Talking About Hate on College Campuses

The New York Times recently published a Guest Essay “What Is Happening on College Campuses Is Not free Speech” (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/opinion/antisemitism-jews-campus.html).  Written by three students — a senior at Yale University, a junior at Cornell University, and a senior at Brown University — it is a sobering account of today’s campus climate.  Excerpts follow.

“Since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, campus life in the United States has imploded into a daily trial of intimidation and insult for Jewish students.  A hostile environment that began with statements from pro-Palestinian student organizations justifying terrorism has now rapidly spiraled into death threats and physical attacks, leaving Jewish students alarmed and vulnerable… On an online discussion forum last weekend, Jewish students at Cornell were called “excrement on the face of the earth”, threatened with rape and beheading and bombarded with demands like “eliminate Jewish living from Cornell campus”.  The targeting of Jewish students didn’t stop at Cornell:  Jewish students at Cooper Union huddled in the library to escape an angry crowd pounding on the doors; a protester at a rally near New York University carried a sign calling for the world to be kept “clean” of Jews; messages like “glory to our martyrs” were projected onto a George Washington University building… This most recent wave of hate began with prejudiced comments obscured by seemingly righteous language.  Following the Oct. 7 attacks, more than 30 student groups at Harvard signed on to a statement that read, “We the undersigned student organizations hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”.  There was no mention of Hamas.  The university issued such a tepid response, it felt almost like an invitation… Days later, at a pro-Palestinian rally, the Cornell associate professor Russell Rickford said he was “exhilarated” by Hamas’s terrorist attack.  (He later apologized and was granted a leave of absence.) In an article, a Columbia professor, Joseph Massad, seemed to relish the “awesome” scenes of “Palestinian resistance fighters” storming into Israel.  Most recently, over 100 Columbia and Barnard professors signed a letter defending students who blamed Israel for Hamas’s attacks… The terms “Zionist” and “colonizer” have evolved into epithets used against Jewish students like us.  These labels have been spit at some of us and our friends in dining halls, dorm common rooms, outside classes and at parties…”.

Why is this wave of animosity erupting at elite universities?  One source may be the “critical race theory” (CRT) ideology embedded in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs on these campuses.  Let me explain.

In November 2021 I attended a webinar titled “Foundations of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging” presented by the Dean of Students staff at Cornell University.  The centerpiece of the presentation was a “Social Identity Wheel” which included ten categories of identity, as follows:
1. Race/Ethnicity
2. Age
3. Gender/Gender Identity
4. Sexual Orientation
5. National Origin/Citizenship Status
6. First Language
7. Level of Education
8. Physical/Emotional/Developmental Ability
9. Religion/Spiritual Affiliation
10. Socio-Economic Status
The Social Identity Wheel was used to define each person’s “social identity” based on their category/group memberships.  The presenter suggested four “Key Terms”:  1) Social Identity; 2) Privilege & Advantages; 3)Marginalization & Disadvantages; and 4) Social Location/Positionality.  Each participant was tasked to score themselves as either “privileged” or “marginalized” in each of the ten identity categories.

The thrust of the program was to single out the Privilege & Advantages (“unearned benefits”) enjoyed by some (Caucasians, men, heterosexuals, Protestants, etc.), in contrast to the Marginalization & Disadvantages (“physical and emotional harm”) suffered by others (people of color, women, LGBTQ’s, etc.).  The presenter outlined the Dean of Students Diversity & Inclusion organization structure (Asian and Asian American Center; LGBT Resource Center; Women’s Resource Center; Office of Spirituality and Meaning Making; Undocumented Student Support; Multicultural Student Leadership & Empowerment; and First-Generation and Low-Income Student Support); and also presented a page called “Cornell’s Commitment Continues” which read as follows:
* Student and Campus Life, academic colleges and units, and Alumni Affairs and Development all have Diversity & Inclusion offices
* Belonging at Cornell
* Presidential Advisers on Diversity & Equity (PADE)
* Intergroup Dialogue Project
* Program Houses & Other Communities
* Community Conversations on Race and Racism
* Required Advancing Diversity, Inclusion and Equity training modules for staff
* Cornell Community Read:  “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
* Community Response Team

I was stunned and saddened.  Stunned to learn that an elite major university is devoting this level of resources and energy to focus students and staff on “social identity” and personal scorecards of advantages and disadvantages.  Cornell employs a sizable bureaucracy to run programs which emphasize our differences and separate us into categories.  Are comparable resources devoted to initiatives to explore and facilitate positive shared common identity?  I acknowledge it’s appropriate and necessary to teach that America’s history marginalized blacks, indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOCs) through chattel slavery of Africans, genocide against indigenous people, and vicious discrimination against nonwhite immigrants.  And I think Jewish people should be included on this historical “victim list” as targets of pernicious religious persecution and discrimination.  But I also believe it’s equally appropriate and necessary to teach that modern-day America has substantially eliminated these historical moral stains.  Discrimination against BIPOCs and Jews is gone from the American legal canon and is no longer socially accepted; and BIPOCs and Jews have achieved the highest levels of every profession and occupation in America.  Why aren’t Cornell and other leading universities teaching students to be proud of how far America has progressed from its worst historical practices?  Why aren’t students taught to be hopeful and optimistic that America will continue to progress towards a better future?

It saddened me that Cornell is encouraging black students, in particular, to view themselves as victims of “America’s ongoing systemic racism”.  I know the truth from personal experience — every black high-achiever I’ve met shuns “victim mentality”, shares the character traits of optimism, believes they can control their own destiny, and believes America is a country of freedom and opportunity.  Hard work, personal optimism, and “power of positive attitude” fuels their success journeys.

The worst aspect of “other category” mentality towards people different from oneself is the ease with which it slides into hatred of the other.  This is what is now manifest on many university campuses.  I’m not surprised that The NY Times student guest essayists pinpoint epithets such as “oppressor” and “colonizer”, which are straight from the CRT/DEI playbook.   For example, an October 10 New York Post article reflected this point:  “When you hear about Israel this morning and the resistance being launched by Palestinians, remember against all odds Palestinians are fighting for life, dignity, and freedom — against settler colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy which the United States is the model” wrote Derren Borders, diversity and inclusion director at Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management on his Instagram Story.”
https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/cornell-diversity-and-inclusion-director-slammed-for-tone-deaf-posts-on-israel-hamas-war/?utm_source=mail_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons)

The current climate of animosity and hate on college campuses is convincing evidence that the higher education CRT/DEI model has failed.  I think the CRT/DEI bureaucracies which foster and feed the ideology of division and resentment should be eliminated from college campuses.  That is not censorship — it’s a statement that universities should not be in the business of funding student indoctrination in social alienation and anti-American ideology.

What do you think?