|
2025-02-02 Fifth Column
|
|
The college/Hamas nexus round-up: Jan 12 - Feb 1, 2025
|
|
A very incomplete collection of whatever articles I happened across while collecting the usual mostly WoT articles for Rantburg. I’ve seen claims that even before President Trump announced that anti-Israel/anti-Jewish foreign campus agitators would lose their visas and sent home, following the summer break there were fewer incidents, but I have not spent the time to research the subject. US colleges rush to settle federal antisemitism suits, but some pan ‘toothless’ deals
[IsraelTimes] With over 100 schools under Title VI investigations over anti-Israel campus activity, many are looking to get cases cleared before Trump can make good on threats to cut off funding.
Biden team resolves more Title VI antisemitism and anti-Arab cases before departure
[IsraelTimes] Trump administration will take over a portfolio that includes dozens more outstanding cases involving allegations of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination
In the final days of the Biden administration, the federal Department of Education has resolved a small number of its many remaining Title VI cases involving allegations of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination.
The resolutions at the University of Washington, Emory University, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Howard County Public Schools in Maryland come in the waning days of the administration’s closely scrutinized handling of campus issues during the Israel-Hamas war.
The Trump administration will now take over a portfolio that includes dozens more outstanding cases. Trump has signaled hostility to both higher education and public education, and has even floated the idea of shuttering the Department of Education altogether.
The Anti-Israel Institute Critics Call a ‘Terrorist Think Tank’: Inside the ICSZ Controversy
“We really idolize somebody... who actually goes to a plane and hijacks it" said ICSZ board member Rabab Abdulhadi.
A new institute dedicated to eradicating Israel has been founded by a collective of elite professors. But some pro-Israel academics have blown their whistle, with one vocal member likening the institute to a “terrorist think tank” that should be reformed.
The Institute for Critical Zionism Studies (ICSZ) was founded in 2023 by former Sarah Lawrence professor Emmaia Gelman — a self described Irish-Jewish queer New Yorker who is known to have cheered for Hamas in a protest the day after October 7th and who is known to justify Palestinian violence against Israelis as retribution.
[X]
Columbia anti-Israel activists call on followers to ‘fight and escalate’ following announcement of Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
[CampusReform] ‘[T]his is not time for us to rest! This victory is Gaza's alone, we must fight and escalate!’ the group wrote. The group also announced: ‘Ceasefire today, liberation tomorrow.’
Oakland, CA middle school teacher created ‘divisive,’ ‘unwelcoming’ environment for Jewish students: report
[CollegeFix] An atmosphere in which ‘Jewish and Israeli students were labeled as being complicit’ in Israel’s actions
An investigation into an Oakland, California English teacher’s conduct recently concluded he created a “divisive” and “unwelcoming” environment for Jewish students. The independent probe found Arvind Reddy of Montera Middle School had “posted ‘antisemitic materials’ in and near his classroom” during the previous school year, The Jewish News of Northern California reports. The posters (pictured) — which Reddy “refused to take down” — read “END GENOCIDE NOW,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and Nelson Mandela’s quote “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
Harvard settles 2 lawsuits over antisemitism on campus
Among other commitments, university to adopt International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, report its responses to harassment for next five years, form official partnership with a university in Israel instead of divesting.
Both lawsuits accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funds recipients from allowing discrimination based on race, religion and national origin. The settlements include unspecified monetary terms. Harvard did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
Students Against Antisemitism, a Harvard group, sued last January, accusing Harvard of selectively enforcing its anti-discrimination policies to avoid protecting Jewish students from harassment, ignoring their pleas for protection, and hiring professors who supported anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda.
Then in June, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education filed another lawsuit accusing the university of ignoring campus antisemitism.
The lead plaintiff in the SAA lawsuit, Shabbos Kestenbaum, has refused to accept the settlement and intends to continue litigation on his own, the Crimson reported.
American Historical Association Council vetoes resolution about ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza
The council of the American Historical Association (AHA) vetoes a resolution passed earlier this month condemning Israel’s “scholasticide” in Gaza. The resolution, which was approved 428-88 at the AHA’s annual conference, accused Israel of intentionally destroying the Palestinian enclave’s education system amid the 15-month war against Hamas. However, that resolution was subject to the approval of the AHA council. Last Friday, the council concluded that the measure “contravenes the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws, because it lies outside the scope of the Association’s mission and purpose.”
NYU suspends nearly a dozen pro-Palestine students for a year after ‘sit-in’ protest during finals week.
In California and Michigan, a Surprising Force Drives Anti-Israel Campus Activism: Labor Unions
[FreeBeacon] 'You basically have auto workers across the nation subsidizing these trust fund graduate students'
The average United Auto Workers training session involves discussions on how members can negotiate strong health programs, meet federal safety standards, and investigate work accidents. For UAW chapter 4811, which serves the University of California, it involves a panel with the Palestinian Youth Movement, a leading anti-Israel group that's organized protests across the country condemning the "brutal US-Israeli genocide."
The chapter held that panel last summer as part of "four days of classes, conversations, and workshops" through which "members learned about the critical tasks ahead of us: winning strong contracts, helping hundreds of thousands of new workers form unions, and continuing to fight for justice in Palestine." Those classes came in the wake of a UAW-backed strike within the UC system that centered not on wage or working hour disputes but rather on the arrests of illegal anti-Israel protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles, months prior.
