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Antisemitism Is a Problem in Academia. Quitting Is Not the Solution. – The Dispatch
Professors are in the position to help students mitigate what can be a cruel campus environment.
In 2021, a Jewish professor at Linfield University complained that the school’s president had made antisemitic comments—allegedly joking about gas chambers and the size of Jewish noses—and yet he was the who one who got fired. Another Jewish professor is waiting for the City University of New York to respond to an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that substantiated his claims of antisemitism at the school’s Kingsborough campus. In March, Duke University’s student government voted to fund a speech by Palestinian author Mohammed El-Kurd, who went on to mock Jewish students and said “We want our land back from the river to the sea.” There are numerous other examples.
Antisemitism on campus is not new or rare. I know this firsthand, as it is alive and well at Sarah Lawrence, despite a large Jewish population in the college community near New York City. As an outwardly observant Jew who celebrates Jewish festivals and traditions and also publicly supports Israel even when I deeply disagree with its government, I find faculty colleagues feel comfortable attacking Israel and me without worry.
My professorial peers habitually make deeply insensitive and inappropriate remarks to me and regularly assert that Israel is an illegitimate, genocidal, and apartheid state. I have found Nazi imagery on my office door over the years and have been told to make no real issue of it. Jewish students have felt such pressure from peers, administrators, and faculty on campus that they have met with officials from the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to ask about their options and seek help to mitigate and improve the cruel campus environment. Numerous incidents remain known to students but go unreported and unanswered. One documented example occurred in the fall of 2015 when a Jewish student leader was afraid to come to the physical campus, “after inviting an Israeli soldier to speak … she’d become the subject of virulent Facebook posts, angry email chains, and threatening stares and whispers.” So many Jewish students live in fear and silence and regularly censor themselves because of this hatred and vitrol.
Thus I was not shocked when I read former UCLA anthropology professor Joseph Manson’s recent account of his experiences dealing with antisemitism and woke politics and his general observation that “also typical of elite U.S. universities, UCLA is awash in Jew-hatred thinly disguised as anti-Zionism.”
Regrettably, as a direct result of this oppressive environment, Manson opted to retire, stating, “I can’t bear to spend one more moment in a place that’s morally and intellectually bankrupt.” I have never had any interactions with Manson, and I cannot fully understand his frustrations and worries with UCLA and its future. However, I wish that he had not resigned as, by his admission, he had more years in which he could have served as a professor. Academia needs tenured faculty who not only believe that higher education will regain some sanity by resisting the DEI machine but who can also continue to serve as role models for the thousands of undergraduate students who form the heart and soul of our institutions of higher education. Manson walked away.
Notably, any discussion of undergraduates was missing in Manson’s piece. UCLA not only has a huge undergraduate population of close to 32,000 students but is also a flagship global university where norms and ideas have a significant impact. While Manson may have been uncomfortable, he could have at least remained a force to resist antisemitism and promoted his own and appropriate academic and personal goals of being a “believer in rational inquiry (not Scientism) and freedom of speech.”
In my situation, the highest level of administrators and the college president made clear to me that I may want to find employment elsewhere and that many would rather I no longer be on campus. But I have tenure and academic freedom; it is a sacred privilege to be a professor; and I love teaching, my students, and the innovative liberal arts curriculum that we have at Sarah Lawrence College. I promote viewpoint diversity and discourse and being able to be openly Jewish has backstopped scores of students who now feel far more comfortable pushing back on the antisemitic zeitgeist. While I will never have a complete picture, I know that I have made many feel safer and more willing to question and express themselves. This is hopefully making a difference and I know that many other faculty nationwide could do the same for their students and in their communities; so exiting strikes me as a suboptimal option.
Moreover, I firmly disagree with Manson’s statement that he strongly suspects “that mainstream U.S. higher education is beyond the point of self-repair, and therefore no longer a worthwhile setting for the intellectually curious.” Not only have scores of groups mobilized to protect intellectual freedom and open inquiry at faculty and student levels, but in my teaching and lecturing around the country, I have found that Gen Z students today are far more open and curious than their older millennial counterparts. Many reject cancel culture and want to hear a diversity of views; they want to make up their own minds and are searching for voices that are meaningful to them. Recent Harvard survey data looking at the collegiate student landscape today, students on campus today are not all left-of-center, despite the presence of progressives who agitate and make far too much noise. The Harvard data is in line with many other surveys and reveals that nearly a third (32 percent) of college students identify as liberal while another 21 percent claim to be conservative. Add to the story that a plurality of students are actually in the middle, with 46 percent stating that they are moderate, college students are hardly overwhelmingly liberal and thus not lost to the progressive impulses dominant among many faculty and administrators.
