We are excited to share that justice has prevailed for USC Professor John Strauss!
Professor Strauss was cleared of misconduct after calling anti-Israel protestors ‘ignorant’ about Hamas.
We are deeply grateful to everyone for signing and sharing the petition! Together, we were able to bring justice to Professor John Strauss.
To support our work in combating antisemitism, please follow @wearetov on Instagram. Unity is strength, and together, let’s end Jew-hatred!
More information below:
Economics professor John Strauss will not face formal disciplinary action from USC, an internal investigation into his comments during an anti-Israel/pro-Palestine protest in November has concluded.
Strauss became the subject of international attention after he was filmed saying the anti-Israel protesters were “ignorant” and “Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are. Every one [of them] should be killed.”
Following this interaction, several students reported him to USC’s Title IX for discrimination and harassment. An online petition circulated received 7,000 signatures calling for his removal; however, our petition garnered over 24,000 signatures in support of him.
Still, Strauss was placed on administrative leave for the remainder of the fall semester, but returned to campus in the spring.
Dishearteningly, Professor Strauss was mistreated after he returned to campus. He described an interaction with a student during the end-of-year anti-Israel protests when he was bullied and called “USC’s most racist professor.”
“Students really are ignorant about Hamas,” Strauss said. “I think, unfortunately, that’s still true even today, to a large extent with what happened at Columbia and UCLA and even here with the student protesters, most of whom are not even Palestinian or not even Arab. Having the police on campus and arresting people was entirely appropriate.”
After seven grueling months, Strauss received an email from USC, stating that all complaints against him had been dismissed and there would be no further investigation. Professor Strauss will teach a full course load in the fall.
Ultimately, Strauss said that he was “very pleased and relieved” with the decision, but that he wished the University had arrived at it sooner after letting the investigation drag on for so long.
He said that the process of the investigation was made easier by the support of Jewish students and faculty on campus: “Students, particularly Jewish students, would stop me on campus… and thank me for what I had done. I had an enormous amount of support from the Jewish community on campus, especially, which I was very thankful for,” Strauss said
We are deeply grateful to everyone for signing and sharing the petition! Together, we were able to bring justice to Professor John Strauss.
To support our work in combating antisemitism, please follow @wearetov on Instagram. Unity is strength, and together, let’s end Jew-hatred!
Sincerely,
We Are Tov