When I went to Drexel University, the protestors were anti-war and anti-nuclear winter. Noisy and annoying but generally harmless. In today’s world, however, “woke” protesting has become a contagion at almost every American institute of higher learning. Protest is no longer simply an annoyance, it characterizes every event and makes national news regularly. However, something may be about to change and that is thanks to the brutality and savagery of the Hamas attack on Israel.
Not surprisingly, “woke” students condemned Israel and excused Hamas. They wrote letters and marched in protest, all on the internet and in full color video – but the reaction was not what these “woke” students expected. There was actual condemnation and serious push back. Here are a couple of examples:
The head of the student’s law association at NYU took the Hamas side and blamed Israel for all the violence. As a result, her offer of a job at a prestigious law firm in New York was rescinded.
A billionaire donor to the Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania withdrew from the Board and took his tens of millions with him. He encouraged other major donors to withhold contributions. He was incensed by the pro-Hamas nature of the student organization statements. So, not only did the students get defunded but the University itself.
The worst example of the anti-Israel wokeness occurred at Harvard where some 30 plus student groups condemned Israel in writing. One of Harvard’s billionaire donors demanded to know the name of every student who signed onto the various letters. He also condemned the President of Harvard for a late and equivocating response to evil. (Many of the students involved directly with the pro-Hamas anti-Israel letter panicked and tried to erase their name from the internet. Too late, the various stockbroker and law firms now have a “do not hire” list of names.)
I am certain that other colleges and universities around the country, and even the world, are finding out that woke activities in support of medieval level savagery and brutality are costly. Clearly, wokeness has simply gone beyond college kids being stupid to college kids being faced with the reality of a very bad decision.
Nothing excuses evil is a very important lesson to be learned and this lesson has life changing consequences if ignored.
Note: Protestors were quite annoying to Drexel’s commuting engineering students who were actually learning and studying as opposed to playing ping pong in the campus community center. In one notable incident, a protestor was thrown out of a second story window because he interrupted a final exam study session.
9 comments
Not surprisingly, uva is in the pro hamas camp. Administration conveniently uninvolved.
Harvard and the other Ivy League schools were once considered the jewels of the American high education system. That is no longer the case. Harvard has fallen victim to globalism and the money it brings in – particularly from the mid-East. The result is that Harvard has lost the American moral and constitutional foundation and traditions that allowed it to become great.
I doubt that Harvard will ever recover. the loss of massive donations is but the first shoe to drop. Next comes the quality of the professors and students. Something better and more American will hopefully rise in its place.
John Huntsman just shut down his participation in the huntsman foundation at the university of Pennsylvania. Between the Lia Thomas disgrace and the relative silence on the Islamic attack on Israel, he and his family has had enough. So add the UofP to the be careful list.
It is interesting to watch the rats desert the pro-hamas side at Harvard. Some Students who belonged to pro-hamas, pro- Palestine and pro- Muslim organizations are now saying they don’t speak for me and have resigned in protest. In addition some professor groups at Harvard have directly criticized the pro-hamas professors and students. The Harvard university looks like the president of bud lite trying to find a way out.
In one notable incident, the son of the founder of a cosmetic line carried by Macy’s is a leading pro-Palestine supporter at Harvard. The company, recognizing the implications of having a Palestinian tie on board, has distance itself from the founder of the cosmetic line. Name change to follow? Will Macy’s discontinue carrying the cosmetic line? Stay tuned.
These universities and colleges just bit the hand that fed them. May the Jewish donors finally wake up and put their money to useful causes elsewhere and may the woke students reap what they sow.
Harvard has plenty of money, but what this hamas situation has done is directly impact their reputation and prestige. Ivy League isn’t going to be the door opener it used to be. Better Liberty U. than UVa if things continue down the anti-American woke path.
Already there. I assume anyone with an Ivy League degree is going to be a problem. File 13.
Trust but verify – and do it a few times. It isn’t just the Mohammad coefficient that is the problem but those who think the Mohammad coefficient isn’t a problem.
There is a video from the University of Washington where a Jewish girl is in tears and pleads with a college administrator to stop a threatening demonstration by pro-hamas students. Unfortunately, these college administrators are woke cowards who won’t throw out these supposed students for threats of violence. In WW2, anybody praisng German Nazis wouldn’t have been allowed on campus. Now people praising hamas Nazis parade and threaten with impunity.