The situation unfolding at Columbia University and on campuses across the country should come as no surprise. This didn’t happen overnight.
Universities have long tolerated anti-Semitism compared to other forms of discrimination. The demonstrations of the past three weeks are just the latest example of what happens in the leadership void between taking a firm stand and trying to appease both sides. Tensions are rising. Words escalate into action. Threats turn into violence.
There is right and wrong. Protesting in a passionate and lawful way is a great exercise in freedom of expression. Supporting the Palestinians in their struggle for independence is a vision. Calling for the divestment of your university from Israel is a vision.
Terrorizing, intimidating and calling for anti-Semitic action against Jews and the destruction of Israel is not a vision. It’s not freedom of speech. It’s not a demonstration. It’s wrong. And it is dangerous.
This is what happens when anti-Semitic behavior and rhetoric is left unchecked, or even encouraged for a long time. Passivity, tolerance and ambiguity leave room for hatred, intimidation and terror. Universities must take a very clear stand and implement a zero-tolerance policy on anti-Semitism, just as there should be zero tolerance for racism, Islamophobia, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or any other form of intolerance. There is no other option.
Protesters violated and threatened the right to safety of law-abiding students; fundamental rights that Columbia President Minouche Shafik and all university leaders are committed to granting. In-person classes were canceled. Many students – feeling unsafe amid aggressive and noisy protests and facing threats and intimidation – have left the campus and this unbearable atmosphere just when students should be studying for exams and preparing to go to their graduation ceremony.
No one has the right to materially disrupt campus activities, threaten or intimidate students, or damage and destroy property – not students, nor faculty, and certainly not outsiders to the universities. Would similar expressions against the black or LGBTQ communities (or any other minority) be tolerated?
There is nothing complicated about what is going on at Columbia, UCLA and college campuses nationwide. The right to protest does not equal the right to cause chaos – a sentiment President Joe Biden shared in his address to the nation last night, calling this a “moment for clarity”… Violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest, yes.”
Shafik’s recent testimony before Congress was a strong example of leadership, surpassing that of her presidential peers at Harvard, Penn and MIT. She was unequivocal that calls for genocide of Jews would violate Columbia’s student codes of conduct. I applaud Columbia for announcing its new interim university policy for safe demonstrations in February. But does it work?
For a while, it felt like Opposite Day in Columbia: putting the bystanders “in jail” for their own protection and letting the offenders roam free on campus while university leaders face up to their transgressions. Police have been called and arrests have been made on campuses across the country, but what is the end result?
Strong words from university leadership will not end the chants for killing Jews or curb the intimidation that drives students and faculty off campus out of fear for their safety. University Presidents: Your Jewish students and faculty need your leadership. Act. Unambiguous. To take a very clear stand and demonstrate a zero-tolerance policy towards hatred, intimidation and terror. And to consistently enforce that policy.
These escalations have become dangerous and disrupt public safety and order. But it had to come to this. This is a moment of reckoning. It’s time to get back to basics and do what’s right: keep students and teachers safe; preserve the space we have for education and discourse; clarify the principles of freedom of expression; setting expectations about what actions will not be tolerated and enforcing them consistently.
Understand that the only way to do that is to draw a line in the sand and set very clear guidelines about behavior that is racist, violent and illegal. Update policies and codes of conduct to include specific anti-Semitism. Congress is reviewing legislation that would expand the definition of anti-Semitism – this is a good place to start. Require every student and faculty member to sign an acknowledgment of what is free speech, what is passionate protest, and what is unacceptable behavior that crosses a line and carries consequences.
Allowing these protests on college campuses is not about freedom of speech — and there should be no question about whether they should be stopped. There is right and wrong, and the distinction here is very clear.
Enough is enough.
Gil Mandelzis, a native Israeli, is the founder and CEO of Capitolis, a financial technology company with offices in New York, Tel Aviv and London. He believes that everyone matters.
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