In a shift from previous responses to anti-Israel protests on campus, several college presidents and leaders are taking a firmer stance against disruptive demonstrations that have been viewed as antisemitic. In recent days, at least three colleges have expelled, warned, or suspended students for their involvement in these protests, according to a Fox News Digital investigation.
Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr issued a stern warning to students on Friday, stating, "Any participants in today's events... who turn out to be Pomona students, are subject to immediate suspension. Students from the other Claremont Colleges will be banned from Pomona's campus and subject to discipline on their own campuses." The warning came after an estimated 150 people and students protested outside Starr's office in a campus administrative building, storming the building and refusing to leave over the removal of a pro-Palestinian "mock apartheid wall" on campus. At least 20 people were arrested, and several students reportedly used a "sickening, anti-black racial slur in addressing an administrator," according to Starr's letter.
This protest is just one of many that have hit college campuses since war broke out in Israel in October of last year. Jewish students nationwide have reported feeling unsafe as cases of antisemitism increase, and have called on school leaders to take action. Some students have even filed lawsuits against schools for allegedly not adequately responding to antisemitism on campus.
Israel's special envoy for combating antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, told Fox News in an interview last year that the war marked a "moment of reckoning" for colleges as cases of antisemitism increased. "This is a moment of reckoning... for universities, for social media spaces, for elected officials. It's a moment of reckoning for what we have enabled for far too long in that moral ambiguity, if you will. This is a time for moral clarity and courage in calling out the moral ambiguity," she said.
Late last year, the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT were grilled by Congress about their handling of antisemitism on their respective campuses. Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik had fiery exchanges with the trio, pressing them to answer if "calling for the genocide of Jews" violates the schools' codes of conduct. The presidents of Harvard and Penn, Claudine Gay and Liz Magill, respectively, came under fire for answering that such comments would violate the codes of conduct depending on the "context." Both presidents subsequently resigned from their positions after widespread condemnation from Jewish communities nationwide, alumni, and students.
In the last few days alone, more college leaders appear to be laying down the law on anti-Israel protesters who disrupt campus activities with slogans such as "one solution, intifada revolution." The University of Michigan announced a "disruptive activity policy" last week that creates new penalties for students who disrupt university events, while Vanderbilt University reportedly expelled three students, suspended another, and put 20 more on probation for taking part in a sit-in protest where students allegedly pushed through security before the protest devolved into arrests.
Columbia University also announced last week that it suspended students who took part in the "Resistance 101" event late last month, which featured speakers such as Khaled Barakat, who is reportedly a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organization in the U.S. that advocates for the destruction of Israel. School President Minouche Shafik wrote in a letter to the school community, "On March 24, an event took place at a campus residential facility that the University had already barred, twice, from occurring. It featured speakers who are known to support terrorism and promote violence. I want to state for the record that this event is an abhorrent breach of our values."
Despite some colleges taking a tougher stance on anti-Israel protests, other schools are still grappling with frenzied demonstrations. Chaos broke out on Rutgers University's campus on Thursday during a town hall, requiring police to usher out Jewish students and school officials. The town hall was held by the Rutgers University Student Assembly regarding two boycott, divestment, and sanctions referendums on severing ties with Tel Aviv University and divesting any connections to Israel.
