The chapter of American university life in 2023/24 is already written – academic leadership was not equipped nor willing to stand up against antisemitism on campus. In one academic year, we witnessed cowardly administrators, fired presidents, the berating, bullying, and assaulting of Jewish students. Outside agitators and extremist groups were allowed to destroy campus sovereignty. Student groups appeased the murder and rape of Israeli civilians. Jewish students were under attack. Simply, universities overwhelmingly failed to protect their Jewish students.
The question remains, has university leadership learned anything from last year? And as the 2024/25 school year begins, will they choose a different path? Recent news about the Columbia Taskforce on antisemitism which reported extreme discrimination against Jews looks like an auspicious beginning to the year.
Here are three reasons why universities must act firmly, courageously, and consistently to rebuild flailing academic institutions:
- Campus leadership must stop allowing a loud, misinformed, angry minority and outside instigators to overtake campus life
The protests, encampments, and demonstrations are not representative of the views of the majority of college students. Allowing a loud minority, which often includes non-students and paid agitators, to disrupt campus culture is immoral and wasteful. The social, political, and real capital required to manage and control these activists, protests, and riots is unsustainable.
Yet, throughout last year, administrators appeased and even encouraged bad actors, allowing them to maintain their disruptive presence on campus. These are learning institutions, not playgrounds to cosplay as revolutionaries. And campus leadership should make that point firmly.
Academic life in America used to consist of debating Plato and exploring biology and economics. Today, universities are saturated with students who seek confrontation for ‘likes’ on social media and outsiders with extremists’ agendas. The agitators have zero impact on any of the policies they claim to care about. What do they affect? Students’ emotional and physical wellbeing, and their literal ability to get to class as well as the public’s perception about the high education institutions that allow this mayhem.
2. Universities must reclaim the “American” in their founding charters
Protestors spew anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment, and they are hell bent on rewriting Western history and placing American history is on the chopping block. Countless faculty and students feverishly follow a toxic, regressive neo-Marxist ideology. It sees the United States, western countries, and Israel as white supremacists, nationalistic, colonizers and seek to dismantle the Western world order.
Followers of this ideology have no interest in the truth. They consistently seek information and opinions to reaffirm their pre-existing views and political goals. This is antithetical to liberal academic values. And they vehemently oppose freedom of speech and reject the open exchange of ideas and viewpoints, vital facets of democracy. They are merely laser-focused on how one version of history helps them in the present and future. They are not interested in learning history or grasping complexity. And their toxic views motivate actions, as they unabashedly burn American flags alongside Israeli ones.
University leadership must recognize – this ideology is not only a threat to Jews, but a threat to all Americans and to the fundamentals of the American way of life.
3. Universities must reinforce their sovereignty
Foreign actors use the current moment to sow discord and chaos on our American universities and beyond. The external funding of groups frequently disrupting campus has already been raised into question. Organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Codepink take advantage of lax campus policies to infect campus life. These organizations and the propaganda machines out of Tehran and Doha are intent on harming America. They do so by sowing seeds of unrest and division in our vital institutions, as well as in the media and social media. Administrators must use their platforms to educate students about the dangers of social media and about the importance of independent journalism. Administrators must also reassert themselves as the gatekeepers to truth. They can only do so when they reject the anti-Western propaganda so many of their students embrace.
These protestors’ real agenda is to undermine American institutional life and in the 2023-2024, they succeeded. Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UPenn, UCLA, and countless others paid a heavy price. They failed to protect their students and for doing so, they were rightfully shamed in the public arena. If other institutions want to avoid the same fate, they must tactfully and strategically weed out the antisemitism and anti-Americanism in their midst.
This academic year is a great opportunity for American universities to reclaim their institutional gravitas. In words and actions, university leadership must boldly protect their Jewish students.
If they write the wrongs of the past year, stand firm in reasserting their place as the citadels of American education, the history books will be kinder. And Jews and all Americans will benefit.
Presidents, administrators, teachers, and students must decide – will they continue to contribute to the obsolescence of the American university throughout appeasement of outside forces and radical students? Or will they rebuild American academic life?
Sometimes, things must get worse to get better. Let’s hope last year on college campus was the worst it could get.
This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Diana Krief and Andria Spindel.