In a similar vein, some Jewish students recently published an op-ed in the student paper stating they found Princeton’s campus to be anti-semitic now. The (Jewish) president of the school, the Hillel rabbi, and many Jewish students disagreed. I do not doubt the sincerity of either subjective perspective on campus atmosphere
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They sure have.
"…As current and former Princetonians, we are horrified to see this hate infiltrating our campus, and we are disturbed by the University’s silence — especially in light of its timely condemnations of other forms of racism and hatred.
Our concerns stem from multiple videos circulating on social media and from numerous undergraduates who have described the on-campus environment.
In two recent rallies on Oct. 25 and Nov. 9, Jewish students report being told by protestors “you are committing genocide.” Holding Jewish people collectively responsible for Israel’s perceived injustices is antisemitic, according to the definition of antisemitism embraced by the United States.
Other Jewish students attempting to record the rallies have been followed, harassed, and physically stepped on, i.e. assaulted, by protestors. This behavior likely violates the University’s Rights, Rules and Responsibilities.
Protestors repeatedly called for “Intifada.” Despite its etymology, this word is unforgettably associated with years-long periods of bloody terror attacks, formally called the First and Second Intifadas. Protestors chanted explicitly for Intifada “from Princeton to Gaza,” which is easily understood as a call to violence on our campus. Among the most chilling chants was “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!” This phrasing echoes Hitler’s Final Solution, which was a plan to systematically annihilate Europe’s Jews. Protected or not, this speech is egregiously hateful and threatening to Jews on campus…"
Over 1,800 signatures.
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Here’s another great one.
"…For universities that have publicly strayed from the bounds of nonsectarian impartiality in favor of ideological bias and moralizing partisanship in the past, feigned neutrality or a selective reluctance to speak out now is totally unacceptable and reeks of an underlying moral and ethical rot. To be sure, if Hamas’s terrorist attacks did in fact provide the right conditions for some universities to debut official policies of institutional neutrality, the policy shift itself is welcome (even if the circumstances are suspect). But any university that bills itself as “institutionally neutral” post-Oct. 7 ought to announce its conversion publicly and forthrightly — while apologizing for past partisan misbehavior, outlining in clear terms the rules it will abide by in the future (e.g. the Kalven Report), and committing to disassemble the non-neutral policies and instruments used to enforce ideological orthodoxy on campus. Anything less would be a grave ethical dereliction and would represent a failure to live up to the stringent demands of comprehensive institutional neutrality.
If, however, it is true that hypocrisy and ideological double-standards have triumphed over consistency and impartiality in universities’ decisions to speak out on controversial issues, they deserve all of the public criticism and pushback that they get. A university that professes to be nonsectarian — while at the same time being ideologically biased in its rhetoric and behavior — is lying to its faculty and students. And lying, like the grave evil of Jew-hatred, is a wicked thing indeed."
Took my time to keep counting to ten for two days, to avoid me posting earlier resulting in (more) headaches for moderators.
The Ramallah Friends School, a private school in the West Bank, said in a Facebook that all three men had been students there.
They are now juniors in college. Mr. Awartani studies at Brown University, Mr. Abdalhamid at Haverford College in Pennsylvania and Mr. Ahmed at Trinity College in Connecticut.
Actual serious physical injury, suffered by students (2 American, 1 legal resident), for no other reason but their Arabic language and national color; incidentally near the UVT campus (who knows whether campus proximity might have been relevant to the shooter.)
Oddly, I haven’t seen strong university and organizational statements condemning such deathly violence, that is even remotely proportional to weeks of high-profile reactions to groups of students having felt uncomfortable or unwelcome, due to protests.
The highly polarized and accusatory reporting of student protests, sometimes intentionally omitting or misrepresenting crucial details, was bound to eventually find fertile ground. (Also haven’t seen those familiar news-baiting, loud-mouth donors rush to express their outrage or offer to redirect the funds they are saving to these three shooting victims?)
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Yes, @vulcan, and more than 2000 others, including the current rabbi, refused to sign it. I am guessing those on campus, like current students and the rabbi, likely have a better understanding of campus atmosphere than alumni. No doubt the Hillel rabbi has also been accused of being anti-semitic by some; he is not fazed by such things.
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But are the accounts of the letter’s signatories (that include many current students, btw) of their fellow students chanting genocidal slogans factually inaccurate?
