The Antisemitic Virus Infecting America's Education System
The unchecked spread of antisemitic narratives under the guise of academic freedom, diversity initiatives, and political activism signals a dangerous shift.
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This is a guest essay written by Toni Airaksinen, a journalist.
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
In recent years, America’s education system has increasingly become a battleground for ideological conflict, where antisemitism is no longer a fringe sentiment — but a rising force within academic institutions.
From university lecture halls to diversity offices, the normalization of rhetoric that delegitimizes Israel and marginalizes Jewish students has revealed a troubling trend. Professors openly celebrate acts of terror, campus officials perpetuate harmful stereotypes, and faculty members penalize colleagues for defending Israel or expressing Zionist views.
The unchecked spread of antisemitic narratives under the guise of academic freedom, diversity initiatives, and political activism signals a dangerous shift — shaping an environment that not only tolerates but, in some cases, actively encourages antisemitism.
Through a series of alarming incidents, this analysis aims to uncover the systemic failings that allow antisemitic rhetoric to thrive and the consequences for Jewish students and faculty who dare to dissent.
An Akron Ohio Imam who described the October 7th Hamas-led attacks on Israel as a “miracle” and claimed Israelis “shall be defeated” is slated to teach multiple classes at Kent State University next semester.
The professor, Imam Nader Taha, delivered a sermon at the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent (ISAK) on December 13, 2024, where he made inflammatory and antisemitic statements about Israel and Jewish people:
“To be honest with you, in Gaza [during the Al-Aqsa Flood1], they planted the seed of freedom in the heart of not just only the Muslim world, but the whole world. From their steadfastness, from the way they sacrificed, they defeated that myth.”
A diversity official at the University of Michigan Ann-Arbor has been terminated from her cushy position at the school after she was accused by two colleagues of antisemitism.
The official — Rachel Dawson, who was the Executive Director of the University of Michigan’s Diversity Center — allegedly said that “the university is controlled by wealthy Jews” and that “Jewish people have no DNA that connects them to the land of Israel” during a work conference.
She also allegedly argued that Jewish students don’t need diversity services at the University of Michigan because they are “wealthy and privileged,” according to documents from her lawyer. Speaking of wealth, taxpayers fund her post to the tune of $185,000 a year.
What’s more, never-before-seen footage of the University of Michigan’s Middle Eastern graduation ceremony in May revealed that Dawson chose to create a special graduation ceremony for Middle Eastern students after the October 7th attack on Israel.
Private footage of the ceremony obtained by Liberty Affair paints a picture of graduates and faculty alike clothed in Palestinian keffiyehs grieving the war in “Palestine,” and student leaders vowing to “liberate Palestine from the river to the sea” to an audience of over 300 students and parents.
Two pro-Palestine students were chosen to speak, one of which is Salma Hamamy, a Palestinian student that has lead over 20 anti-Israel protests. She confessed to the audience that protesting “Palestine” was her top priority at college — not her academics like studying and homework.
Joseph Massad, a self-described Palestinian-Christian, is set to teach a course on Zionism and the State of Israel this coming semester at Columbia University.
Massad has advocated for the destruction of the State of Israel and celebrated the October 7th attacks, while calling Hamas “awesome” and Israel “genocidal.”
Columbia Professor Lawrence “Muzzy” Rosenblatt resigned in protest, writing: “This would be akin to having a White Nationalist teach about the U.S. Civil Rights movement and the struggle for Black equality, or having a climate denier teach about the impact of global warming, or a misogynist teach about Feminism.”
A tenured Jewish professor at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco alleges in a lawsuit that she was punished for expressing pro-Israel views and for refusing to conform to what she describes as her school’s “pro-Hamas orthodoxy.”
Professor Karen Fiss, who has taught fine art for more than 40 years, said that her beloved institution has devolved into what she calls a “pro-Hamas sewer that crushes academic freedom.”
In her suit, Fiss painted a damning picture of a university that has strayed far from its mission to foster intellectual and artistic growth. She argued that the California College of the Arts “now enforces a singular ideological stance on issues related to Israel and the Middle East, leaving no room for debate or dissent.”
