Anti-Israel protests at American universities have made headlines in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. And almost simultaneously, many conservative critics — including GOP presidential candidates — have used those protests as an opportunity to ramp up their assault on higher education, eagerly yoking them to their long-standing accusations of “liberal indoctrination.” Eliminationist chants, partisan DEI officers, angry mobs hey-hey, ho-ho-ing their support for terrorists — in terms of Republican’s favorite straw men, the “woke,” liberal campus of 2023 has them all!
Institutions of higher education, conservatives charge, are complicit in fostering an atmosphere of intimidation and even violence against Jews. Such allegations gained a little traction last week when the Education Department opened a civil rights investigation into antisemitic and Islamophobic harassment at seven colleges and universities (Islamophobia, of course, is not an overriding concern for conservatives).
Conservatives don’t seem to understand that liberals aren’t the ones who are contesting Israel’s right to exist.
Given their increasing dalliance with white supremacist voting blocs, it’s hard to view the concern for campus antisemitism expressed by many in the GOP as sincere. Even if it were, their critique of “liberal indoctrination” widely misses the mark. In their zeal to “own the libs,” conservatives don’t seem to understand that liberals aren’t the ones who are contesting Israel’s right to exist.
Conservatives assume that colleges and universities are pervaded by liberal professors who impart their extreme agenda to impressionable co-eds. Some polling organizations that study the political leanings of scholars perpetuate this myth as well. But this is more a reflection of the pollsters’ own limited understanding, as they often ask scholars to place themselves in one of only two boxes: liberal or conservative.
Anyone who teaches on an American…
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