Rising Concerns: Jewish Students Speak Out Against Campus Antisemitism

TFD – Jewish students from prestigious universities like MIT and Columbia University raise alarm over escalating campus antisemitism. As the House Education Committee delves into the issue, addressing hate speech becomes crucial for ensuring student safety. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest updates on this pressing matter.

Major university Jewish students told lawmakers on Thursday that they feel uncomfortable on campus due to an increase in antisemitism.

Students from Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other universities recalled hearing violent chants on campus and said officials are not doing enough to combat antisemitism during a roundtable organized by the House Education and Workforce Committee.

“I have experienced trauma over the last five months,” MIT second-year graduate student Talia Khan stated.

Tension has increased on college campuses around the country following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 and the ensuing conflict in both Israel and Gaza. Students who identify as Muslim or Jewish have reported an increase in harassment and hate speech on campus.

The co-founder of the MIT Israel Alliance and graduate student president, Khan, claimed that MIT is now “overrun with toxic antisemitism” and that “terrorist supporters that directly threaten the lives of Jews on our campus” are at large.

“When our very existence is in jeopardy, asking that something be done is not overly dramatic,” Khan remarked.

The events Khan mentioned “are known to us, with some already addressed and others being addressed,” an MIT spokeswoman told CNN.

According to the spokesman, the university has disciplined students who have engaged in antisemitic behavior on occasion. Furthermore, “responding with an array of educational steps” is MIT.

She declared, “These efforts are well underway and ongoing.”

In the hearing, Khan called a statement similar to that “lip service.”

Students claim that some attacks have been physical.

Eden Yadegar, a junior at Columbia University, told how she has been made fun of both on campus and on social media, and how she witnessed Jewish students being attacked by individuals brandishing sticks outside the university library.

“Outside our library, sticks have attacked us. Yadegar, president of Columbia University’s Students Supporting Israel, stated, “We have been threatened to ‘Keep f—ing running,’ and we have been attacked by angry mobs.”

Antisemitism is “antithetical” to Columbia University’s values, according to a statement provided to CNN by the university’s spokesperson, Samantha Slater.

“Every tool at our disposal is being used to ensure the safety of our community, including shielding our Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and discrimination,” Slater declared. “The administration of the university always prioritizes maintaining a safe, civil, inclusive, and respectful campus environment, and never more so than at this time.”

Schlacter talked about how hard it was for her and another student to gain assistance from the university police after the student reported that she had been called a “dirty Jew” and spit on during an on-campus protest.

“If you fail to denounce hate crimes against Jews on the basis of shared ancestry, you are teaching other students that it is acceptable and socially acceptable to engage in active anti-Semitic behavior on campus,” the speaker stated.

Videos shared on social media earlier this week show demonstrators interfering with an event by beating on and breaking glass doors to the auditorium where troops from the Israeli Defense Forces were supposed to speak. The chancellor of the university denounced the violent protests that happened the day before in a statement that was released on Tuesday.

Schlacter stated, “On Tuesday, I did not attend class.” “How am I supposed to when Berkeley refuses to keep us safe from a riot?”

According to UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the institution opened a criminal inquiry into “everything that happened on Monday night,” CNN said.

“We recognize that we are in new territory that requires changes in how we operate in support of student safety and well-being, as well as their right to hear and express any perspectives or beliefs they wish,” Mogulof said. “What happened on Monday night has no recent precedent on campus.”

Looks at incidents of hate on campuses

The House Education Committee has been looking into antisemitism on campuses since last fall, with a particular focus on how Ivy League colleges are battling bigotry.

In December, the committee questioned the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and MIT over antisemitism. The testimony was so terrible that the presidents of UPenn and Harvard resigned in a matter of weeks.

The Republican chairperson of the committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx, has requested that papers be turned over from UPenn, Harvard, and Columbia to support her committee’s probe. Harvard has been charged by Foxx with “obstructing” the probe by withholding certain papers.

Her committee made history earlier this month when it issued multiple subpoenas to Harvard, requiring the university to provide information by March 4. Since the committee was established in March 1867, this is the first time a subpoena has ever been sent to a university.

In November, following complaints about suspected instances of Islamophobia and antisemitism, the Department of Education opened an investigation into Columbia and other schools.