“The deliberate transformation of the California College of the Arts campus into a political battleground underscores a concerning trend,” wrote Fiss in her legal complaint. “The Jewish State is consistently vilified and delegitimized, forcing members of the community to either align with the prevailing rhetoric or face ostracism.”
A professor at New York University in Manhattan is facing a discrimination complaint after canceling her final classes to protest Israel, urging her students to join her at a “pro-Palestine” rally instead of completing their coursework.
Dr. Linda Luu, a Vietnamese scholar who teaches women’s studies, emailed her students at midnight on December 12th to announce that their final presentations were canceled. Instead, she invited them to meet her at the Bobst Library picket line, where protesters — some wearing keffiyehs and face masks — had blocked the entrance.
In her email, Dr. Luu wrote: “The entrance to Bobst is currently blocked by students demanding the university disclose and divest its funds, holdings, assets, and capital tied to the Israeli occupation. I regret that we cannot hear from the last round of students and their projects.”
She continued, “Students are demanding ‘no business as usual’ during a genocide. I have the choice to disavow my academic duties to protest. I invite anyone from class to join me at the picket line.”
An Iowa history teacher is facing criticism after banning students from making “Nazi or Holocaust references” and prohibiting the use of a number of trending words, such as “Hawk Tuah,” “Ohio,” and “Sigma.”
The teacher, Leah Elyse Ingraham — a 7th-grade teacher in the Fremont Mills Community School District — came under scrutiny after a concerned parent reported the banned words list to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“If Leah Ingraham is responsible for teaching history and is inadvertently leaving out teaching about the Holocaust then how is she properly explaining world history during World War II?” said Michelle Corbett, Media Director for Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism. “This is just a further example of teachers and college professors editing what they teach to accommodate their own beliefs while ignoring facts. It’s not okay and has gotten wildly out of control.”
A professor at Cornell University plans to teach a class about the “plausible genocide” in Gaza, but the professor’s anti-Jew and anti-Israel rhetoric on Twitter makes it questionable as to whether the class will be rooted in truth or steeped in antisemitism.
Eric Cheyfitz — a longtime professor of American Studies at Cornell — will teach “AIIS 3500: Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” next semester, according to the Cornell University Class Roster for Spring 2025.
Cheyfitz has long been an advocate of Students for Justice in Palestine, supported the anti-Israel encampments that sprouted up on his campus last semester, blamed Jewish people for the antisemitism they face, and argued that Israel is negotiating in bad faith as means to continue their “genocide in Rafah” and elsewhere.
“It is Israel that is the terrorist organization,” he wrote publicly on Twitter. “Israel is in its death throes. The symptoms: Violence, in its desperation, is all Zionism can offer the world.”
A tenured professor at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania has been fired after making numerous antisemitic and anti-Zionist remarks. At least eight Jewish students complained to the university, stating that her rhetoric made them feel unsafe.
Maura Finkelstein, not to be confused with Norman G. Finkelstein (although their anti-Israel politics are similar), first faced scrutiny after a student who followed her on Instagram noticed her reposting negative memes about Zionism.
“Do not cower to Zionists,” she posted. “Shame them. Do not welcome them in your spaces. Why should these genocide loving fascists be treated any different than any other flat out racist.”
Hamas’ name for the October 7th attacks
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Thank you so much for sharing my work. I have been covering antisemitism for the past decade — ever since I was kicked out of my Barnard dorm for refusing to sign a BDS petition my freshman year. This issue has become incredibly rampant since then and I get dozens of emails a year from students who have been harassed and who are scared to share their stories. But by shining a light on this, may we all find peace with our neighbors 💙💙
None of this is academic freedom. These professors are teaching literal lies. Its acceptable because Jew hate has become normalized among leftists in the academy and elsewhere. No one would be allowed to teach that the Ku Klux Klan were freedom fighters. Or anything like that. Nor should they. None of this will be resolved until Universities are taken back by trustees that think the mission is to educate not to indoctrinate in leftist drivel.