For years, universities have claimed to be sanctuaries of free expression and tolerance. But the façade is cracking. From Princeton to Columbia, academic freedom is being weaponized to mainstream antisemitism, giving professors who glorify terror and deny Hamas’s atrocities the prestige of Ivy League classrooms.
Princeton Joins the Academic Jihad
Princeton University’s Spring 2026 catalogue includes a course titled “Gender, Reproduction, and Genocide,” describing Israel’s conduct in Gaza as “the ongoing genocide.” The class will be taught by Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who was suspended and later arrested in Israel for incitement. She has publicly said, “It’s time to abolish Zionism. It can’t continue, it’s criminal,” and dismissed verified reports of Hamas’s sexual violence as “lies.”
Two weeks after her suspension, Shalhoub-Kevorkian praised Ghassan Kanafani, the PFLP terrorist leader behind the 1972 Lod Airport massacre that killed 26 people, including 17 Americans. Despite this record, Princeton hired her in October 2024 as a Global South Visiting Scholar, even as the university faced a 210 million dollar federal funding freeze over its handling of antisemitism.
Columbia’s Hamas Connection
At Columbia University, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, father of New York Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, sits on the Gaza Tribunal’s advisory council alongside Ramy Abdu, an Israel-designated Hamas operative. The Tribunal’s October 2025 conference in Istanbul featured speakers tied to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP, including convicted PIJ operative Sami Al-Arian and Addameer’s Sahar Francis, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury. Mamdani’s participation shows how extremist, CAIR-aligned ideology has seeped into Ivy League classrooms.
Legal Pushback and a Growing Campus Crisis
Jewish students are beginning to fight back. A federal class-action lawsuit against Chapman University in California describes “a pattern of ethnic and racial intimidation,” including death threats, vandalized Israeli memorials, and chants of “Death to Jews,” with administrators taking no disciplinary action. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are using a new legal strategy, applying workplace-discrimination law to universities, in an effort to hold schools accountable for antisemitic harassment.
Numbers That Expose the Lie
According to a joint report from the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International, 73 percent of Jewish college students in the United States have experienced or witnessed antisemitism since the start of the 2023–2024 school year. Globally, 78 percent of Jewish students hide their identity, and 81 percent conceal their Zionist beliefs for fear of attack. A 2025 study by the Sutherland Institute found that “very liberal” Jewish undergraduates are nine times more likely to side with Palestinians than conservatives, suggesting that ideological indoctrination, not education, is shaping Jewish identity on campus.
What It Means
“When over three-quarters of Jewish students feel they must conceal their identity, the situation is nothing short of dire,” said Marina Rosenberg of the ADL. Matthew Mainen of the National Jewish Advocacy Center added, “Universities were meant to teach moral courage. Instead, they are normalizing moral collapse.”
From Princeton to Chapman, antisemitism is no longer fringe—it is being taught. Academic freedom cannot excuse the mainstreaming of hate against Jews.
