mistake that followed a misidentification,” and Israel dismissed two senior officers as a result of the mishandled military operation.
The strikes “were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war,” Andrés alleged.
“It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by” the Israeli military, he claimed in an op-ed published by Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. “It was also the direct result of [the Israeli] government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”
In a statement on X, Andres accused Israel of “indiscriminate killing,” saying the Jewish state “needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
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