The Campus Climate So Far

Newsletter (September 7, 2024)

The semester is in full swing and our campus looks blissfully normal, with students rushing from class to class and faculty looking swamped with the usual mix of teaching, research, and committee work. BrightSpace is being tamed, proposals submitted, papers written.

However, not all is quiet on the Jew-hating front as we will see below.

Day Hall on the Cornell campus vandalized on the first day of classes (image source: “Exclusive: Pro-Palestine Activists Vandalize Day Hall on First Day of School—and Tell The Sun Why,” Cornell Daily Sun)

USC

Our campus is in relatively good shape—at least compared to Cornell and Columbia—thanks to tightened security. So far, we have only had one protest—at the convocation—which we covered in our Back-To-School newsletter.

The administration has updated polices, which, if enforced, should help improve the climate on campus. In an August 30 letter, the administration articulated its intent to enforce existing University policies on protests and other forms of free expression (i.e., time, place, and manner restrictions) and reminded the USC community of its policy—a version of institutional neutrality—against departments and administrative units issuing political statements. These statements are in line with the main recommendation of the “Report on Campus Climate and Call for Action,” which urged the University to enforce existing policies in a consistent and content-neutral manner. However, we reiterate, it is yet to be seen how these rules will be enforced and what the consequences for violators will be.

New Student Handbook, Free Speech, and Trainings

On August 29, an updated Student Handbook dropped. Despite its cringe-inducing title, Living Our Unifying Values: The USC Student Handbook contains clear explanations of campus policies. Coming in at 103 pages, the handbook includes lots of important material (such as policies on academic integrity, accommodations for disabilities, disciplinary processes, etc.), but also some virtue signaling (e.g., praise for DEI as a Unifying(?) Value), statements of the obvious (e.g., prohibitions on theft, property damage, assault, battery, and other felonies?), patronizing and infantilizing rules (such as regulations of alcohol consumption), and a mind-bogglingly long list of student support resources and offices.

A few important highlights:

Unauthorized Access/Entry

Unauthorized entry, presence in, or use of university premises, facilities, or property is prohibited. Unauthorized entry into, or presence in, the dwelling or property of another is also prohibited.

Free Expression

USC is committed to fostering a learning environment where free inquiry and expression are encouraged and celebrated and for which all its members share responsibility. The university’s policy on free expression is set forth in Appendix IV: Free Expression (p.68).

The appendix, which is slightly over two pages long, begins:

The university as an institution of higher education benefits from the free exchange of ideas and robust debate on the issues that confront our society. Our right of freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental foundation of our educational mission, and we respect the right of our students to exercise their right of free speech and expression. No right, however, is unlimited, and with the exercise of any right come important responsibilities. We explain below the rights, responsibilities, and limits on the exercise of free speech and expression in our academic environment.

After briefly summarizing the First Amendment and discussing speech that it does not protect, the document explains:

Students that engage in unprotected speech may be subject to disciplinary action.

The University’s Right to Regulate Speech

In addition to regulating speech that is not protected, the university has the right to regulate the time, place, and manner of speech in reasonable manners to ensure that it does not disrupt the university’s ability to function and to protect its property rights. All persons on university property must abide by all applicable laws and the university’s policies on facilities use and demonstrations. The university may remove any student or person whose conduct substantially interferes with or disrupts the university’s operations or academic, research, or patient care environments.

As noted above, the university will also not allow physical interference with others’ peaceful exercise of free speech, which is often referred to as the “heckler’s veto” or “coercive disruption.” Coercive disruption includes physically blocking access to a speaking event, physical intimidation of a speaker, and noisemaking that prevents a speaker from being heard. If this kind of conduct occurs during any university-sanctioned activity or function, the university will act to restore the conditions under which free speech can flourish and any student who engages in coercive disruption may be removed and subject to disciplinary action. [Emphasis ours]

“Time, place, and manner” are also mentioned in the sections describing the rules for events and distribution of materials on campus. These are all good rules, but they must be consistently enforced—otherwise, they are empty words. The consequences for violators must be also publicized.

The Handbook also states:

All students, both undergraduate and graduate, are required to complete a series of online training courses upon enrollment and periodically thereafter. Failure to complete any required course may result in a hold that could prevent students from registering for the subsequent semester, or other administrative action. More information about completing these trainings is available at each student’s myUSC.

This is, unfortunately, the route that many universities have chosen. Why do students need these trainings? Should students not be treated as adults? The rules are listed in the Handbook and it is students’ responsibility to learn them. Then, if they violate them they will face consequences. A few expulsions would be much more effective in driving home the message than a series of mandatory trainings. Being coercive, these trainings cause justified resentment, inducing opposition to the very ideas they purport to instill. Moreover, training is not education. We train our pets. We educate—hopefully—our students. Rather than compel trainings, wouldn’t it more effective to offer free speech seminars centered around one of the many excellent books on the subject (see, for example, Greg Lukianoff’s list “Required Reading for ‘Free Speech 101’”) and events featuring inspirational speakers—such as Jonathan Haidt, Gad Saad, Nadine Strossen, Greg Lukianoff, to name a few.

On the issue of Free Speech, FIRE just released its “2025 College Free Speech Rankings.” USC is near the bottom of the list: of the 251 schools assessed, USC was ranked 7th from last, just a notch above Harvard, Columbia, New York University, and University of Pennsylvania. Is it a coincidence that the schools ranked the worst on free speech are also the ones where antisemitism seems to thrive the most?

We will return to the FIRE rankings in a future post; meanwhile, we recommend the following commentaries:

• Jerry Coyne, on Why Evolution Is True: “The University of Chicago Falls to #43 in FIRE’s Free-Speech Rankings” (September 5, 2024);

• Greg Lukianoff, on the Eternally Radical Idea: “Five Quick Takeaways from FIRE’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings” (September 6, 2024).

Getting back to trainings: according to the Daily Trojan (“University Revises, Reassigns Safety Module,” August 27, 2024), incoming undergraduates must take seven, and incoming graduate students three, trainings. (Note: an incoming graduate chemistry student told us he actually had to take six trainings.) According to the article:

The Safe Conduct and Freedom of Expression chapter included information about the University’s rules, speech not protected by the First Amendment and a condemnation of all types of harassment. This chapter includes the University’s rules prohibiting camping, the posting of unauthorized flyers and the removal of unauthorized posters. The module promises any encampments will be removed, equipment will be seized and threatened disciplinary consequences for offenders.   

Why do we need a training to communicate this rather straightforward information?

And if you think seven trainings is a lot, it might surprise you that some student groups are lobbying for even more trainings, including some with the obvious goal of ideological indoctrination:

In 2023, the University also introduced an optional Student Sustainability Training module. The following spring, the Environmental Student Assembly attempted to pass an Undergraduate Student Government resolution in support of making the training module required. The resolution was tabled for the USG senate to revisit at a later date.

Meanwhile, the Native American Student Assembly has been working with USG to develop a module with information about the Gabrielino Tribe, which lived on the land where USC now sits. NASA Advocacy Liaison Zidane Zamorano said he plans to continue to work on the module this year before sending it to administrators. Zamorano said NASA and USG have faced issues finding the department responsible for implementing training. 

