10 | NOVEMBER 16 • 2023 
J
N

opinion

College Presidents Must 
Speak Up for What’s Right

L

ike many Jews, I 
am watching with a 
mixture of horror and 
grave concern as college 
campuses around the United 
States convulse 
with anti-Israel 
demonstrations 
and, in many 
cases, overt 
antisemitism 
and vocal 
support for 
terrorism.
More, as a university 
president, I have been 
especially dismayed by 
the failure of college and 
university leaders to respond 
adequately.
University presidents 
have been slow to condemn 
Hamas’ terrorism and 
disavow expressions of 
support by students and 
faculty for violence against 
Israelis, equivocating 
statements have ignored 
the real problem by calling 
on “both sides” to exercise 
restraint, and colleges are 
failing to take appropriate 
measures to protect their 
Jewish students.
The school I lead, Touro 
University, is unique. As 
America’s largest Jewish-
sponsored educational 
institution, our campuses 
are safe havens not only 
for Jewish students but 
also for students from all 
faiths. Amid the upsurge 
of antisemitism on campus 
since Oct. 7, we’ve heard 
from numerous students 
interested in transferring to 

Touro. But universities like 
ours must not become the 
only safe places in America 
for Jews to attend college. 
Students everywhere must 
feel safe.
Feeling safe starts 
with faith in leadership. 
College presidents must 
clearly denounce violence, 
support for terrorism and 
antisemitism, especially 
at fraught moments like 
these. How can there be 
any confusion about the 
wrongfulness of murder, rape 
and torture?
People of good faith can 
disagree about politics 
and the Palestinian-Israel 
conflict. But evil deeds, like 
Hamas terrorists’ beheading 
of babies and the taking 
of civilian hostages, need 
to be denounced in clear, 
unambiguous language. 
Failure to do so portrays 

either cowardice or a glaring 
lack of moral leadership; it 
implicitly suggests that it’s 
OK to extol terrorism (so 
long as only Jews are the 
targets).
President Joe Biden 
set an example when 
the White House issued 
a statement denouncing 
“antisemitic messages 
being conveyed on college 
campuses” and condemning 
student groups that have 
praised Hamas’ attack on 
Israel or called for “the 
annihilation of the state of 
Israel.”
Several days ago, I was 
one of 18 college presidents 
who joined in the founding 
of a coalition to express 
our support for Israel and 
for Palestinians suffering 
under Hamas’ repressive 
rule in the Gaza Strip. So 
far, over 100 institutions 

of higher education have 
signed on to our statement 
of support, including public 
and private universities, 
faith-based schools and 
historically Black colleges. 
But making statements is just 
a beginning.
Colleges must implement 
measures to undo the 
decades-long slide that has 
transformed many campuses 
into places where groupthink 
and intersectionality falsely 
link Israel’s existence to 
a narrative of colonial 
oppression that hails 
Palestinian terrorists as “civil 
rights heroes” and dismisses 
the rights of Jews to live 
securely in Israel. 
We must restore college as 
a place where Jewish students 
do not feel threatened 
wearing Jewish symbols, 
speaking up about Israel 
in the classroom or simply 

Alan Kadish
JTA

Jewish students and supporters rally near New York University in Washington Square Park, Oct. 26, 2023.

LUKE TRESS

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