Latest News from Campus

Over 100 pro-Palestine protesters disrupted Columbia University’s main library, Butler Library, during reading week, chanting slogans and banging on drums in an anti-Israel demonstration organized by the university’s pro-Palestine group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which is currently suspended. Police arrested more than 75 protesters after Acting President Claire Shipman authorized their removal. Brian Cohen, the executive director of Columbia Barnard Hillel, said the demonstrators “infringed on the rights of Jewish students to study for exams without being screamed at and harassed,” and called on the university to act swiftly to hold those responsible accountable.

Following last month’s mass shooting at Florida State University that killed two people and injured six, Hillel at Florida State University supported Jewish students processing the trauma. Director of Leadership and Wellness Melanie Pelc organized healing activities including rock painting for a memorial, therapy animal visits, and educational posts on grief. Drawing on Jewish mourning traditions, Pelc emphasized the importance of slowing down and honoring grief without guilt.

A Temple University student was suspended after displaying an antisemitic sign that read ‘F*** the Jews’ at Barstool Sansom Street in Philadelphia. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy condemned the incident, fired two employees involved, and announced plans to send the patrons responsible on an educational trip to Auschwitz — an offer he later retracted for one of the students involved after he denied accountability. Philadelphia police are investigating the matter.

George Washington University has suspended the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) until May 2026 for hosting unauthorized events and obstructing university officials from attending scheduled programming, among other violations of university rules. The group is prohibited from engaging in any campus activities during the suspension period. This action follows previous disciplinary measures, including a three-month suspension in 2023 for projecting anti-Israel messages on campus buildings.

In this op-ed, Jacob M. Miller, a Harvard senior and former president of Harvard Hillel, argues that the university’s emphasis on defining antisemitism within pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist activism overlooks broader moral issues within the anti-Israel movement. Miller contends that certain actions and rhetoric from pro-Palestine groups, while not always antisemitic by definition, warrant criticism for their insensitivity and potential to incite violence, writing: “Our excoriation of the anti-Israel movement should be based on protesters’ simplistic thinking, extremist rhetoric, support of violence, and denial of Jewish religious teaching and history.”

Penn Hillel was honored with the 2025 Sharon Greene Award for Campus Advocacy at the AJC Global Policy Forum in New York City. The award recognizes leadership in countering antisemitism on campus, and is awarded to students and campus organizations that lead the way in combating antisemitism and discrimination. Ben Messafi, student vice president of Penn Hillel, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.