Not according to the aforementioned Hillel rabbi:
“I often hear them tell me that it isn’t easy hearing their peers shout ‘From the River to the Sea…’ or calls for an Intifada.”
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You can ask him directly; I am not on campus. I expect he has some basis for praising the “respectful productive dialogue” on campus which he notes is " much beter than most".
As I said upthread, there will always be various subjective opinions on campus atmosphere.
Of course, some will make accusations of bigotry against anyone who disagrees with them, as even that campus rabbi has experienced, sadly.
Interesting. Can you point me to the source for this?
As I have said repeatedly, I am not on campus, and will not further engage in such discussion of subjective campus atmosphere. The email addresses of all school chaplains are publicly available to you. No doubt if you contact 100 people you will get 100 opinions on campus atmosphere, there or anywhere. Reasonable people can have different opinions, as I have noted. Some do not accept that.
In related news, Brown University was the site of a vigil for its student shot in the apparent hate crime.
You said that “some will make accusations of bigotry against anyone who disagrees with them, as even that campus rabbi has experienced, sadly”.
I am honestly interested in learning more, is there somewhere I can read about Princeton Hillel rabbi being accused of antisemitism?
Apparently the Brown vigil was eventful…
Yes, I’m surprised too.
Violence against innocent victims is never acceptable.
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Harvard, Penn, MIT Presidents Called Before Congress on Antisemitism
(Bloomberg) – The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be called before Congress next week to address antisemitism on their campuses.
Set to appear Tuesday on Capitol Hill are Harvard’s Claudine Gay, Penn’s Liz Magill and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth, according to a statement from the House Education and Workforce Committee.
College campuses have been roiled by protests and tensions since Hamas, which the US and European Union designate a terrorist group, attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Alumni, donors and students have criticized leadership at Harvard, Penn and other colleges over incidents of antisemitism on campus.
“Over the past several weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses,” Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the committee, said in a statement. “Meanwhile, college administrators have largely stood by, allowing horrific rhetoric to fester and grow.”
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Text of the lawsuit filed against UCB for failing to protect Jewish students. Lots of legal rambling, but a few interesting tidbits, many of which predate Oct 7, including accusations of pre-conditions that exclude those with Zionist views from joining clubs or being a guest speaker for a club.
Oddly styled, by an organization on behalf of its members who include 15 specified but anonymous law professors and lawyers who would like to be invited to speak to the exclusionary law student groups but can not be currently due to those groups’ policies, and some unspecified students who are presumably, (but never explicitly stated to be), currently enrolled at Berkeley law and perhaps interested in joining those exclusionary law student groups? Expect challenges to standing.
The normal way to do this is to file on behalf of Jane Smith ( or whomever), a current Berkeley law student otherwise qualified in all respects to join these clubs and who did so attempt to join but who was turned down based solely upon her failure to accept the BDS principles, or whatever. Still likely not a winner, but at least standing would be clear.
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Given the context, moderately so.
It’s telling.
Even this thread, as a “microcosm” of this country, will over the course of 700+ messages minutely disect the semantics of how to best describe students’ anxieties and hurt feelings/expectations at U.S. colleges – but actual victims, one of whom might never be able to walk again, are merely a footnote.
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This thread doesn’t remotely represent the feelings of my neighbors, college student acquaintances, or even the people under 30 who I know. I found that true for CC generally, but far more extreme on this topic than on any other topic I have ever seen on CC, where the divergence is telling.
Fortunately, I think CC is far from a microcosm of the country.
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Sad 
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Whether or not the fact that, according to the October Harvard/Harris poll, half of all young people (and almost certainly more than that on many college campuses) think that Hamas killing of scores of Israeli civilians can be justified by the grievances of Palestinians, is a fortunate one, is something on which we will have to agree to disagree.
I doubt very many people you know (or here on CC) think that the shooting of the three Palestinian students can have any justification.
But the moderators made it very clear that this thread is to be free of politics, and is to focus on events on college campuses, and while the victims themselves are students, the attack happened off-campus, and the perpetrator seems to be in no way connected to any of the schools they attend - or, the best I can tell from his mugshot, thankfully, and hopefully, to the Jewish community.
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The posts about the Princeton staff member physically attacking a Princeton student at an off-campus protest were allowed on this thread; I don’t see how this is different.
Moreover, this incident has major repercussions on at least 3 college campuses.