Cornell. Dozens of students and staff disrupted a Cornell University career fair on Wednesday at the Ithaca, New York campus. Protesters from the group Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation banged pots and pans and shouted demands for the university to divest from companies connected to Israel. Campus police reportedly made no arrests on the scene but a university statement noted that guests of the university felt “threatened” and that “Cornell Police officers were pushed and shoved.” Cornell administration said that the students identified would be subject to immediate discipline, including suspension, while faculty and staff would be referred to university human resources and all individuals involved were “subject to potential criminal charges.”

👉 TAKE ACTION: As the October 7 anniversary approaches, groups like Students for Justice in Palestine are planning disruptive protests, targeting memorial events. Even more alarming, reports suggest students may attempt to rebuild encampments and set up checkpoints, causing campus chaos. Urge leadership at your school to take immediate action to safeguard student safety and firmly stand against these antisemitic disruptions.

(Source: Instagram)

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Temple. Just off campus from Temple University’s North Philly campus sits the AEPi house, a historically Jewish fraternity. Since May, it has been subject to four different antisemitic incidents. The latest was on September 7 when an individual entered the fraternity house and ripped down an Israeli flag on display. ADL’s Philly office took an active role working with Temple, and the fraternity chapter’s president has noticed a difference in how the university is responding: “After the third incident, we’ve built a relationship and they’re taking it very seriously on all levels of administration.” Arrests have been made in two of the incidents, and ADL has launched a “Not on my Campus” campaign at Temple.

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Wesleyan. A group of students initiated a sit-in at the Wesleyan University investment office on Friday, reiterating demands that the university divest from companies connected to Israel. Five of the ten protesting students reportedly left after officials emphasized how the students were violating the school’s code of conduct. The remaining five students were eventually removed by Middletown, Connecticut police. A Wesleyan official said these students “will face internal disciplinary actions.” The next day, the Wesleyan Board of Trustees voted down the student-backed divestment proposal, noting that "the endowment should not be used as a tool for political advocacy or social change."

DEEPER: Read an analysis from our friends at JLens of how costly divestment is for universities.

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Illinois-Chicago. Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Illinois-Chicago recently posted a series of anti-Zionist attacks against a professor set to teach a course on “Peace Education and Conflict Resolution,” calling professor Mohammad Darawshe “a disgrace to the Arab people” and labeling his course a “New Form of UIUC Zionism — Propaganda Baised [sic] — Arab Taught Course.” ADL quickly condemned this “despicable” attack, arguing “Prof. Darawshe has devoted his career attempting to bridge political divides and bring peace and a two-state solution to the region. He also lost a son during the Hamas-led 10/7 terror attack. Shameful.”

(Source: X/Twitter)

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Columbia. Jewish students and alumni of Columbia University are criticizing a Thursday interview in which the university’s Interim President Dr. Katrina Armstrong said she was “incredibly sorry” to any anti-Israel protesters who were “hurt” by the university’s decision to clear out anti-Israel encampments last spring. Columbia student Maya Cukierman summed up this tone-deaf statement saying, “Instead of apologizing to the antisemitic protesters, [Armstrong] should be apologizing to the Jewish students for failing to protect them from relentless discrimination and harassment.” The head of Columbia's Jewish alumni association had a similar view: “Why is she apologizing? An apology sends the message that there shouldn’t be consequences for breaking the rules. This is exactly the opposite of what Columbia needs now.”

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Penn. The University of Pennsylvania chapter of the group Faculty for Justice in Palestine recently took to Instagram to call for an International Day of Action on October 5, featuring an image of a Hamas fighter and framing this event — just two days before the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre by Hamas — as “One Year of Resistance.” Screenshots of the post’s accompanying text said this October marks one year since “our people in Gaza showed the world that the Palestinian people will continue to resist” and that “Zionism’s time has waned, is waning, and is on the road to a humiliated defeat.” It is unclear what field of study these professors pursue that led them to view the slaughter of more than 1,000 innocent men, women and children as “resistance.”

