On university campuses across North America, a new anti-war movement has emerged. Camped-out students are pressuring their universities to divest from companies that profit off the Israeli war machine, to cut ties with Israeli institutions and to publicly condemn Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza.
Away from the student encampments, unsympathetic alumni and donors are pressuring university administrators to suppress this student movement.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced he would cease donations to Columbia University. Hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman, dissatisfied with Harvard University administration’s response to a student statement criticizing Israel, led a highly publicized campaign to oust the university’s first Black president, Claudine Gay.