Beyond ideology, Manson is wrong about undergraduate student’s curiosity and openness. His own institution’s Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) has documented that students have shown an increasing amount of openness to the marketplace of ideas. For instance, when queried about their “openness to having one’s own views challenged,” 67 percent of a national sample of college students responded that being open to having their views challenged was an asset of theirs. This is up from 63 percent in 2013 when this question was first asked and while not a huge increase, the 2019 data shows that two-thirds of first-year students are open to being probed about their ideas and beliefs.
Similarly, when asked about being tolerant of others with different beliefs, 81 percent saw this as a virtue and these values have not shifted over time. As such, it should be no surprise that 87 percent maintain that they have the ability to cooperate and work well with a diverse group of people. This has grown from 85 percent in 2013. Finally, 69 percent assert that they have the ability to discuss and negotiate controversial issues on campuses and this is almost identical to the 2013 figure. In each case, large majorities of students are open to viewpoint diversity, which suggests that despite the polarization of the political system and so much attention paid to educational life on campus today, our nation’s students are not nearly as extreme and anti-intellectual as widely believed. Professors should be thrilled.
At the same time, antisemitism is rampant on campuses nationwide. This toxicity flows from a small number of very vocal, well-organized, media savvy students propped up by a legion of outside activist organizations, often ignorant social justice influenced campus administrators and so called “scholar-activist” professors and graduate students and many undergraduates are struggling. Professors should be focused on helping and defending the besieged students. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression recently found that 64 percent of Jewish students report that it is difficult for them to have an open and honest conversation about Israel on campus today; this is more than twice the national figure of just 29 percent. While my presence as both a mentor and writer pushing back on these dangerous currents may have limited impact, I know that many students have benefited from my efforts and that gives me real comfort. I may not be able to fully stop anti-Jewish thought and hatred, but I can certainly blunt it on occasion and perhaps change minds. While walking away from this battle in higher education is a path that some may choose and I wish them no ill, I do hope that most run into the fight; Jewish continuity, free expression, and open inquiry all depend on those of us who can stand up to do just that at this critical juncture.
Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Why is it strange that college students side with who they perceive to be the underdog in the struggle? And before you demand the students to divert their outrage to the disaster unfolding in Yemen, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Iran, Venezuela, or wherever else but Israel, consider where the undivided attention of the ruling class of this nation goes. The Congress, President, and all the powerful people in D.C. including the press magically come together in lockstop in Israel’s defense, turn a blind eye to any of Israel’s shortcomings, and ignore the people who have legitimate grievance due to Israel’s policies and deeds.
Do you expect under this situation the students – yes, COLLEGE STUDENTS – to agree wholeheartedly with the prevailing wisdom in D.C.? Seriously? It would be regrettable if that were the case. I would expect students, in their youth and intellectual curiosity, to view prevailing wisdom with suspicion and critical mindset.
On the other hand, if you want to win the hearts and minds of the college students, I have a piece of advice for you: Try making the powerful (such as the U.S. government) your enemy. That may not guarantee their sympathy but that will count as plus.
This is in response to the author’s claims about antisemitism and college atmosphere. I have no patience for Hamas or any other terrorist organization and fully support Israel’s effor to eradicate them. But I also have no sympathy to certain U.S. Jews who are upset that they are not the favored victim of the college students when they have the entire U.S. government backing them at every turn.
I did not realize that this article was written in.. 2022. I should check the date of the articles before commenting from here on.
There is this case: Steven Salaita, an American professor born to Jordanian parents, who was un-hired by the University of Illinois in the 2010s following a campaign by pro-Israel students, faculty and donors who contended that his tweets protesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza were antisemitic.
His tweets crossed the line for an academic but he had resigned a tenured position to take this job and was never able to secure another academic appt.
Criticizing Israel doesn’t make one antisemitic. Can remember Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, questioning why he was sent into war to help secure American and Israeli security as Paul Wolfowitz explained. She was simply pointing out Israel is a foreign country before being branded an antisemite.
That distinction needs to be observed. It is not difficult to find antisemitism sometimes from people like Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, who claims to be a strong supporter of Israel.
This comment has been deleted
So, I’d like to point out the absence of any examples of antisemitism coming from the alt-right. Sadly, it’s something that’s “bipartisan” in that there are antisemites on both right and left. Also, I’m very pro-Israel but there are good faith arguments about Israel and not all hostility to Israel is antisemitism (there are Jews who don’t like Israel’s policies!).
