Safeguards on campuses failing Jewish students, staff

In the 20 years since diversity, equity and inclusion principles found their footing in American universities, the framework has infused itself into nearly all aspects of student life and academics. Yet with the rising wave of pro-Hamas sentiments on campuses, heated classroom debates and the startlingly tepid reactions to the chilling assault on Israel, we’re confronted with a jarring paradox: Are Jewish students excluded from the spirit and safeguards of DEI?

Reports from campuses across the nation suggest so.

And as campus leaders from vastly different backgrounds, we are dismayed.

Immediately after Hamas’ initial attack, administrators at Harvard University fumbled their response to a statement signed by more than 30 student organizations stating they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” Meanwhile, student groups at the University of Texas at Dallas scrawled “Zionism=Nazism” on rocks at a popular campus spot. Other examples abound.

The inability of campus leaders to clearly communicate solidarity and support for a fellow democracy under terrorist attack speaks to a moral and intellectual poverty that must be addressed if higher education is to reclaim its educational mission to develop and prepare tomorrow’s

leaders and citizens to further democracy.

That is the macro concern before us. The more immediate concern is the well-being of Jewish students, faculty and staff on campus.

At Stanford University, an instructor was suspended after singling out, humiliating and insulting Jewish students during a classroom lecture, calling them “colonizers.” Students at California State University in Long Beach decorated their pro-Palestinian protest flyers with sickening images of paragliding terrorists.

An array of offices on American campuses were created to combat such behavior and support students. This remains true even in states such as Texas,

where DEI efforts have been formally prohibited but officials expect they will be “repackaged and relabeled” to meet the same goals. But those efforts have been muted in recent days, leaving Jewish communities on campuses isolated and seemingly alone.

We urge administrators to educate themselves (quickly) on the reality for Jews on campus.

• They need to recognize the many faces of antisemitism. What was clear during the tiki torch march in Charlottesville, Va., should also be clear on campus when student protesters dog-whistle, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This phrase has long been a rallying cry for the destruction of the Jewish state and the removal

of Jewish people from the land.

• DEI and student life officers must understand that for most Jewish Americans, support for Israel reflects an integral component of their Jewish identity. This should be a no-brainer for campus offices, where multiculturalism and complex personal and national identities are widely understood and embraced.

• The Israel-Gaza war is not a test case for neutrality. Over the past few years, campus leaders have volunteered to speak on subjects from police brutality and mass shootings to transphobia and #MeToo. Failing to speak out against the nihilism of Hamas — including rape, torture, kidnapping and child abuse — should be unfathomable. Yes, the campus is a space where people can disagree about important issues, but some things are morally clear.

• Campus leaders must understand there is no contradiction between combating hate and condemning terrorism, and upholding academic freedom. By utilizing the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s working definition of antisemitism and defining what constitutes a “hostile environment,” campuses enable spaces where Jewish students are supported even as Israel’s actions are critically analyzed.

Ultimately, this moment should be about unity, as evidenced in our own small way by coming together to support Jewish well-being and challenge our fellow academicians.

One of us is Jewish from an academic background; the other is Hispanic and Catholic, and served as a state legislator and congressman. One advises the president of Brandeis University in New England; the other was president of Sul Ross State University, near the Texas-Mexico border.

We have spent our lives responding in different ways to discrimination and misinformation as we seek to support the stories of our people. We also understand our obligations to universal principles. That’s why we are telling our colleagues that fighting antisemitism must be ingrained into DEI and student support if those efforts are to remain meaningful and relevant.

Pete Gallego is the president emeritus of Sul Ross State University, and a former Texas legislator and U.S. representative. Rachel Fish is special adviser to the president at Brandeis University and co-founder of Boundless, which supports Israel education and combats hatred of Jews.

Michael Liedtke/Associated Press Students at the University of California, Berkeley protest Israeli actions in its war with Hamas. While campuses should encourage diverse viewpoints, college administrators are failing to react to a dangerous rise in antisemitism.