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Why Are Ivy League Schools Quietly Rewarding Student Anti-Israel Protest Leaders?
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
The past academic year saw an unsettling rise in antisemitism on American college campuses, as anti-Israel protests swept through some of the Nation’s most prestigious universities.
Initially, college administrations, seemingly paralyzed by indecision, justified these disruptions under the guise of protecting students’ rights to express themselves — even as protesters commandeered campus spaces with “anti-Zionist” encampments that effectively ostracized and attacked Jewish students.
The situation reached a breaking point after disastrous Congressional hearings led to the resignations of Harvard President Claudine Gay and UPenn’s Liz Magill, casting a harsh light on university leadership’s ineffectual handling of protests.
At institutions like Harvard and Columbia, these demonstrations escalated into aggressive actions, prompting reluctant administrators to call in police and impose disciplinary measures on some student protest leaders.
While these resignations and official responses might have signaled a potential turning point, evidence suggests that little has truly changed.
Harvard University, for example, has long grappled with allegations of campus antisemitism, from the Cornel West tenure controversy to recent scenes of blatant hostility toward Jews. Last year, one of the most disturbing incidents unfolded at the Harvard Business School during a “Stop the Genocide in Gaza” protest, where a pro-Israel student attempting to film the event was reportedly surrounded and assaulted by a crowd chanting, “Shame, shame, shame.”
While Claudine Gay’s resignation marked an official acknowledgment of the crisis enveloping Harvard, other troubling signs remain.
The university has quietly backtracked on some disciplinary measures imposed on student agitators. A prominent example is Prince Aviunce Williams, a Harvard class of 2025 student and co-founder of the African American Resistance Organization (AFRO), who received a full academic scholarship to attend Harvard. After leading campus rallies where the Hamas slogan “From the River to the Sea”—a call for Israel’s destruction — was chanted, Williams faced suspension.
However, he announced in July that Harvard had reversed its decision, releasing a video in which he declared, “Make no mistake, the reversal of these charges is not a reflection of the good nature of the institution but a demonstration of the power of our organizing. When I rejoin my peers this fall, we must understand our movement is working, that our momentum is growing, and that Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.”
At Columbia University, there was a similar surge in antisemitic incidents with even faculty joining in. Among the most disturbing was tenured professor Joseph Massad’s article for Electronic Intifada, in which he lauded Hamas’ October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians as “astonishing” and “incredible.”
This appalling endorsement of terror sent shock waves through Columbia’s Jewish community, yet the administration chose not to act, signaling a worrying tolerance for such extremism.
The administration’s stance toward faculty echoes its inaction on student-led protests. Johannah King-Slutzky, a doctoral student and prominent activist, epitomized protesters’ sense of entitlement when she led a press conference demanding “humanitarian aid” for students occupying campus buildings.
King-Slutzky, despite her role in leading the disruption, now teaches a required undergraduate course, “Contemporary Western Civilization,” in Hamilton Hall — the very building she helped occupy, leading to the arrest of 22 students.
And while Columbia had promised firm disciplinary action, an August Congressional report reveals that 18 of those arrested remain in good standing, underscoring the administration’s reluctance to impose meaningful consequences.
Columbia student Khymani James made headlines after he was banned from the university for inciting violence against “Zionists,” declaring that they “don’t deserve to live.”
However, just six months later, the coalition of anti-Israel groups that initially apologized on his behalf reversed course and doubled down on support for violence against Israel.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) posted a statement on Instagram retracting their previous apology: “Last spring, in the midst of the encampments, [CUAD] posted a statement framed as an apology on behalf of Khymani James,” the post read. “We deliberately misrepresented your experiences and your words, and we let you down.” CUAD’s message reaffirmed its endorsement of armed “resistance.”
Now, James is suing Columbia University, seeking to overturn his suspension and regain his campus standing.
Yet, nothing illustrates how some of the most antisemitic student leaders have reveled in their notoriety, building careers from the infamy, quite like The New York Times’ recent piece about the extremist group Within Our Lifetime, led by former CUNY law student Nerdeen Kiswani.
Published earlier this month, the article paints the group as one that “galvanized pro-Palestinian activists,” while reducing well-documented antisemitism to mere “accusations.”