(Source: X/Twitter)

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Texas Tech. Leaders at Texas Tech University have suspended a library manager on the university’s Lubbock campus who posted several antisemitic and anti-Zionist comments earlier this year. In one post, the employee, Rudy Meixell, said “Hezbollah just launched multiple strikes. Zionism, the real barbarism, will be defeated.” On March 7, Meixell posted: “‘It would be nice to have one major party in this country that doesn’t worship the ground Jews walk on.” University administrators released a statement the day after they were reportedly made aware of these posts, saying “We find his social media comments to be hateful, antisemitic, and unacceptable” and that “TTUHSC has immediately suspended Rudy Meixell with pay pending an investigation” that will seek to determine whether Meixell’s antisemitic statements “found their way into the academic or the work environment.”

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Michigan. The University of Michigan Central Student Government unanimously passed a resolution on Tuesday condemning the recent assault of a university student in Ann Arbor who answered “yes” to the question “are you Jewish?” One student and member of the CSG said this resolution is meant to “make sure that it is known that we do not support any forms of hate-based violence, and we acknowledge that antisemitism is a large problem on our campus and on a country-wide scale.”

No Bull from Touro. Dr. Alan Kadish, the president of Touro University in New York City, wrote in the Jewish Standard that while university leaders face a “double-edged sword” in managing on-campus protests, “it’s still the responsibility of administrators to provide a safe learning environment for students, and too many have failed to prevent antisemitism from festering and growing on campuses for years.” As Touro University sees surging enrollment from observant Jewish students avoiding the violent rhetoric on many secular campuses, Kadish has some advice for his fellow administrators: “presidents must live up to the Diversity Equity and Inclusion efforts they profess,” and we must remember that “words really do matter, especially those lined with hate.”

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Seeking HHS Help. The chairs of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, along with the relevant subcommittee chairs, wrote a joint letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera on Wednesday, criticizing how his department has “failed to provide specific information” about HHS efforts to ensure “universities receiving funding from HHS are complying with federal civil rights laws.” In the letter, the members of Congress made a “formal request” for HHS to preserve records related to this topic, including misconduct allegations and internal conversations on Title VI compliance, and to provide requested documents to the committees by October 2.

A Lion of Zion. Jewish reggae star Matisyahu told the New York Post last week that, despite public backlash over his support for Israel, his career is more active than ever. In the past year, Matisyahu has been kicked out of festivals and dropped by his agent but through all this, he says “The Jewish community has been really appreciative, and I’ve felt inspired by it.” The singer believes that in some ways his concerts have become havens for Jewish music lovers, saying “It can be frustrating dealing with antisemitism and morons. The music should be a refreshment for that.” Preparing for a West Coast tour, Matisyahu said he’s prepared 25 new songs, many of which discuss the October 7 attack and the hostages still held captive.

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Am Yisrael Chai — and Inside. In the long, hapless history of the New York Mets, sometimes it has seemed that the team needed divine intervention. While it is not clear if Yeshiva University President Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman offered his blessing to the best baseball team in all of Flushing, Berman did throw out the first pitch at a Mets game at Citi Field earlier this month. The next night, Holocaust survivor Irene Kuster, 97, took the field to throw the first pitch to Blue Jays infielder Spencer Horwitz. An alum of Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Horwitz then joined Kuster for an embrace that was broadcast across the stadium’s jumbotrons. One sports columnist wrote of Kuster’s pitch, “One bounce, not bad at all.” Amazin’!

(Source: Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman | X/Twitter)

(Source: X/Twitter)

• Students — how to take action, deal with antisemitism, and organize your community.
• Alumni — how to organize a sign-on letter, answer a fundraising request, or write a letter to a university president.
• Parents — write a letter about commencement, organize a dial day, or get help selecting a college for your student.
• Glossary of Commonly Used Antisemitic Phrases Heard at Protests.
• Campus Antisemitism Report Card — see the grade a college earned in this first-ever report card.
• Report an Antisemitic Incident.
• Are you a student or know one who needs legal help? Contact our Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), run by ADL, Hillel, the Brandeis Center, and Gibson Dunn. Hundreds of incidents have been reported. You are not alone!

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