After Their Abysmal Response to the Hamas Attack, Universities Face a Reckoning

For too long, universities have forsaken their core values to coddle a radical agenda. We are now seeing the bitter fruit.

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Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Mass., October 14, 2023.

Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

On the quiet morning of October 7, 2023, the Palestinian terror group Hamas opened a barbaric new chapter in the history of terrorism, murdering 1,400 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostages. Attacking defenseless kibbutzim and young revelers at a music festival, Hamas hunted down women, children, and the elderly. Countless bodies showed signs of torture, with children’s eyes cut out and fingers cut off before they were executed. Hamas has murdered or taken hostage citizens of more than 40 countries.

No sooner had Hamas’s unspeakable atrocities come to light than scores of university student groups publicly and solely blamed Israel, expressing their solidarity with Hamas. Free speech is a core principle of universities. But there are others — such as dialogue, fairness, and tolerance — that universities have for too many years ignored.

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About the Author

Marc Sarnoff

Marc Sarnoff, a partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP, is a former vice chairman of the Florida International University Board of Trustees.

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