Sarah Lawrence College’s Answer to Anti-Semitism? Submit a Form and Move On

Last week, the shopping period for my classes at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) was disrupted on Zoom by a “Divestment Coalition” of campus groups, including the Sarah Lawrence Socialist Coalition and the Sarah Lawrence Review. The coalition announced a “boycott” of all my courses for the 2024-25 academic year, labeled me a “staunch advocate of Israel’s right to self-defense” —true, depending on how it’s defined—and falsely accused me of conflating “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) advocates with Nazis. They pressured potential students to avoid my classes, even resorting to direct messages over Zoom to dissuade them from registering.

The most worrisome aspect of this incident, however, was not the students’ actions—despite their blatant anti-Semitism and disregard for the principles of liberal arts education—but the laconic response from the SLC administration. When I reported these troubling actions, the administration first invited me to submit a bias report, and then asked for access to my personal Zoom account to identify the disrupting students.

My American politics classes usually have waitlists. But my Presidency class was not heavily enrolled this year—a Presidential election year. The “boycott” had had some effect. I emailed the school president and provost the following on August 22:

I just received my course placement info and see that only a handful of students have signed up for my Presidency class. As you know, historically my courses have been oversubscribed, especially in election years.

Please see the attached screenshot that was provided to me by a student who attended my Presidency interviews on Monday; it shows an intimidating zoom chat message they received from an anonymous fellow student attending the interview session. Students on the Zoom sessions were all sent this message.

Please let me know how you intend to proceed in resolving this unacceptable situation. Students should not be intimidated with potential cancellation by their peers just for choosing to take an American Politics class that has nothing to do with Israel or my Jewish heritage and faith.

I also noted in a second email the false and libelous statement made by the students during my class: “Incidentally, the alleged retweet about Nazis and Isis referenced in the image sent to you is completely fictional. It wouldn’t be something that I would say and I checked my Twitter history which revealed that I never posted anything like that or anything on that day for that matter. Any supposedly misogynistic and racist comments are likewise fictional. So not only is this group harassing and intimidating students, they are also outright lying about me.”

In response to clear anti-Semitism, harassment of a professor, intimidation of students, overt lies about me and my statements, and an unambiguous disruption of the learning environment, the SLC administration wrote me:

I certainly understand your distress over the messaging that occurred during your interviews; that was very unfortunate. Information on bias incident reporting at SLC can be found here; if you scroll to the bottom you will see the link to the Bias Incident Reporting Form, which begins the process. Though students are made aware of the bias incident reporting process, you can also certainly share this website with the student who made you aware of the messages.

Sam, I have also shared this incident with [another administrator] and copy him here.

With best wishes for the start of the semester,

Aside from introductory pleasantries, that note was all I heard from the college for over a week. Filling out the form would notify SLC’s Bias Incident Response Team, part of SLC’s DEI apparatus, to “make a preliminary assessment as to whether a College policy has been violated, and determine which other offices to notify.”

What kind of reception would a bias report of anti-Semitism be likely to receive?

This is the same DEI apparatus that, on October 9, just two days after Hamas killed 815 civilians and took 251 hostages in a sneak attack, sent out an email that began, “We are aware of the ongoing conflict happening with Palestine, including the most recent events that happened over the weekend.” Palestine? What about Israel? The email included two items: an offer of counseling and a notice about Students for Justice in Palestine’s upcoming “Hour of Solidarity with Palestine,” at which SJP invited students to “Join us to unpack the ongoing events in Palestine, understand the mainstream narrative, and take action!”

That’s hardly the only time SLC has seemed to “forget” about the concerns of Jewish students, particularly if they support Israel.

In response to complaints of anti-Semitism from Jewish students during the spring and summer of 2022, a DEI office administrator agreed that resident advisor training for the fall would include a segment on recognizing anti-Semitism. But less than 24 hours before the training, the leadership of the campus chapter of Hillel, the national Jewish group, was informed that it had been “accidentally” omitted from the schedule. Whoops! With effort, it was rescheduled for December 7—and was this time put “on hold” a month before, with promises of follow-up on “a path forward.” There was no follow-up. Whoops again!

That same fall, Hillel students submitted bias incident reports—like the one I have been invited to submit—saying that students threateningly surrounded their recruitment table at the Club Fair, while others told them they would like to join Hillel but were afraid to do so. They report receiving no response. Perhaps that was “forgotten” as well.

