Hunter
05/07/25
Faculty members, staff, students and alumni in the Jewish community across Iowa’s higher education system have issued a statement condemning attacks on their campuses invoking their name.
The Gazette reports the statement, signed by 89 past and present professors, students and staff, says “Financial threats to universities and stripping First Amendment rights from students, faculty, and researchers in the name of the Jewish community is deeply offensive to us. It must stop.”
The statement, issued Tuesday morning, is in response to the Trump administration’s withholding of federal grants, revoking of student visas, ordering of arrests and deportations, and threatening of policy changes on college and university campuses across the nation, in the name of fighting antisemitism.
The statement added that although they recognize antisemitism is present on campuses, ”broad stroke portrayals of universities as hotbeds of antisemitism do not reflect our lived experience.” They also pointed out that political speech and assembly shouldn’t be confused with hate speech, including those regarding Israel and Palestine.
The statement said respectful debate is among the best antidotes to ignorance and hate.