The article even romanticizes Kiswani’s arrival at a Columbia University encampment “on her wedding day in April, still wearing her traditional red and white dress,” while downplaying the more troubling aspects of her “activism” for Within Our Lifetime, a group frequently linked to aggressive and violent anti-Israel protests.
But these high-profile cases reflect a deeper, more pervasive trend within these universities. Institutions like Harvard and Columbia seem more intent on appeasement than on confronting the root issue of antisemitism.
So, has anything truly changed? With quiet reversals of disciplinary actions and selective inaction, it seems that higher education is simply poised to look the other way when it comes to the safety and rights of Jews.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Why Are Ivy League Schools Quietly Rewarding Student Anti-Israel Protest Leaders? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Lebanon Cabinet Welcomes Army Plan to Disarm Hezbollah, No Timeline Given
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and members of the Lebanese cabinet meet to discuss efforts to bring all weapons in the country under the control of the state, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
Lebanon’s cabinet on Friday welcomed a plan by the army that would disarm Hezbollah and said the military would begin executing it, without setting a timeframe for implementation and cautioning that the army had limited capabilities.
A national divide over Hezbollah’s disarmament has taken center stage in Lebanon since last year’s devastating war with Israel, which upended a power balance long dominated by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim terrorist group.
The US and Saudi Arabia, along with Hezbollah’s primarily Christian and Sunni opponents in Lebanon, have ramped up calls for the group to give up arms.
But Hezbollah has pushed back, saying it would be a serious misstep to even discuss disarmament while Israel continues its air strikes on Lebanon and occupies swathes of territory in the south. Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday.
On Friday, Lebanon’s cabinet met for three hours, which included the plan’s presentation by army commander Rodolphe Haykal.
All five Shi’ite cabinet ministers left the session in protest once Haykal entered the room.
Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos told reporters after the session that the government welcomed the plan but stopped short of saying the cabinet had formally passed it.
He said the army would begin implementing the plan according to its logistical, material and personnel capabilities, which might require “additional time [and’ additional effort.”
Morcos said the plan’s details would remain secret.
Hezbollah-aligned Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar told local media before the cabinet’s session had concluded that any decision taken in the absence of Shi’ite ministers would be null and void as it would be considered in contravention of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
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UK Museum Criticized for Postponing Jewish Heritage Exhibit Due to Concerns of ‘Incidences of Hate Crime’
The front of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth, Dorset. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
An art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England, has been accused of cowering to threats from an “antisemitic mob” following its decision to postpone an exhibition on Jewish heritage.
The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum was scheduled to host an exhibit from Nov. 25-March 15, 2026, about the history of the city’s Jewish community as part of a project funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and researched by the Jewish Communities in Bournemouth, according to the BBC.
The museum recently announced that it will reschedule the exhibit for a later, unconfirmed date because of the “potential risks at a sensitive time.”
“Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum is an important heritage asset housing culturally significant art,” a spokesperson for the museum said in a statement cited by The Telegraph. “In planning all exhibitions, we carefully assess any potential risks. We recognize this is a sensitive time and due to requirements related to this event, the museum has decided to postpone the exhibition and is working with the organizers to reschedule it for a later date.”
In a statement, the museum also referred to concerns it has regarding unspecified “incidences of hate crime” in the area, according to the BBC.
In Bournemouth’s East Cliff area last month, a Jewish man was shot with an air rifle and there were several reports of swastika graffiti, including one painted on the side of a house owned by a rabbi.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a British charity, called the museum’s decision to postpone the exhibit “utterly shameful” and accused the institution of choosing to “extinguish Jewish culture in the face of threats from an antisemitic mob.”
“At a time when British Jews are facing unprecedented levels of antisemitism and families are hiding their identity for fear of abuse or even violence, British institutions should be standing firm in support of Jewish life, not silencing it,” the organization said.
Britain has experienced a historic surge in antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. Last month, the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism and an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
“When British Jews cannot celebrate and share their history in peace, what does that say about Britain today?” CAA added. “When British institutions cower to threats from a mob over the rights of law-abiding communities to share their stories and celebrate their positive contribution to British life, what has happened to British values?”
The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment about CAA’s accusations and the museum’s decision to postpone the exhibit.
