Recent Acts of Discrimination and Petition on U.S. College Campuses

By: Colleen Nakhooda

In the wake of recent current events regarding the Israel versus Hamas War, there has been an exponential rise in protests, acts of violence, public acts of hateful discrimination, and an outcry for college boards in the United States to listen to their student’s voices and beliefs. As the weeks have gone by, it has become increasingly more difficult for colleges to provide a safe environment for all students while still providing support for the members and participants of these mass protests.

There has been an increase in antisemitism and acts of violence towards Jewish students and citizens in the United States. At Cooper Union in early October, Taylor Roslyn Lent told the Washington Post that she had witnessed a group of Jewish students being the target of an anti-Jew rally in which participants were banging on the windows where the students were working and had to be escorted out a back door to ensure their safety. She said, “I felt hated for my Jewish identity, there’s definitely a big difference between a pro-Palestine-anti-Israel rally and an anti-Jewish rally. And the more the day went on, the more it felt like an anti-Jewish rally.” This is only one of over 800 acts of anti-semitism that have resulted in the midst of the conflict. In addition, there has been an increase in Nazism as well as antisemitism, as the Nazi War Symbol, as well as pro hamas phrases, were broadcasted onto the sides of buildings at George Washington University last month, in addition to signs and posters of kidnapped hostages in Israel being vandalized or ripped down around the campus. At Tulane University, a protest turned violent as a Jewish student Dylan Mann was beaten and left with a broken nose.

At Columbia University in New York City, the university barred two groups from being able to protest until the end of this semester, leading to a walkout with students, and faculty members. The two student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, were joined by 200 faculty members who did not participate in order to show support for a particular side of the movement, but instead to protest on behalf of the student’s right to speech and petition that they should be granted by the university. The university claimed that the groups were having “unauthorized” events that encouraged intimidation and threats. Both groups fired back with an Instagram post saying that this “selective censorship” of a pro-Palestinian protest effort just continues to add to the campaign against Palestinians and encourages an increase in Islamophobia. In addition, a student at the University of Connecticut expressed her and her classmates' fears about being a Muslim student on campus. She said, “Muslim students are also worried about being identified.” As the Muslim Student Association President, Mueeb Syed expressed the concerns of her female peers who wear hijabs and said that they even have to wear hoodies when walking around by themselves on campus. Many students are becoming horrified by the acts of antisemitism and Islamophobia, no matter what side of the movement they may support or identify with.

Each of the university’s responses to an outcry for freedom of speech and petition but also the failure of universities to prevent antisemitism and Islamophobia from continuing on their campuses is a telling representation of United States colleges today. As an upcoming graduating senior in high school this year, I do wonder what these protests and college responses will be like in the future, and if the colleges will have figured out how to handle them correctly by then.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/10/31/antisemitism-college-campuses-jewish-hamas-gaza/

https://gottheimer.house.gov/posts/release-gottheimer-calls-on-george-washington-university-president-to-condemn-hamas-terrorists-and-take-action-against-pro-hamas-antisemitic-groups

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/nyregion/universities-antisemitic-anti-muslim-investigation.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jewish-muslim-students-university-connecticut-want-to-feel-safe-rcna125697

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/25/business/columbia-postpones-major-fundraiser-amid-tensions-over-israel-hamas-war/index.html