Otherwise, I largely agree. Quitting isn’t the answer. It’s important for professors to stand up to antisemitic hate, especially to provide cover for students who feel marginalized.
As a Conservative-movement affiliated American Jew, I agree with you that this is a battleground and walking away is not the solution. But equally, as the grandchild of German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who were devoted Zionists, I am wary of statements like “…regularly assert that Israel is an illegitimate, genocidal, and apartheid state.” It isn’t that I think people do not do this; indeed, I know they do. But in arguing about it, lumping all those things together causes its own problems. For example, I believe in Israel’s legitimacy, and I think the claim that it is genocidal is ludicrous by any definition. But I absolutely think it is an apartheid state, that treats Arab Israelis with disdain and actively segregates itself from (and restricts the movement of) Palestinians.
To put it differently: I reject the idea that any anti-Israel statement is inherently anti-Semitic. And I think American Jews on higher ed campuses would be a better position defending against anti-Semitism if they were more willing to admit Israel’s very real failings.
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Why is it strange that college students side with who they perceive to be the underdog in the struggle? And before you demand the students to divert their outrage to the disaster unfolding in Yemen, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Iran, Venezuela, or wherever else but Israel, consider where the undivided attention of the ruling class of this nation goes. The Congress, President, and all the powerful people in D.C. including the press magically come together in lockstop in Israel’s defense, turn a blind eye to any of Israel’s shortcomings, and ignore the people who have legitimate grievance due to Israel’s policies and deeds.
Do you expect under this situation the students – yes, COLLEGE STUDENTS – to agree wholeheartedly with the prevailing wisdom in D.C.? Seriously? It would be regrettable if that were the case. I would expect students, in their youth and intellectual curiosity, to view prevailing wisdom with suspicion and critical mindset.
On the other hand, if you want to win the hearts and minds of the college students, I have a piece of advice for you: Try making the powerful (such as the U.S. government) your enemy. That may not guarantee their sympathy but that will count as plus.
This is in response to the author’s claims about antisemitism and college atmosphere. I have no patience for Hamas or any other terrorist organization and fully support Israel’s effor to eradicate them. But I also have no sympathy to certain U.S. Jews who are upset that they are not the favored victim of the college students when they have the entire U.S. government backing them at every turn.
I did not realize that this article was written in.. 2022. I should check the date of the articles before commenting from here on.
There is this case: Steven Salaita, an American professor born to Jordanian parents, who was un-hired by the University of Illinois in the 2010s following a campaign by pro-Israel students, faculty and donors who contended that his tweets protesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza were antisemitic.
His tweets crossed the line for an academic but he had resigned a tenured position to take this job and was never able to secure another academic appt.
Criticizing Israel doesn’t make one antisemitic. Can remember Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, questioning why he was sent into war to help secure American and Israeli security as Paul Wolfowitz explained. She was simply pointing out Israel is a foreign country before being branded an antisemite.
That distinction needs to be observed. It is not difficult to find antisemitism sometimes from people like Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, who claims to be a strong supporter of Israel.
This comment has been deleted
So, I’d like to point out the absence of any examples of antisemitism coming from the alt-right. Sadly, it’s something that’s “bipartisan” in that there are antisemites on both right and left. Also, I’m very pro-Israel but there are good faith arguments about Israel and not all hostility to Israel is antisemitism (there are Jews who don’t like Israel’s policies!).
Otherwise, I largely agree. Quitting isn’t the answer. It’s important for professors to stand up to antisemitic hate, especially to provide cover for students who feel marginalized.
As a Conservative-movement affiliated American Jew, I agree with you that this is a battleground and walking away is not the solution. But equally, as the grandchild of German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who were devoted Zionists, I am wary of statements like “…regularly assert that Israel is an illegitimate, genocidal, and apartheid state.” It isn’t that I think people do not do this; indeed, I know they do. But in arguing about it, lumping all those things together causes its own problems. For example, I believe in Israel’s legitimacy, and I think the claim that it is genocidal is ludicrous by any definition. But I absolutely think it is an apartheid state, that treats Arab Israelis with disdain and actively segregates itself from (and restricts the movement of) Palestinians.
To put it differently: I reject the idea that any anti-Israel statement is inherently anti-Semitic. And I think American Jews on higher ed campuses would be a better position defending against anti-Semitism if they were more willing to admit Israel’s very real failings.
