Student Life | Alan Zhou

Protesters gather around the George Washington statue outside Olin Library.

As the entire Jewish community around the globe continued to grieve the point-blank execution of six hostages by Hamas terrorists in Rafah, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Student Life’s ill-timed morning newsletter headline on Tuesday, Sept. 3 announced an opinion submission from suspended faculty against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Apparently, “all eyes are not on Rafah” when innocent Jews are murdered. 

The previously suspended faculty member letter sought to provide “context” and remind the campus community of the unfortunate events they encouraged and exacerbated on our campus in April 2024. After lambasting the University for its response to the faculty members’ improper conduct, they concluded with an ambiguous, ominous warning: “We look forward to getting back to business, but not business as usual.” 

Their “shortened version of events” is so inaccurate it’s as though they reside in an alternate universe, imagining another event altogether. On April 13, 2024, current students and their peers from outside WashU disrupted an admitted student day by taking over the event from the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs during her remarks as part of a protest with the apparent intent to discourage prospective students from enrolling at WashU.

On April 27, many of these same students invited hundreds of individuals with no connection to WashU to come to campus to support a boycott of Israel, “take back WashU’s campus for Palestine,” and protest WashU’s “ties with” Boeing. According to the faculty letter, the students did so with the full support and backing of the previously suspended current and former WashU faculty members. These protesters were not sitting around snacking, playing guitar, and singing folk songs of peace, love, and unity with children playing games in the grass. The protesters marched through campus, convening outside Olin Library where hundreds of students were quietly studying for final exams.

According to numerous firsthand accounts from students, as corroborated through extensive photographic and video evidence, hundreds of non-University guests stood by the library aggressively chanting, “Intifada, Intifada, long live the Intifada.” They climbed on the George Washington statue south of Olin Library raising large Palestinian flags. An unknown man wore fatigues with a Hamas-style headband along the perimeter; protesters held signs with statements such as “Say No to National Zionists” with “NAZI” in “National Zionists” in bold. Another sign equated Israel’s response to the war, which Hamas started, with the Holocaust, during which six million European Jews were slaughtered.

When most Jews hear a call for “Intifada” or “uprising,” they are triggered. For us, the term refers to periods of extreme protest against Israel, primarily in the form of violent terrorism — bus and other similar suicide bombings. As a long-tenured Hillel CEO in my late 40s, when I hear “Intifada” yelled out in this way, I hear “death to Jews” and “the end of Israel” on our beloved WashU campus. I hear antisemitic hate speech that violates WashU’s Conduct Code. I hear a call for an incitement to violence that is neither peaceful nor protected speech. Put simply, the protesters’ chants outside Olin Library normalized terrorism against Jews.

I can only imagine the fear young Jewish college students felt when they were abruptly shaken from their studies to such violent chanting by unknown strangers who had descended upon their campus. Indeed, I went to Hillel the night of April 27 to support students and heard from many who were evacuated from OIin and ran to Hillel as a safe space; some shared their fear publicly.  

To the extent the previously suspended faculty wish to discount or minimize the fear and danger that many students felt during the April 27 protest is to ignore the very context with which they allege to enlighten us, ignoring the hate speech, assaults, property damage, and other violence that ensued at similar campus protests and encampments around the country.

After the protesters began pitching tents in violation of WashU policy and were asked to leave and disperse repeatedly by University officials and WUPD, they ultimately moved to Tisch Park and began attempting to set up their encampment again despite numerous calls to leave. After many hours and repeated warnings, WUPD and other police departments arrested the protesters, the majority of whom were not affiliated with Washington University.

WashU Hillel condemns all violence. Many of the protesters not only ignored repeated calls to leave and disperse, but some apparently resisted arrest. The University had no choice but to respond as it did as WUPD and the administration sought to protect our campus community.

The previously suspended faculty warn us that the coming academic year will not be “business as usual.” I hope instead of organizing or participating in threatening protests, encouraging antisemitic chants, and/or teaching biased narratives formally or informally, they will instead: call for the use of responsible speech; no longer embrace the use and normalization of terrorist rhetoric; no longer intimidate students for simply believing Israel has a right to exist; take a moment to listen to students threatened by their conduct; and encourage students to engage in dialogue with one another.