Sarah Lawrence College, as I mentioned when first reporting this incident, is already under a Title VI investigation because of its long and well-documented pattern of inaction toward Jewish community members who are treated poorly on campus. This silence is quite loud despite our president’s declaration that “there is not, nor can there be, any place for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind on our campus,” and the constant reiteration of the school’s principles of mutual respect. These include that “we endeavor to inflict no harm on one another, in word or deed,” “we embrace our diversity in all its dimensions,” and “we foster honest inquiry, free speech, and open discourse.”

The disruptions also directly violate SLC’s student conduct code, which prohibits disruptive behavior and any actions that impede others’ free expression and pursuit of education. The College’s Undergraduate Student Handbook notes that:

Sarah Lawrence College is committed to the ideal of a community founded on mutual respect and tolerance. Free and robust debate and exchange of ideas are at the heart of our academic enterprise. However, the College makes a distinction between free expression of ideas and physical or verbal abuse or harassment, which threatens or inhibits such expression or significantly interferes with a person’s education or work.

Using my class time to scare students away from taking my courses certainly interfered with their education. And, although SLC claims that “freedom of expression is a core value that fosters an environment of open dialogue and intellectual growth,” it is hardly an absolutist regarding the free marketplace of ideas.

SLC’s policy immediately goes on to say, “However, this freedom must be exercised responsibly, ensuring that it does not harm others or infringe upon their rights. Specifically, free expression must not: Cause injury or violate the rights of any member of the College community … [or] Disrupt classes or other College activities or business. This policy encompasses all forms of communication, including but not limited to oral, written, and electronic media (such as social media).”

While SLC policy mandates that incidents of discrimination be reported and investigated, whether or not someone fills out a “bias report,” I heard nothing about any such investigation until yesterday, September 4. Despite never hearing from the “other administrator” mentioned in response to my initial reporting email, the original administrator emailed me to say that the college had investigated “whether it would be possible to identify the student” who was directly messaging my students but said that since I had used my personal Zoom account for the session—as do many of my colleagues—I would need to work with college IT to make that determination. Not only is that unlikely to work, but there is a far more logical way to solve this “whodunit”—ask the Divestment Coalition, which publicly took credit for it. Its leaders, members, and supporters are clearly visible on their social media channels; these individuals can easily be reached.

Better still, explain to these students why such behavior is bad so they learn something from the experience—quietly punishing whatever individual student or students did the coalition’s work is unlikely to address the cultural problems on our campus.

SLC has left itself plenty of room to do something in public about the various efforts to marginalize and silence Jewish community members and supporters of Israel. Had I been targeted with a boycott for being a supporter of Black Lives Matter or LGBTQ issues, the same DEI apparatus that has a blind spot for anti-Semitism most certainly would have weighed in loudly against such behavior. Students and the larger community know about what happened in my class and understand that by its silence, SLC is endorsing cancel culture and libelous behavior when it comes to Jews and Israel.

This whole story is an absolute tragedy. I am so profoundly saddened to see SLC, a school that has historically embraced intellectual exploration, embraced curiosity, and promoted debate, fall to cancel culture and illiberal impulses. When I first joined the community 14 years ago, I adored meeting so many different people who helped me open my mind to many ideas and disciplines to which I had only limited exposure. I didn’t like everything and everyone then or today, but so many of these new ideas and experiences helped make me a better teacher and person—like helping spark my unexpected love of art, art history, and Russian novels.

I often wonder why students choose to spend time and money coming to campus if they already have such strong views about life and the human condition that they are content to miss the greatest feature of a liberal arts education: having one’s views challenged, expanded, and challenged again. It is entirely antithetical to a liberal education and a terribly wasted opportunity.

Similar stories are unfolding on college and university campuses nationwide. Whether newly felt or just newly exposed, anti-Semitism, hate, and violence appear to be flaring already this fall at schools such as the University of Michigan and Pomona College. But well beyond the hate itself, many students are now not able to openly question, debate, listen and learn from various and diverse views. If administrators at SLC and elsewhere do not do more to address this cancer in academia, it will destroy one of our nation’s greatest sets of institutions—institutions that have been engines of opportunity and innovation for generations.

We cannot, as a nation, allow our higher education system to collapse and degrade under the weight of ethnic, religious, and political point-scoring. We must have some rules about civility and behavior on college campuses. Whether those are tailored to allow maximum free expression and inquiry or, as at SLC, something less, they must be enforced fairly and consistently. Administrators who cannot evenhandedly enforce school rules and policies—and articulate to students why this is important—are not fit to lead. If they cannot see their way to principled leadership, they should step down or be replaced by those willing to follow the courage of their convictions.