Endemic Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism on Campus

As documented in the “Report on Campus Climate and Call for Action,” antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campus are persistent and pervasive. The vectors carrying these mind viruses are several (unaffiliated with USC) student groups (see, for example, here and here), organizations like BDS, trade unions, and now AAUP, as well as a contingent of radical faculty espousing antisemitic and anti-Zionist views. As the most recent example, consider an op-ed published in the Daily Voice of Hamas Daily Trojan on September 6, 2024. The op-ed, titled “Please Stop Asking Questions,” criticizes USC’s safety measures and the enforcement of order on campus, mocks the President, misrepresents last spring’s mayhem as “peaceful” gatherings raising “voices of conscience … against the now 40,000 slaughtered Palestinians in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces military firing United States weapons,” and then hints that a Jewish conspiracy is behind all the purported injustices:

It’s lovely to hear you say that academic freedom, intellectual bravery and the ability to foster a free and open mind are at the heart of your Trojan education. But honestly, enough with your tiresome claim that these “voices of conscience” were simply following the “Unifying Values” of our “Culture Journey”: to “stand up for what is right, regardless of status or power.” Please bear in mind: We have our own interests to protect! (A hint: our Board of Trustees is laden with billionaires, and one of them wants to annex the entire West Bank to Israel.) USC isn’t taking any risks.

The author, Sandy Tolan, is a professor at USC’s Annenberg School and director of the graduate program in Specialized Journalism. He is also one of the signatories of a letter written by a group of journalism faculty (including 13 from USC) to the New Your Times that criticized the New York Times article “‘Screams Without Words’: Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 (December 28, 2023)” on the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. The letter questions the facts about the atrocities reported in the article and impugns the integrity of the contributing reporters. One may wonder what Annenberg’s Specialized Journalism program is about. Specialized antisemitic journalism? Students enrolled in the program may consider taking classes from “Genocide Studies at USC” to round out their preparation for becoming a new cohort of journalists who have no respect for truth and who happily carry water for Iran and its proxies.

Highlights from Other Campuses, Recommendations to University Administrators, and Lessons from the Past

“Can College Campuses Get a Grip on Antisemitism?” (William Galston, Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2024, archived here)

As college students began returning to campus, news broke of Hamas’s cold-blooded murder of six hostages in a tunnel under Rafah. This crime should remind everyone how the Gaza war began, and in a better world it would deter student radicals from chanting pro-Hamas slogans.

The real issue, however, is whether campus administrators have learned anything from their disastrous mishandling of campus protests last academic year—and whether they are prepared to respond differently now.

The article highlights some disturbing findings reported by the Columbia and Stanford task forces:

Large numbers of Jewish students report harassment, intimidation and even physical assault. Students wearing yarmulkes have been spat on, humiliated, and shoved up against walls. Necklaces with Jewish symbols have been ripped from their necks. Jewish students have been chased off campus by groups threatening violence, and many avoid walking alone on campus. Some have been excluded from public spaces. An Israeli student at Columbia reported that when she went to the university’s health services, no one came to see her, and she overheard a conversation between two healthcare professionals in the next room during which one refused to treat her because of her national origin.

The Columbia task force found that “some critiques of Zionism on campus in recent months have incorporated traditional antisemitic tropes about secretive power, money, global conspiracies, bloodthirstiness, and comparisons of Zionists to Nazis or rodents.” The Stanford task force concluded that “antisemitism exists today on the Stanford campus in ways that are widespread and pernicious.”

Some of the above examples are similar to exhibits from our “Report on Campus Climate and Call for Action.” Also, similar to USC,

At both campuses, there were prominent examples of teachers abusing their authority to stigmatize and humiliate Jewish students. At both, Jewish students, faculty and staff reported that when they took their stories of misconduct on campus and in the classroom to administrators, their complaints often weren’t taken seriously, and some students were advised to seek mental-health counseling instead of redress. A senior administrator told the Stanford task force that “at the end of the day, antisemitism is institutional, there is nothing I can do about it.” (Imagine the outcry if this administrator said the same thing about antiblack racism.)

At both campuses there has been a persistent reluctance to state clear rules of conduct or to hold violators accountable. At Stanford, encampments persisted even though they violated university rules. Students, faculty, staff and alumni have expressed concern that “the University’s inability to enforce its rules forbidding unauthorized overnight camping has generated a larger climate of impunity and contempt for rules and norms,” the task force reported. Columbia’s task force concluded that “the surge in violent antisemitic and xenophobic rhetoric that shook our campus this past academic year has revealed that the consensus around our norms and values no longer exists, and that the rules and procedures we thought we were operating under are not working or are insufficient to address our current problems.”

