Jewish students beg administrators to do something about antisemitism on campus

Jewish students describe rise in antisemitism on campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Published: Dec. 7, 2023 at 1:15 PM EST
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WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A rise in antisemitism on college campuses brought Jewish-American students to Capitol Hill this week, to lobby support for Israel.

‘Do something’ was the overall message from these students who said the Presidents of their Universities aren’t doing enough to protect them against hate crimes on campus.

“Being a Jew at NYU means being physically assaulted in NYU’s library by a fellow student, while I was wearing an American Israeli flag and having my attacker roam freely throughout the campus,” said Bella Ingberg, an NYU Student.

This was one of the many terrifying moments described by students who attend some of the most esteemed colleges in the country.

A student from MIT was in tears after she expressed what she says is the lack of support from her school’s administrators.

“President Kornbluth, please let me go back to being a scientist,” said Talia Khan, an MIT Student. “Let me go back to being a student. I don’t want to have to keep advocating for Jewish students safety on campus. It’s not my job. Please do your job and act now and if you can’t, I’m asking congress to do it for you.”

Members of congress stood beside students from Harvard and U Penn as they also described their experience on campus since October 7th

“I’m supposed to be studying for my finals,” said a U Penn student.

Each of the students previewed their testimony to the House of Education and Workforce committee about their experiences.

“In just a few short minutes my committee will call in the university of Harvard MIT and Penn to testify publicly about the vile demonstrations of antisemitism engulfing their campuses,” said Virginia Fox, Chairwoman of the Education Workforce Committee.

U Penn and Harvard are along six other colleges being investigated by the department of Education. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority leader Chuck Schumer joined other members of Congress today in support of these investigations.