Newsletter (April 29, 2024)
Illegal protests continue, we send a letter to the Academic Senate, a USC student speaks on the news, and more
First, good news: our readership is growing! According to the Substack dashboard, we have 222 subscribers and have had 3,860 views since the launch. The open rate for our emails is 69.25%. Our posts have been mentioned by popular blogs such as Jerry Coyne’s Why Evolution Is True.
Our group has sent an open letter to the USC Academic Senate communicating our concerns regarding the escalating antisemitism and anti-Zionism on our campus.
Currently, the campus is unsafe for Jewish and Zionist students.… We are now at the end of the academic year with students going into finals fearful and despairing. Campus operation has been disrupted and the antisemitic and extremist expressions and the vandalism continue unabated. The President and Provost have abandoned their commitment to zero tolerance of harassment and intimidation and to the protection of ALL members of our community.…
Read the full letter here.
Today, the campus was relatively quiet, but the illegal protests continue. The failure of USC to apply its own rules, to promptly clear up the mess, and to discipline the perpetrators is frustrating. Similar inconsistent treatment of violators has been reported at other campuses. Jerry Coyne writes:
a. If the protestors return, as they have, continue to arrest and suspend them. Your actions are inconsistent, and that prolongs the demonstrations.
b. DO NOT NEGOTIATE with the protestors.
Why are so many universities failing to implement this simple strategy? This really isn’t rocket science—the distinction between freedom of expression and impermissible harassment of individuals and disruption of the function of the university is rather clear. Keith Whittington has precisely explained it in his article “Protest and Civil Disobedience Are Two Different Things” in the Chronicle of Higher Education. David French has also published a thoughtful piece on this topic in the NYT. Jerry Coyne’s post, “Some Sensible Views of David French on College Protests,” contains a link to a non-paywalled version of French’s article.
Quote of the day. One of the Circle’s members (in response to a letter from the School of Communication):
The whole School of Communications, or at least most if it, has some non-negotiable demands. Well, I’ve listed mine, and they’re non-negotiable as well. In case anyone missed them: No negotiations, disperse or be expelled and/or arrested. Just agreeing to “negotiate” is caving in to the mob and sets a very bad precedent.
“A Passover Call to Action for College and University Presidents” from Hillel International makes the same points:
Responsible expressions of free speech allow for and depend on time, place and manner restrictions that the encampments and associated protests are brazenly defying. Instead, these impermissible tactics are creating precisely the type of hostile and discriminatory learning environment prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and they cannot and must not be allowed to persist.
Hillel makes the following recommendations to the universities:
Aggressively enforce your institution’s existing rules, regulations, and codes of conduct.
Restrict outside agitators from accessing your campus and fomenting violence and discrimination.
Anticipate and plan for a variety of scenarios involving potential protests and disruptions.
Prevent protests from targeting known Jewish locations, student groups, and individuals.
The USC protests and campus climate have, of course, made in the news. We particularly recommend these two videos, which feature USC student Jacob Wheeler (Annenberg Media).
Jacob also appeared on Conan Nolan’s show—he is introduced at 5:11 in the video.
Watching students like Jacob—brilliant, brave, articulate—make me proud to be a part of USC.
And this one—not so much. Here are more tweets from the USC instructor (mentioned in a previous newsletter) who cancelled her finals and sent students to join the protests:
More comic relief: A student admits on camera that she does not really know why she is protesting at NYU.
A longer read. Hal Gershowitz writes about “Gaza, Antisemitism and the Academy of American Know Nothings.” He, too, reminds us about the treason of the intellectuals:
Many students on college campuses are collectively engaged in a 1930's Germany/Austria-like student attack on Jews because they are, essentially, ignorant if not hateful. Educated by equally ignorant, if not ridiculous, professors, they embrace antisemitism (in some cases, clumsily disguised as anti-Zionism) as an intellectual orgy devoid of any intellect at all. It manifests hate nourished by ignorance and a desire to appear relevant by embracing history's worst lessons. They embrace stupidity as a righteous cause, led by a gaggle of American professors who would make their peers in 1930s Austria and Germany proud.
Hal writes:
What is particularly sad and revolting about today’s outpouring of antisemitism, especially the Jew-hatred emanating from the academy, is that it exploded in the immediate aftermath of October 7 and well before Israel had even begun to counterattack three weeks later.
Indeed. He follows up with statistics documenting the explosive rise of antisemitic incidents following the October 7 massacre and explains why this phenomenon has occurred.
The Columbia protesters have taken over a building and named it after a Palestinian.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7189020