The article concludes with concrete recommendations, some of which align with the recommendations from our report:

Colleges and universities should forbid conduct that disrupts teaching, learning and research. They shouldn’t allow anyone to interfere with these core activities through classroom disruptions, noisy demonstrations, or actions designed to prevent invited speakers from expressing their views. They should establish reasonable limits on the time, place and manner of public speech and expression. They should resist any effort to close off campus public spaces for any individuals or groups. They should treat complaints of misconduct with concern and respect, regardless of the identity of the complainant, and administrators who violate this norm should be disciplined.

Rules mean nothing unless they are enforced. All incoming students should receive not only written notice of campus regulations but also mandatory, in-person briefings to explain the rules and answer questions about them, including the consequences of violating them. For serious violations, there should be a system of escalating punishments—a warning after the first offense, suspension for at least a semester after the second, and expulsion without the possibility of readmission for the third.

In cases involving major disruptions, top officials, not midlevel administrators, should take the lead. The response to interference with core functions should be enforcement, not negotiation. If presidents and provosts aren’t serious about institutional rules and norms, no one else will be, and the outcome will be a repetition of the collapse of authority that I saw as a student in the 1960s. [Emphasis ours]

More about the Columbia report:

• “Report #2: Columbia University Student Experiences of Antisemitism and Recommendations for Promoting Shared Values and Inclusion” (Columbia Task Force on Antisemitism);

• “Columbia’s Antisemitism Task Force Finds ‘Urgent Need’ for Change” (Claire Fahy, New York Times, August 30, 2024);

• “Columbia University Antisemitism Report Highlights Bigotry Among Elites in College System” (Rikki Schlott, New York Post, September 3, 2024).

“When Students Become Terrorists” (Eli Lake, The Free Press, September 7, 2024)

Protesters from Jewish Voice for Peace occupy the Canon House Building in Washington, D.C. the day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to speak before Congress in July 2024. (Photo by Tierney L. Cross via Getty Images, via The Free Press)

As fall semesters begin this week, some major universities—from NYU to UCLA—have implemented new rules to protect Jewish students from the protesters who declared sections of campus no-go zones for “Zionists,” which often just meant Jews. 

Nonetheless, the chaos appears to be returning.

A week ago, at Temple University, protesters marched in solidarity with Palestinian “resistance against their colonizers.” As students returned to class at the University of Pittsburgh, a man attacked a group of Jewish students with a bottle. Meanwhile, at the University of Michigan, four protesters were arrested during a “die-in.”…

Lake then takes a deep dive into the wider topic of radicalization and the progression from not-very-civil civil disobedience to violence:

What leads a person to put down their placard and pick up a gun? This is what fascinates me: the plunge a radical takes from protest to resistance. The West German terrorist Ulrike Meinhof defined the distinction as follows: “Protest is when I say I don’t like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like.” 

In resisting a system that had plotted and funded what they saw as a genocide in Vietnam, the Weathermen believed anything—sabotage, bombings, bank robberies, even murder—was acceptable.

The roots of the Weathermen go back to 1969, the year Charles Manson’s death cult committed its crimes; the year hell broke loose at the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway in California. The nation was still reeling from 1968—the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. had raised a question: What now for America? In West Germany, radicals were setting department stores and publishing houses ablaze. Perhaps it’s easy to see why, in 1968, some Americans thought violence was the answer. 

By analyzing the history of past radical campus protests and how they morphed into violent movements, Lake’s article provides an important warning in the present context. Indeed, many anti-Israeli groups have already expressed their intent to deploy violence as a mean to achieving their goals. We should take them at their word—as well as the calls for Student Intifada—seriously.

