Good morning and welcome to the Campus Crisis Alert.

If you were forwarded this email and want to receive your own updates, sign up here.

As the school year comes to an end, we’re taking a break from the daily cadence of our Campus Crisis Alert starting this Friday, though our team will continue to closely monitor college campuses while some are still in session over the next few weeks. We also will share special updates to address any major developments. In the meantime, stay on top of the latest news regarding antisemitism and anti-Israel protests through our other newsletters and by following us on X/Twitter @ADL.

These are tough times for students, parents, and any of us who care about our alma maters. We’re so glad this alert has been able to keep you informed — and keep you activated. Stay in the fight because never is now!

Top Stories

UC Santa Cruz. “Several hundred” protesters blocked entrances to the University of California, Santa Cruz campus on Tuesday, prompting the University to move classes for the Banana Slugs online through Thursday. In a statement, Chancellor Cynthia Larive described the protests as an “extremely dangerous effort to cause intentional harm to our campus community.” Larive added: “Members of our community were unable to leave campus to pick up their children, to access medical care off campus, to show up to off-campus jobs, to leave campus after an early morning shift or to come onto campus for an afternoon or evening shift.”

City College. Anti-Israel protests have cost City College of the City University of New York (CUNY) more than $3 million in damages and added security, according to recent testimony from the University’s chief operating officer. That includes damages from a protester who tossed a flare onto the roof of a campus building ($300,000), vandalism like broken windows and furniture ($250,000), and spray-painted surveillance cameras ($600,000), as well as added costs for fencing and contracted security to support the CUNY safety officers. As the head of the New York City Council Higher Education Committee noted to 1010 WINS, this is money “that should be going to our academic institution and lifting up our students.”

Harvard. Harvard University has announced that University officials will no longer take official positions on policy issues. The statement comes after the release of a report from the University’s “Institutional Voice” working group that advised officials to stop making “official statements about public matters that do not directly affect the university’s core function.” ADL’s take: “ADL will judge Harvard’s new policy of neutrality based on its execution. But this policy will not absolve the University from having allowed antisemitism to fester on campus, which will continue to directly affect the institution’s core function of research, teaching & learning if the university doesn’t do better.”

DEEPER: In an op-ed in the New York Times, Noah Feldman and Alison Simmons, Harvard professors and members of the working group, argue this new policy is not an attempt to advantage one perspective or another but to spare universities from having to engage on highly politicized issues. They emphasize that as an action rather than statement, the working group saw making a recommendation on divestment as outside of their mandate.

Princeton. During Tuesday’s commencement ceremony at New Jersey’s Princeton University, a “few dozen” protesters stood and turned their backs to President Christopher Eisgruber during his commencement speech, while “a handful” of students from the graduate section walked out of the ceremony entirely, and “at least three groups of spectators draped flags or banners with pro-Palestinian slogans from the stadium’s upper tier.” The Daily Princetonian also reported that the University was holding back two seniors’ degrees due to their involvement in an anti-Israel protest at an alumni event held by Eisgruber last week. And in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Princeton’s Nassau Hall was vandalized with red paint and a spray-paint message that said: “Tragic Accident, Genocide Denial.”

Murray State. Ihsan Alkhatib, an associate professor of Political Science and Sociology at Kentucky’s Murray State University, posted a hate-filled antisemitic thread on X/Twitter Tuesday filled with antisemitic tropes such as the “tentacles of the Jew lobby” controlling the United States. We can disagree about the policies of Israel or its action, but there is no place for antisemitic slurs on campus or online. Professor Alkhatib fails at this miserably.

Campus Champions

Home Not Alone. On Friday, college students from Illinois’ 10th congressional district in suburban Chicago met in a roundtable discussion with Congressman Brad Schneider to discuss antisemitism on campus. While some students expressed frustration that at their universities “rule breakers and perpetrators of hate are rewarded,” others praised how their school handled this past semester. One student from Vanderbilt recounted that a classmate told him: “there’s a lot more people who support you than you think.”

Schooling Education. Amid a historic rise in on-campus antisemitism, Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) wrote to the U.S. Department of Education on Monday to demand a report on the dozens of investigations into antisemitism that are still pending under the Office of Civil Rights, including “reasons why each pending complaint has not been resolved and an estimated timeframe for the resolution of the complaint.” In this letter, the two Senators — who are co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism — also urged the Department to designate a senior official to oversee its efforts to combat antisemitism.

TAKE ACTION: Tell the Department of Education to designate a senior official to oversee the agency’s efforts to counter antisemitic discrimination in higher education, as called for by the Countering Antisemitism Act.

Ephin’ Good. An Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility at Williams College in Massachusetts rejected a petition filed in November by students to divest from companies that sell weapons, reconnaissance tools, or vehicles to the IDF. BDS efforts are divisive, harmful, and counterproductive; thanks, Williams!

Am Yisrael Chai 💪✡️

The Right Hoodie. Speaking at Yeshiva University’s Commencement ceremony yesterday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) noted that the last graduation he attended was his own from Harvard University nearly 25 years ago. He then said: “Today, I have been profoundly disappointed with Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community.” Fetterman then dramatically removed the Harvard hood from his graduation robe. “For me personally, I do not fundamentally believe that it is right for me to wear this today,” he said to a standing ovation.

A Show About Something. On a Tuesday episode of Bari Weiss’s podcast, “Honestly,” comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has been vocal in his support for Israel since October 7th, spoke about his December trip to Israel in which he visited Kibbutz Be’eri and met with freed hostages, calling it “the most powerful experience of my life.” When asked about anti-Israel protesters at his shows, Seinfeld cracked a joke, saying, “They don’t seem to understand that, as comedians, we really don’t control anything.”

Fashion for a Cause. Re'ut Schwaber, a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate, walked across her graduation stage with a “Bring Them Home” hostage necklace, a painted yellow pin on her gown, and a Star of David on her cap. We like her sense of style!

(reut_schwaber / Instagram)

Do you have something to share with us? We are building this as we go — so please email us at [email protected] with any suggestions, questions, photos, and videos.