Editor’s Note: ADL (Anti-Defamation League) rounds up developments in the anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across North America. Here is the report for Wednesday, May 8.
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GW. BREAKING: In the early hours of this morning, District of Columbia police cleared an anti-Israel encampment on and around George Washington University. According to a police spokesperson at least 30 people were arrested for a variety of offenses including “assault of a police office” and “unlawful entry.”
The Capitol. In a powerful speech yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony in the U.S. Capitol, President Biden made clear that antisemitism will not be tolerated: “There is no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind. Whether against Jews or anyone else. Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law.”
Alongside this speech, the Department of Education issued new guidance around Title VI violations to help guide every U.S. school district and college on examples of antisemitic discrimination.
At the same event, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson criticized American universities for becoming “hostile places for Jewish students and faculty,” and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries affirmed his commitment to ensuring that “never again unequivocally means never again.”
Silent Majority. According to a survey of U.S college students conducted over the past three days, 81 percent support holding accountable protesters who destroy property, vandalize or occupy buildings. 90 percent said blocking pro-Israel students from parts of campus is unacceptable.
THE FLIP SIDE: 58 percent of students who participated in or favored protests against Israel said they would not consider being friends with someone who marched for Israel.
UChicago. Tuesday morning, police cleared the anti-Israel protest encampment from the University of Chicago’s quad. In a statement, UChicago president Paul Alivisatos wrote: “The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest.”
READ: Alivisatos’ op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Why I Ended the University of Chicago Encampment.”
RISD. Anti-Israel protesters affiliated with its SJP chapter occupied an administration building at Rhode Island School of Design yesterday. RISD administration is negotiating with the students and has relocated classes that were to be held in the building.
Buffalo. On Monday, University at Buffalo police arrested a student for making a threatening social media post directed at an on-campus march organized by the Jewish student union. The student was charged with attempting to make a terrorist threat and attempting to make a threat of mass harm.
NYU. At New York University, an anti-Israel encampment activist recently lauded the North Korean regime for training terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in “resistance.” The PFLP is a US-designated terror group; North Korea is one of the most repressive regimes on the planet.
CSU. Demonstrations can be expected across the California State University system’s campuses today as CSUF Divestment Now announces a “day of action” via an Instagram post.
Campus Champions
NYU. With more than 120 people in attendance, NYU held the inaugural academic conference of its Center for the Study of Antisemitism. The conference focused on the role of education in confronting antisemitism and began by honoring Richard Courant, a former NYU math professor who fled Nazi Germany and helped others do the same.
UW Madison. In response to the alleged chalking of public sidewalks with language endorsing violence, supporting terrorist organizations, and engaging in antisemitism, University of Wisconsin, Madison has suspended two student groups on an interim basis. Meanwhile, University administrators met with Jewish students on Monday to discuss a series of requests including greater regulation of the anti-Israel protests and the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Accountability matters.
Tulane. On Monday, a New Orleans judge issued stay-away orders for 11 of the 14 protesters who were arrested at the anti-Israel encampment protests at Tulane’s campus, preventing them from returning to the campus.
UNLV. On Monday, close to 100 people turned out for a “Never Again is Now” rally to support the Jewish community at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. ADL Nevada Regional Director Jolie Brislin joined the rally as a speaker alongside students and local clergy.
Columbia. Mario Torres, a Columbia University facilities worker who was trapped by student protesters as he tried to stop them from occupying Hamilton Hall, is one of the true unsung campus heroes. As he told the Free Press, “We don’t expect to go to work and get swarmed by an angry mob with rope and duct tape and masks and gloves.”
The Other Edelman. Olympian AJ Edelman, Alex Edelman’s less funny but more athletic brother, gave a powerful speech at the IAC New England MIT rally: “To my Jewish brothers and sisters I will scream it proudly: I am a Jew and Israel is our home.” Watch his speech here.
Fightin’ Illini. More than 150 students and faculty gathered last week at the University of Illinois to celebrate their Jewish pride.
Face This. Watch Sheryl Sandberg passionately decry the situation on campus: “This country was founded on freedom of speech, free expression, and the ability to protest… That is NOT this.”
Do you have something to share with us? We are building this as we go — so please email us at campus@adl.org with any suggestions, questions, photos, and videos.
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Preceding provided by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)