Letters: Protests Against Israel on New York Campuses

The Concern: Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at New York campuses, including Barnard College and City College.

In the past, Jewish students aspired to attend institutions like Barnard (“U. encourages hateful individuals,” Kristen Fleming, Feb. 28).

Obtaining admission to these schools signified a remarkable accomplishment and served as a gateway to esteemed professions and the upper middle class. However, these institutions are now rife with antisemitism. Potential students and their families should reconsider attending.

Additionally, alumni should withhold financial support in response to the universities’ lukewarm stance, claiming that protests, violence, vandalism, and trespassing are simply “expressions of free speech.”

The young Jewish generation needs to seek alternative universities that respect their identities and existence.

Mark Seitelman

Manhattan

Laura Rosenbury serves as the dean of Barnard College. Eric Adams holds the position of New York City mayor, and Kathy Hochul is the New York governor. Are they oblivious to the situation unfolding in their institutions?

Jewish students are facing harassment, physical attacks, and obstacles preventing them from attending classes. Suspended Barnard students have returned to campus, fostering a toxic and perilous environment for those merely seeking an education.

It is time for these so-called leaders to take decisive action to put an end to these hateful demonstrations and ensure the safety of every Barnard student.

Betty Schwartz

Livingston, NJ

Isn’t it time we addressed the miscreants and potential terrorists who persistently assault, intimidate, and disrupt Jewish-related events and classes at New York’s so-called institutions of higher learning?

Why do law enforcement and university officials seem compelled to treat these aggressors gently?

Will the misguided elites who manage these colleges ever realize that their inaction and complicity have diminished — or in some cases, such as Columbia University, obliterated — whatever credibility they had prior to October 7?

Mitchell Schwefel

Barnegat, NJ

CUNY’s City College, once a prestigious university that produced graduates such as Ed Koch, Colin Powell, and Jonas Salk, has devolved into a hub of hate (“CUNY ‘blood libel,’” Feb. 26).

The transformation from “prestigious” to “hateful” permeates every facet of CUNY life, while politicians ignore rising anti-Jewish sentiment in favor of diversity, free speech, and campus liberalism.

Only political leaders can halt the decline of what was once a crown jewel in New York City’s educational system.

Mel Young

Boca Raton, Fla.

The typical American college student is entirely unaware of the complex issues they rally against. If they were informed, they wouldn’t support Hamas, which brutally killed a nine-month-old baby and his four-year-old sibling.

These “protesters” resort to violence on campus, mirroring Hamas’s penchant for brutality. They are not genuine protesters, but rather anarchist terrorists residing in these educational institutions.

Bradley Morris

Queens

International President of the Transit Workers Union, John Samuelsen, emphasized that those responsible for the assault on a 41-year-old safety officer at Barnard should be identified and prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. New Yorkers are eager to understand why charges have yet to be filed and why arrests are pending.

Barnard’s administration appears to cling to the misguided belief that penalizing students for violently assaulting an employee is beneath them or a diversion from the institution’s intellectual ambitions.

Adam Drisin

Brooklyn

Every individual involved in the violent trespassing onto a Barnard College building should be identified and imprisoned.

I sincerely hope the college remains steadfast and does not succumb to the absurd demands of these antisemites. If the institution capitulates, it will be known as Barnyard, an entity that appeases those lacking reason.

Stuart Ellison