The ordeal reflects the growing influence unions like the UAW and American Federation of Teachers have on anti-Israel campus unrest. Those unions typically represent graduate students who work for their universities—a far cry from the high-paid administrators who determine school rules. And yet, they've increasingly provided institutional support for controversial activism.
Those grad students, Frank notes, launched a strike in 2022 to obtain significant increases in wages, childcare subsidies, and paid leave—provisions that he said are "bankrupting the University of California." Shortly thereafter, "they tried to go on strike again, but this time, it's for the right to discriminate against Jews with these protests."
A similar dynamic has emerged at the University of Michigan. There, the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO), which also represents grad student workers, has promoted and endorsed anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns on campus. It's done so in part thanks to support from the American Federation of Teachers, the country's second-largest teachers' union, which provides the GEO with legal defense and strategic support and collects 18 percent of union dues in exchange.
Columbia University identifies 2 more activists who disrupted Israeli professor’s class
Masked anti-Israel activists barged into Professor Avi Shilon’s class on modern Israeli history last week, on the first day of the spring semester, accusing the lesson of fomenting “genocide.” The university said last week that it had identified one of the protesters, a “Columbia participant.”
The university says in a statement that its investigation into the incident has identified two more of the activists. The protesters are not Columbia students, but “from an affiliated institution,” the statement says. The protesters have been barred from Columbia’s campus and “referred to their home institution for further investigation and discipline,” the university says.
The affiliate institutions in this case are Barnard, Union Theological Seminary, and Teachers College. In addition to condemning the behavior, the school's interim president has also discussed the possibility of bringing NYPD officers back onto the campus. Finally, there is also a new effort to create a mask policy on campus which would prevent activists from hiding their identities when they pull these stunts.
NY governor condemns NYC university system’s faculty union for Israel boycott vote
Resolution passed by CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress, representing 30,000 members, puts organization at odds with the university administration and state government. The union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), has been a battleground for anti-Israel activism for years. Jewish professors said the boycott resolution was the latest discriminatory measure by the union, their sole labor representation. The resolution also divided the union’s delegate assembly, the governing body that voted on the measure.
The resolution passed PSC’s delegate assembly by a close vote of 73-70, on January 23, the union confirmed. The union’s executive council and principal officers opposed the resolution, the PSC told The Times of Israel.
OSU student protesters target Israeli veterans wounded on October 7
Ohio State University activists led by the campus branch of Students for Justice in Palestine demonstrate against lecture by 2 soldiers hurt in Hamas attack who are on Belev Echad American campus tour. The protest gained attention among pro-Israel students, causing attendance at the IDF veterans’ lecture to swell. The morning of the event, 45 attendees had registered, but around 130 showed up.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Saar Arie told The Times of Israel in a phone interview, recounting how he and Maya Desiatnik arrived to find around 60 protesters outside the event in Columbus.
“The first couple seconds I was halfway scared, but after I saw the security at the place and I saw all of the great people that came to support us I wasn’t scared anymore,” he said.
Columbia anti-Israel protesters post ‘anonymous’ video of activists blocking campus sewage lines
Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University in New York City post a video of activists vandalizing the campus by spraying red paint on a building and blocking campus sewage lines. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups led by the campus branches of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, posts the video showing a vandal dousing Columbia’s Kravis Hall with red paint. The video also shows what appears to be a row of blocked toilets. Text accompanying the post says the bathroom is at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
U of Michigan suspends Students for Justice in Palestine’s local chapter for 2 years
A pro-Palestinian group at the University of Michigan has been suspended for two years and will lose its funding in connection with protesters’ demands for divestiture from companies doing business with Israel. Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, also known as SAFE, was accused of violating the university’s standards of conduct for recognized student organizations following a protest last spring outside a regent’s home and a demonstration without school permission on its Ann Arbor campus.
2 High School Basketball Coaches Fired for Antisemitism and Pro-Hamas flags: Denver
[ToniAiraksinen] A Colorado School is facing backlash after their Palestinian baseball coach refused to shake hands with Jewish students on the opposing team, and another staffer also showed up to the Jewish school and decked out the rafters with keffiyehs and Palestinian flags with him.
The basketball game happened on the 22th of January, and many of my readers in the Denver area sent the story to me. Their —“Coach O”, also known as Samir Omar —arrived in a Lotus School uniform and keffiyeh has been fired (as well as Sami Jabai, another coach who wore a keffiyeh).
“The coaches were suspended for 1 day until the end of the investigation, and as of last Friday morning, January 24th, both were fired,” said Lotus School Executive Director Mehmet Nalcaci in an email he sent at 4:45pm EST Wednesday.
According to Lotus School executive director Mehmet Nalcaci, two coaches wore a keffiyeh and a Palestinian scarf flag, which may have triggered the events.
“As a public charter school, Lotus School for Excellence (LSE) does not encourage or tolerate the display of any political or religious symbols.
Encourge, Mehmet? Perhaps not. But clearly both of your coaches believed their display was tolerated or they would not have done it. In response, we took immediate action and suspended the high school basketball coach and his assistant, both of whom are hourly part-time staff and not full-time employees.”
|
Posted by trailing wife 2025-02-02 2025-02-02 04:04||
||
Front Page|| [10328 views ]
Top
File under: Hamas
|
|
03:36 RJ45ACP
03:30 RJ45ACP
01:03 Grom the Affective
01:00 Grom the Affective
00:59 Grom the Affective
00:56 Grom the Affective
00:54 Grom the Affective
00:06 Skidmark
|
