Tag: Pro-Palestinian student protests

Labor Leaders, Jewish Groups Defend U. of Michigan Professor’s Pro-Palestinian Remarks

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At the University of Michigan May 2, 2026, commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson delivered a short speech in which he celebrated many of those who have fought for social justice at the school. At the end of his remarks, Peterson also praised the “pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.” The backlash was swift. U of M president Domenico Grasso apologized for Peterson’s remarks, and the speech was condemned by pro-Israel Jewish organizations and outlets. But leaders of the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers, as well as other academics and Jewish groups, quickly spoke out in defense of Peterson. Four of these responses are published in this post.

‘I Discovered Anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m Glad It Lives on There’

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“At the University of Michigan’s recent commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson delivered a five-minute speech in which he celebrated all those who have fought for justice at the university, my alma mater,” wrote Gayle Kirshenbaum in the May 8 issue of Forward, a “Jewish, independent, non-profit,” as it is self-described. “Invoking our legendary sports-focused fight song, he asked the crowd to ‘sing’ for suffragist Sarah Burger, who battled to get women admitted as students; for Moritz Levi, Michigan’s first Jewish professor; for all the students who fought for racial justice at Michigan as part of the Black Action Movement; and for the ‘pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza,’” Kirshenbaum said. This is a thoughful article on why conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism hurts the struggle to eradicate Jew hatred.

‘I Spent Decades at Columbia. I’m Withdrawing My Fall Course Due to Its Deal with Trump’

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This is an open letter by Rashid Khalidi to the administration of Columbia University, where the renown Palestinian American historian served as the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies for 23 years. “Although I have retired, I was scheduled to teach a large lecture course on this topic in the fall as a ‘special lecturer’ but I cannot do so under the conditions Columbia has accepted by capitulating to the Trump administration in June,” Khalidi explains.

Those Attacking Pro-Palestinian Student Protests Endanger Jews

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This article explains that, far from “protecting” Jewish students, those attacking pro-Palestinian student protests are the ones endangering Jews. Its author, Elijah Kahlenberg, is the president and founder of Atidna International, a university-based peace group uniting Jewish and Arab students. Kahlenberg, who is Jewish, graduated this spring from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Last year, he took part in UT student protests condemning Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and demanding the school divest from entities that do business with Israel.

In Graduation Speech, NYU Student Condemns U.S.-backed Israeli War in Gaza

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On May 14, Logan Rozos, a student at New York University (NYU), gave a brief but powerful speech during the graduation ceremony of Gallatin, a liberal arts school within NYU. In his remarks (transcribed by World-Outlook from the video of Rozos’ speech, and published in this post), the student condemned the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Palestinian people in Gaza. NYU immediately announced it is withholding the student’s diploma as it pursues disciplinary actions against him, in the latest flashpoint between free speech principles and punishment for pro-Palestinian advocacy on U.S. college campuses.

Columbia University Cracks Down on Pro-Palestinian Advocacy

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In this essay, Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi describes how Columbia is gagging students and faculty who have opposed Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, as university officials are moving further to the right under pressure from the Trump administration. The university became the epicenter of student encampments and other protests that swept the country last spring opposing the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Gaza and demanding that schools divest from businesses benefiting the Israeli regime.

Political Persecution: U.S. Gov’t Arrests Pro-Palestinian Student at Columbia University

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This article reports on the arrest on March 8 of Mahmoud Khalil by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. Khalil just graduated from Columbia University in New York City. He is among the thousands of students who have protested the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Palestinian people and have denounced the disciplinary measures — including suspensions and expulsions — university authorities have carried out against such students to clamp down on pro-Palestinian advocacy. Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin and a legal immigrant to the United States. DHS agents reportedly told Khalil the government “had revoked his student visa,” even though he does not have a visa but a green card that gives him permanent resident status in the United States. Public protests and a letter writing campaign demanding Khalil’s immediate release are already underway.