CounterCurrent: Week of 10/07/2024
Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of Hamas’ invasion of Israel and in the course of the past year, world politics and higher education have irrevocably changed.
The response of American higher education to the atrocities committed by Hamas has been, and is, disappointing. Throughout the 2023-24 school year campus protests—ostensibly in support of Palestine—disrupted classes and campus life, led by students and fueled by some faculty. Protesters disrupted campus life by preventing students from attending classes and threatening students who had the gall to run the gauntlet in vain attempts to study. Other students, particularly Jewish students, had to leave campuses in fear as the tempo increased and protestors called for the end of Israel and Jews. College administrators, fearful of potential liability, cut their losses and encouraged many students to finish their semesters online—with some commencement ceremonies being canceled as well. Many campuses were covered in graffiti and trash, left for campus custodial staff to clean-up.
It was during these protests that the moral and intellectual weaknesses of academia’s leadership were put on display for the American people. When students, parents, and lawmakers called for college presidents to enforce codes of conduct, college leaders suddenly chose to hide behind “institutional neutrality” (a principle long since discarded to make way for social justice movements on campus) as cover for their culpability in the protests and burgeoning anti-Semitic behaviors on campus. Their actions and excuses all fell short.
Nothing provided a clearer example of this failure than the performance of three distinguished college presidents before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. All three attempted to dance around a simple question: are calls for extermination of Jews against the student code of conduct? The moral obtuseness on display during that hearing resulted in the resignations of Harvard’s President Claudine Gay and the University of Pennsylvania’s President Elizabeth Magill. Other presidents have been in the hot seat for their conduct as well.
Since October 7, 2023, the National Association of Scholars (NAS) has published a number of statements and articles both on how higher education has contributed to the moral confusion of students and how higher education can realign itself so as to protect free speech and quell anti-Semitism on campus. Minding the Campus has done similarly, and all of our work is ongoing.
Though the current campus unrest is fueled by anti-Israel sentiment, there is a deeper hatred of Western and American norms and principles found within our colleges and universities. It is of little surprise then that our campuses became the focus of this conflagration between barbarity and civility. A quote from the NAS statement “Higher Education's Coddling of Hamas” encapsulates the perilous precipice academia overlooks,
The National Association of Scholars (NAS), of course, defends the rights of people to express opinions, and this includes opinions that are foolish, malign, or repugnant. But the same principle allows the expression of opposing views. Through its many reports, studies, and statements, NAS has made clear our fear that Western civilization is imperiled by our collective loss of confidence in its foundations. The peril is nowhere better illustrated than in the resurgent anti-Semitism on campus.
While campus protests began anew this semester and pro-Israel professors face cancelation there is a small glimmer of hope. This past year has refocused the efforts of policymakers to right the ship. Moreover, we have seen what can happen when college administrators show real courage and stand up to the mob. Such examples should be reproduced elsewhere. Our colleges and universities may, after all, find a path back to the principles that once made them world class. Here’s hoping.
Until next week.
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, written by the NAS Staff. To subscribe, update your email preferences here.
Photo is a screenshot taken from the Cornell Protest video by J. Scott Turner, NAS YouTube
