ADL Report on Nationwide Campus Turmoil: May 14, 2024

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Harvard. Over 200 anti-Israel protesters staged a march and then a sit-in on Saturday afternoon on Harvard’s campus, organized by Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine. This comes one day after Harvard placed 20 students on involuntary leave for participating in the unauthorized encampment on campus. The rally was attended by Harvard affiliates as well as local residents and students from other Boston universities.

UW Milwaukee. The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee capitulated to anti-Israel protesters in an agreement Sunday. As part of the deal, protesters will meet with university leadership to discuss divestment from companies connected with Israel. UWM also agreed to review study abroad programming, and specifically called out programs to Israel, and agreed to forgo conduct violations for those involved in the encampment. The University also engaged in full-on BDS as the University chancellor agreed to compel the Water Council (a global hub in Milwaukee dedicated to solving critical water challenges) to sever ties with two Israeli water companies: Mekorot and Israel Innovation Authority.

Delaware. At the University of Delaware last Wednesday, a flag display for Holocaust Remembrance Week, sponsored by the Hillel, was damaged by a student who was yelling hateful antisemitic slurs. The undergraduate student was arrested and charged with a hate crime, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct, and has been banned from campus. The university put out a statement saying, “Such abhorrent incidents have no place on our campus. Any acts of discrimination, racism, violence or destructive behavior that are directed at any group and threaten the wellbeing of our community will be addressed immediately.”

Read the university’s full statement here.

Southwestern. On Saturday, the student commencement speaker at Southwestern University in Texas used her speech to condemn the alleged Israeli “genocide” in Gaza, call out the University for supporting it through investments, and then ended her tirade with a call of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Yesterday, the University released a statement, saying that her remarks were not the approved draft. It also noted that the “phrase used in her speech is highly controversial and perceived as antisemitic by both individuals and multiple organizations. Antisemitic statements and slogans violate Southwestern University’s core values and, as such, are not condoned by the leadership of the University.”

TAKE ACTION: Tell university administrators to protect commencement ceremonies so all families can enjoy them.

Union Theological Seminary. The Union Theological Seminary in New York announced last week that its board of trustees endorsed a policy supporting the institution’s divestment from “companies substantially and intractably benefiting from the war in Palestine.” The institution, which has a partnership with Columbia University, is one of the first in the United States since October 7 to announce plans to divest from such companies. It’s shameful that a school dedicated to interreligious engagement would so brazenly ignore the concerns of the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community.

MORE: Read ADL’s statement condemning UTS.

Hillel Poll. The latest poll released by Hillel found that 61 percent of college students surveyed said there was antisemitic, threatening, or derogatory language directed toward Jews during the recent wave of anti-Israel campus protests. Of respondents from schools with encampment protests, 7 percent said they had been physically assaulted, and 17 percent said they had been verbally assaulted. 30 percent said the demonstrations have made them scared to attend classes or be on campus. And more than half (51 percent) said the protests had disrupted their ability to attend class.

Auditing SJP. Sixteen US Senators signed a letter to the IRS Commissioner last week asking for an investigation into the tax-exempt status of organizations supporting Students for Justice in Palestine. They cite ADL research that documented how these organizations “explicitly endorsed the actions of Hamas” after October 7.

MORE: Read ADL’s backgrounder on SJP.

Grey Lady Shines. There’s been much to criticize the New York Times for lately, but on Saturday, the paper ran an editorial arguing that the lack of enforcement of campus rules around protests has made the situation worse: “During the current demonstrations, a lack of accountability has helped produce a crisis.”

SC Strong. The Hillel at the University of Southern California hosted a graduation event for Jewish students and their families after USC canceled the main-stage commencement ceremony. One graduate told the Los Angeles Times: “A lot of people have been trying to take these joyful moments away from us. We get to come together as a community in a safe environment, in a healing environment — something the university wasn’t able to provide.” Mazel tov, class of 2024!

Heard on the Hill. Watch ADL DC Regional Director Meredith Weisel on Fox 5’s “On the Hill:” “We are seeing it [the rise in antisemitism] on our campuses, you just heard a GW student talk about it. There is a hatred coming from a couple of different directions. Certainly, since October 7th, we have seen this tremendous increase in not just criticism of the Israeli government, which is perfectly okay, but conflating it to Jews worldwide.”

Birthright. 9,000 18- to 26-year-olds across North America will participate in Birthright’s 10-day Israel trips this summer. While it is one-quarter less than last year’s numbers, it is in striking contrast to other trips which are expecting dips of 90 percent. Marlene Volovitz, a student at the University of Miami, said: “My thought process of choosing now to go is that this is a moment where Israel needs support. So there’s no better time to go than right now.”

Older than the Country. Lighting a torch at Israel Independence Day festivities representing “victory of the spirit,” 95-year-old Ezra Yachin, the oldest active-duty reservist in the Israeli army, said that he is celebrating the “spirit of heroism” that has marked Jews “from generation to generation” reminding us that “the people of Israel are eternal.”

Our Theme Song. Spotted at the terminal in Ben Gurion Airport, the Ori Beery Band and Shlomo Lipman playing a song about this section of this very newsletter. Listen here.

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Preceding provided by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)