Since the October 7th Hamas terror attack in Israel, Jewish students at many American universities report feeling unwelcome on campus. The behavior of supporters of the atrocities is beyond reprehensible. Those who urge harm to Jewish students are pure evil.
At some of the elite schools such as Yale, Harvard, and Columbia, students report not just feeling unwelcome, but unsafe. Some Ivy League college presidents have studiously ignored the antisemitism that has been percolating on campus for years. Some continue to ignore it. At this moment, about 800 Columbia University students brimming with antisemitic rage are camped in tents on university grounds. They’ve taken over the university, they claim.
Where are the voices of reason? Where are the voices urging caution against this despicable behavior? Barack Obama, the most prominent living Columbia alumnus, has been noticeably silent. His silence speaks volumes.
The heightened challenges Jewish students are facing on some college campuses is just six months old. But unwelcome, threatening, or even dangerous climates have been present on many college campuses for the past three decades or so. Just ask any conservative student group.
A decade ago, I championed the case of a pair of University of Hawaii at Hilo students who were punished by school administrators. They were participating in a university-sponsored event in manning table displays in the campus plaza to promote their clubs. Like other clubs, they were handing out literature and pamphlets. Except their sin was giving away free copies of pocket Constitutions, courtesy of their organization, Young Americans for Liberty. The pair told me in a telephone call their participation was hobbled from the get-go. Their school-assigned table location was in a remote corner of the plaza away from the other clubs.
Right-leaning figures invited on campus to speak have been the target of progressive students, faculty and staff for years. Governor Glenn Younkin faced disruption last year when he delivered the commencement speech at state-funded George Mason University. Also last year, Princeton academic Dr. Robert George was shouted down causing him to cancel his remarks on the topic of “freedom of expression” at Washington College. And Students for Life America president Kristan Hawkins had her remarks cut short at Virginia Commonwealth due to student protests.
Stephen Davis had his event canceled at UC Davis in 2022. Just two hours south from UC Davis on I-80, U.S. Circuit Court Judge Kyle Duncan was screamed at by Stanford Law School students. Just think, an appeals court judge faced screaming from law school students. The same year, Dartmouth & Princeton canceled conservative speaking events.
Constitutional law professor Josh Blackman had his 2017 City University of New York law school speaking engagement canceled when students continually shouted obscenities at him. Law school dean Mary Lu Bilek backed the students’ disruption claiming “limited protest was a reasonable exercise of protected free speech.” Pundit Ben Shapiro fulfilled his speaking obligation the same year although Stanford University officials estimated it cost nearly $600,000 in additional security measures to ensure his safety.
It's not just sign waving and screamfests. Tossing food at disfavored speakers became the rage in early aughts. In a span of a several months, William Kristol and David Horowitz were struck by pies, Ann Coulter managed to duck the pies thrown at her, and Pat Buchanan was doused with salad dressing.
Sometimes the assault gets a lot more physical. Collegiate swimmer and female athlete advocate Riley Gaines was physically struck several times at a San Francisco State University appearance last year. She was forced to barricade in an office with San Francisco police officers before she could safely exit the campus hours later.
Listing examples of conservatives being screamed at, threatened and assaulted on campus is like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s simply too easy. The point is made with these examples.
The question Jewish students might ask themselves is where were they when this was happening? Were they part of the melee? Supporters of the perpetrators? Silent critics of the assaults? Did they defend the right of conservatives to appear on campus without facing threats? It’s no secret many of the groups and entities involved in disrupting conservative events are often those supported by the Jewish community. Without making this cartoonish or understating the horror of the Holocaust, one wonders if the words of the German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller have relevance today.
When the situation returns to normal -- and by normal, I mean at least pre-October 7th -- will all student groups work to return civility to college campuses? Will they step forward to ensure everyone – and not just progressive students, groups, and causes – but everyone feels welcome on school grounds?
Mark Hyman is an Emmy award-winning investigative journalist. Follow him on Twitter, Gettr, Parler, Post, and Mastodon.world at @markhyman, and on Truth Social at @markhyman81.
His books Washington Babylon: From George Washington to Donald Trump, Scandals That Rocked the Nation and Pardongate: How Bill and Hillary Clinton and their Brothers Profited from Pardons are on sale now (here and here).