“‘It Feels Like a Fortress.’ California Students Return to College Amid Tighter Security Over Protests” (Jaweed Kaleem, LA Times, August 28, 2024, archived here)
The article provides an overview of the situation on California campuses (including USC), describing security measures, student responses, and new protests. It highlights the role of the unions

UC is also facing a new challenge from UAW 4811, the union representing 48,000 academic workers across its campuses. The union is demanding UC meet to bargain over its “unilateral change” to protest policies. The ban on camping is not new. The ban on covering one’s face with the intent to conceal identity while committing a crime is a state law that has been publicly displayed on signs at some campuses. Under the directive, all UC campuses have added it to campus rules.

The article cites several students commenting on new policies. The one below is a typical example of bigotry by the woke pro-Hamas crowd:

Benjamin Kersten, a UCLA doctoral student who was part of the encampment, said the restrictions [such as banning encampments and masking] make him upset.

“The idea of Jewish safety is once again being deployed to enact policies that invite greater police presence, which is part of what exposed me and many of my peers to violence and now also to risk public health,” said Kersten, who is active in Jewish Voice for Peace, a pro-Palestinian Jewish organization, and studies art history.

“The university is taking an authoritarian response to political dissent. ... We need more just and democratic investment practices. That’s what’s at the crux of this and this is how the university is responding.”

Riiight. We want more dissent of this type on our campuses. How dare the universities to prohibit chasing Jews out? It is so totally totalitarian.

“UCLA Aims to Rebuild Trust After Protests with New ‘Free Speech’ Zones, More Security, Dialogue” (Teresa Watanabe, LA Times, September 5, 2024, archived here)

Hunt said his four-point plan would aim for a “safer, stronger UCLA” featuring reviews of policing practices, campuswide efforts to build community and updated guidelines on free speech activities….

UCLA’s new free speech guidelines are in line with strict new University of California guidance on protest management. All UC campuses have been directed by UC President Michael V. Drake to post rules about free speech and notify students about them before the fall term begins, a move to comply with a state legislative mandate….

The rules prohibit tents, campsites and other temporary structures on UCLA property without prior approval and blocking of access to walkways and buildings. Amplified sound will be banned during marches but otherwise generally allowed with some restrictions. Concealing one’s identity while breaking laws or rules will be prohibited. In addition, the rules detail procedures for holding campus events and reiterate that the campus will be closed from midnight to 6 a.m. for activities with limited exceptions.

Global Antisemitism

‘Zionist’ As Code Word for ‘Jew’ Comes into Focus as Faculty Claim ‘Right’ to Boycott (BDS Monitor Newsletter from SPME, September 2, 2024)

The letter provides a detailed summary of the recent antisemitic and anti-Israel activities around the world and offers an analysis of the BDS activities in various domains ranging from the economic to arts and culture. It also reviews policies and reports from university campuses. It is very comprehensive and worth studying.

We conclude with a humorous anecdote located at the crossroads of global antisemitism and woke climate activism (“TGIF: Foreign Interference” newsletter by Katie Herzog, September 6, 2024):

→ Arrest-Me-Not: The darling of Sweden, Greta Thunberg, was arrested at Copenhagen University while protesting the school’s connection to Israel, namely that they have an exchange program where Israeli students come to study there. Thunberg sent a dispatch via Instagram from the front lines of her battle against. . . climate? Israel? At this point I can’t tell. She wrote: “Students Against the Occupation and I are at the University of Copenhagen’s administration building. Police have been called, violently entered the building with a ram wearing assault rifles. They are evicting everyone as we speak.” I love the new use of eviction where it’s just when someone tells you to leave the place that you aren’t allowed to be in. I swear I’ve been evicted from many pools in my neighborhood by people who don’t know me, and dozens of Denny’s parking lots after closing. . . it’s honestly a travesty. Meanwhile, a bunch of people were arrested outside of Citibank headquarters in New York while protesting fossil fuels, a throwback to a sweet time when environmental activists organized around the environment.