Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults said Harvard, Columbia, and other top colleges and universities are not doing enough to quell antisemitism and support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas on their campuses, according to a poll released Tuesday.
The DailyMail.com/TIPP poll comes as college campuses have become roiled with civil unrest regarding Israel's response to Hamas' terrorist attack on Oct. 7 in which more than 1,400 Israelis, including women, children, and the elderly, were massacred.
Israel embarked on an unprecedented aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and a ground operation is now underway to root out Hamas terrorists and rescue hostages.
The poll, which surveyed 1,400 adults earlier this month, showed 63% said elite schools were not meeting the challenge of hateful rhetoric, with 14% disagreeing and 23% saying they were unsure.
There was little difference between the attitudes of Republicans and Democrats, according to the poll, but independent voters were less likely to criticize universities.
Despite the poll results, Brandeis University, a private institution in Massachusetts, on Tuesday revoked recognition of the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), saying the group "openly supports Hamas." SJP described the Oct. 7 attack as a "a historic win for Palestinian resistance." Florida's public university system banned SJP last month at the direction of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman called on Harvard to take steps to tackle a rise in "blatant antisemitism" and "anti-Israel attacks" on campus, according to an open letter posted on X addressed to Harvard President Claudine Gay.
"The situation at Harvard is dire and getting worse, much worse than I had realized," wrote Ackman, who received undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard, adding that failure to take action will jeopardize "important sources of Harvard's revenue."
Israel President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday sent a letter to 700 college presidents and directors of universities throughout the U.S. expressing concerns similar to Ackman's.
"I hear of Jewish students harassed at Harvard University," Herzog wrote. "A Jewish student assaulted at Tulane, Jewish students locked in a library at the Cooper Union as a mob shouts outside, signs accusing Israel of genocide, swastikas painted on dorm-room doors, hateful and intimidating demonstrations – too many examples to list. All of this is happening not on the fringes of society but in the very temples of scholarship, in halls meant to be beacons of humanism, progress and rigorous inquiry. And it is happening not in Europe a century ago, but in the United States in 2023.
"Debate is welcome on any topic, including Israel's actions. This goes without saying. As America has learned in its own wars, the trial of fighting heartless terrorists who hide among civilians is agonizing and offers no easy choices. But the events on campus are not debate, but a defilement of the university and its principles. How can anyone endorsing, excusing, or glorifying the Hamas atrocities have a place in any college, or in the civilized world?"