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Another College President Falls With Resignation of Michael Schill From Northwestern University
Former Northwestern University president Michael Schill on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades via Reuters Connect
Northwestern University president Michael Schill resigned on Thursday, just days before the start of fall semester, following nearly two years of a surge in antisemitic discrimination and extreme anti-Zionism on the Evanston, Illinois, campus, as well as blistering criticism of his response to it.
“I have decided, in consultation with the leadership of the Board of Trustees, that I will step down as president,” Schill said in a statement announcing the decision. “I will remain in my role until an interim president is in place, and I will assist in his or her transition. After a brief sabbatical, I will return to Northwestern Pritzker School of Law to teach and conduct research, my first and enduring passion.”
He added, “I appreciate our students, who I am confident will go on to change the world for the better.”
The embattled executive testified last May before the US House Committee on Education and Workforce, where he faced a firing line of conservative lawmakers, such as Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Burgess Owens (R-UT), who placed him in their crosshairs after identifying him as one of the dozens of college presidents who allegedly did far too little to combat the nationwide surge in campus antisemitism following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
Schill’s gravest transgression, lawmakers charged, was the Deering Meadow Agreement, reached after a pro-Hamas group commandeered a section of campus and established what they called the “Northwestern Liberated Zone” on April 25, 2024. For five days, over 1,000 students, professors, and non-Northwestern-affiliated persons fulminated against the world’s lone Jewish state, trafficked antisemitic tropes, and intimidated Jewish students.
By the morning of April 29, Schill and the group finalized the infamous deal — a first of its kind accord which became a model for 42 other schools who emulated it. It committed Northwestern University to establishing a scholarship for Palestinian undergraduates, contacting potential employers of students who caused recent campus disruptions to insist on their being hired, hiring two Palestinian professors, and creating a segregated dormitory hall to be occupied exclusively by Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim students. The university — after days of hearing the activists shout phrases such as “Kill the Jews!” — also agreed to form a new investment committee in which anti-Zionist students and faculty wield an outsized voice.
In February of this year, the nascent second Trump administration’s newly staffed US Department of Education named Northwestern as one five schools to be investigated by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for antisemitism and evidence that school officials violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Then in April, US President Donald Trump, riding a wave of populist antagonism against higher education, froze $790 million in federal research grants and contracts previously appropriated to Northwestern. The move came days after the university issued a report on its enactment of a checklist of policies it said meaningfully addressed campus antisemitism, which, by that time, had exploded into a full-blown crisis.
“The university administration took this criticism to heart and spent much of last summer revising our rules and policies to make our university safe for all of our students, regardless of their religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, or political viewpoint,” the university said. “Among the updated policies is our Demonstration Policy, which includes new requirements and guidance on how, when, and where members of the community may protest or otherwise engage in expressive activity.”
The university added that it had 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.
Parents of students attending Northwestern University rejected the report as an attempt to manufacture positive headlines and mislead the public, most of all the Jewish community.
“The problems at Northwestern are deep. Deep and institutional,” Lisa Fields, founder of Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN), told The Algemeiner during an interview in May.
On Friday, she said Schill’s resignation should be the first of major changes at the university.
“As both a parent and CAAN’s national chair, I know the fear and frustration Jewish families have felt watching Northwestern fail to protect its students,” Fields said. “President Schill’s resignation is a necessary first step, but it cannot be the last. The board’s catastrophic governance shows how far Northwestern has drifted. Chair Barris should step aside, and the board must be restructured. Only sustained federal oversight, dedicated civil rights enforcement, structural reform, and a president with integrity and vision will restore accountability and integrity at Northwestern.”
She added, “CAAN will continue pressing, and partnering, until Jewish students are safe, the university is in full compliance with Title VI, and Northwestern again reflects the accountability and integrity its community, and the nation, deserve.”
CAAN member Geri Cohen, another Northwestern parent, told The Algemeiner that Schill should not be rewarded with another job at the university, arguing that his allowing the maltreatment of Jewish students, not conservative politics, was the primary reason for the disintegration of his administration.
“New leadership is absolutely a step in the right direction of accountability and true leadership at Northwestern,” Cohen said. “However, I’m disappointed in his transition to his faculty position at the law school. I’m also alarmed but not surprised at the media’s response and portrayal that this is due to Trump, the Republicans, and not at all to his epic failure of protecting Jewish students.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.