Conflict on Campus

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

This holiday weekend, after a week in which multiple commencements were marked by protests, we’re highlighting some of our reporting and perspectives on the campus clashes that have unfolded over the past several weeks.

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel student activists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (Mark Caro)

Dear reader,

I spent a good part of the last month deploying reporters to university campuses where protests over the Israel-Hamas war were exploding, as my own daughter was finishing her senior year in high school. I gave the reporters plentiful advice, and my daughter very little.

I told the reporters to talk to rabbis and protest leaders. To read the campus newspaper and tune into its radio station. And to listen carefully to what Jewish students of all stripes had to say about the war, Zionism and whatever else was on their minds.

My daughter didn’t need me to tell her what to look for at colleges. She knows herself well and what she wants in a university. She followed the conflict on campuses on her phone, and her high school sits in the middle of a university that cleared its own pro-Palestinian encampment.

Our reporters brought back distinctive, thoughtful takes about the Jewish experience on campus from their days embedded on campuses public and private around the country.  And I shared them with my daughter, because they offered insights into the turmoil that are hard to find elsewhere.

The stories showed in full dimension what it was like to learn and live on campuses roiled by protest. They introduced us to young Jews shaken by antisemitism — and by Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Many highlighted what seemed like the most alienated group: those who felt they belonged on neither side.

Together, these dispatches painted a textured portrait of a generation facing challenges their parents — and I — never imagined. Here are five deep dives for you to dig into this holiday weekend..

— Lauren Markoe, News Editor

• ‘No one’s allowed to talk to me’: At UW-Madison, trying — and failing — to talk about Israel

  
  

• At Washington University, 2 Jewish seniors differ on Israel, but share a sense of loss

  
  

• The University of Florida calls itself a haven for Jews. For some students, it doesn’t always feel that way.

  
  

• At Duke, pro-Israel Jewish students go ‘on the offense’

  
  

• Queens College has been a model of Muslim-Jewish cooperation. Can it stay that way after Oct. 7?

Students attend a pro-Palestinian rally against the Israel-Hamas war on the campus of the University of Southern California. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

As our reporters fanned out to cover the crackdown on encampments, including almost 3,000 arrests, our inboxes filled with essays by students, professors and others who felt tormented by what they were watching unfold.

Some questions stood out. Why, amid such a swell of civil disobedience, did so many on both sides seem to struggle with civil discourse? How could universities act so aggressively against members of their own communities?

On the other hand, what alternatives did they have to calling the police? And, when counter-protesters attacked the encampments, as at UCLA, why didn't they move more quickly to stop the violence?

In the middle of it all, I went to my own 10-year college reunion at Washington University in St. Louis — where protesters, one week later, were handcuffed on the very lawn where I’d talked about the perils of the war conversation with a favorite English professor.

These past weeks it has felt like the unrest was touching all of us, regardless of our remove from actual campus life.

So we’ve tried to amplify as many different responses as possible to these difficult questions. Though answers often proved elusive, hearing from those living at the center of this conflict has helped in navigating this time of extraordinary emotion and struggle.

Here are five of the most telling.

— Talya Zax, Opinion Editor

• Which elite university figured out how to handle anti-Israel protests? Hint: It’s in Israel

  
  

• I’m an Israeli Columbia student. I never thought I’d be afraid to invite my parents to my graduation

  
  

• The campus protests are no longer about Israel. They’re about America.

  
  

• I was arrested protesting at Columbia in ’68. Today’s student encampments carry on a proud, brave tradition

  
  

• I teach Israel studies at NYU. We are importing the worst of Israel and Palestine to our campuses

READERS LIKE YOU SHAPE EVERY PART OF OUR WORK

Reporting on the ground from Israel and campus takes resources.

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Thanks to Jay Ehrlich and Angelie Zaslavsky for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Jodi Rudoren for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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