Resignation Is Not the Best Path Forward

Sarah Lawrence College is not the friendliest school when it comes to viewpoint diversity; students regularly self-censor and often feel intimidated to disagree with the prevailing and often progressive norms of the campus. I have been the focus of numerous cancellation attempts over the years when students and administrators have been unhappy with various ideas that I have shared and many students have privately shared their frustrations with me about being unable to express themselves and question openly. 

Concerning Jewish life on campus, despite a large number of Jews being part of the community near New York City, antisemitism is alive and well at Sarah Lawrence. As an outwardly observant Jew who also publicly supports Israel even when I deeply disagree with its government, faculty colleagues regularly attack Israel and me without worry. They habitually make deeply insensitive and inappropriate remarks to me and regularly assert that Israel is an illegitimate, genocidal and apartheid state. I have found Nazi imagery on my office door over the years and have been told to make no real issue of it. Jewish students have felt such pressure from peers, administrators, and faculty on campus that they have met with officials from the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Numerous incidents remain known to students but go unreported and unanswered. One documented example occurred in the fall of 2015 when a Jewish student leader was afraid to come to the physical campus, “after inviting an Israeli soldier to speak … she’d become the subject of virulent Facebook posts, angry email chains, and threatening stares and whispers.” 

I share my experiences here because they are maddeningly not particularly unusual in the world of higher education. Thus I was not shocked when I read former UCLA anthropology professor Joseph Manson’s recent account of his experiences dealing with antisemitism, woke politics, and his general observation that “also typical of elite U.S. universities, UCLA is awash in Jew-hatred thinly disguised as anti-Zionism.” 

Regrettably, as a direct result of this oppressive environment, Manson opted to retire, stating “I can’t bear to spend one more moment in a place that’s morally and intellectually bankrupt.” I have never had any interactions with Professor Manson and I cannot fully understand his frustrations and worries with UCLA and its future. However, I wish that he had not resigned as, by his admission, he had more years in which he could have served as a professor. I make this statement because higher education needs tenured faculty who not only believe that higher education will regain some sanity by resisting the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) machine but who can also continue to serve as role models for the thousands of undergraduate students who form the heart and soul of our institutions of higher education. Manson walked away.

Notably, any discussion of undergraduates was missing in Manson’s piece and UCLA not only has a huge undergraduate population of close to 32,000 students but is also a flagship, global university where norms and ideas have a significant impact. As such, while Manson may have been uncomfortable, he could have at least remained a force to resist the antisemitism and promoted his own and appropriate academic and personal goals of being a “believer in rational inquiry (not Scientism) and freedom of speech.” 

In my situation, it was made clear by the highest level of administrators and the college president that I may want to find employment elsewhere and that many would rather I no longer be on campus. But I have tenure and academic freedom; it is a sacred privilege to be a professor and I love teaching, my students, and the innovative liberal arts curriculum that we have at Sarah Lawrence College. I promote viewpoint diversity and discourse and being able to be openly Jewish, which has backstopped scores of students who now feel far more comfortable pushing back on the antisemitic zeitgeist. While I will never have a complete picture, I know that I have made many feel safer and more willing to question and express themselves. This is hopefully making a difference and I know that many other faculty nationwide could do the same for their students and in their communities; so exiting strikes me as a suboptimal option. 

Moreover, I firmly disagree with Manson’s statement that he strongly, “suspect[s] that mainstream U.S. higher education is beyond the point of self-repair, and therefore no longer a worthwhile setting for the intellectually curious.” Not only have scores of groups mobilized to protect intellectual freedom and open inquiry at faculty and student levels, but in my teaching and lecturing around the country, I have found that Gen Z students today are far more open and curious than their older Millennial counterparts. Many reject cancel culture and want to hear a diversity of views; they want to make up their own minds and are searching for voices that are meaningful to them. Recent Harvard survey data looking at the collegiate student landscape today, students on campus today are not all left-of-center whatsoever despite the presence of progressives who agitate and make far too much noise. The Harvard data is in line with many other surveys and reveals that nearly a third (32 percent) of college students identify as liberal with another 21 percent claiming to be conservative. Add to the story that a plurality of students are actually in the middle with 46 percent stating that they are moderate, college students are hardly overwhelmingly liberal at all and thus not lost to the progressive impulses dominant among many faculty and administrators at all.

Antisemitism is rampant on campuses nationwide and many are struggling. Professors should be focused on helping and defending the besieged students. 

Antisemitism is rampant on campuses nationwide and many are struggling. Professors should be focused on helping and defending the besieged students. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression recently found that 64 percent of Jewish students report that it is difficult for them to have an open and honest conversation about Israel on campus today; this is more than twice the national figure of just 29 percent. While my presence as both a mentor and writer pushing back on these dangerous currents may have limited impact, I know that many students have benefitted from my efforts and that gives me real comfort. I may not be able to fully stop anti-Jewish thought and hatred, but I can certainly blunt it on occasion and perhaps change minds. While walking away from this battle in higher education is a path that some may choose and I wish them no ill, I do hope that most run into the fight; Jewish continuity, free expression, and open inquiry all depend on those of us who can stand up to do just that at this critical juncture.

Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute