Dear University Administrators in America & Canada:

We are the collective voice of the thousands of people who believe that campus is for all. We are deeply troubled by the failures of the last year to prevent a group of people, both students and non-students, from turning your campus environment hostile for most. This letter is not about those failures, which are being addressed through lawsuits, Congressional hearings, and activism that includes donor and alumni pressure. This letter is a chance for you to do something right.

October 7th marks the tragic anniversary of the barbaric attack, by supporters of Hamas and other terrorist organizations, that subjected over 1,200 people to rape, torture, and murder, and 250 people to inhumane captivity as hostages in Gaza. The murder victims of these atrocities include people from 40 different countries (including Americans and 8 Canadians), and practitioners of 5 religions. The hostages taken came from 25 different countries; it is believed that 5 of the 8 Americans still held in captivity are alive. October 7th is a seminal event in world history, marking the single largest act of mass-murder of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

For people of good moral character, October 7th will be commemorated with reverence, recognizing and respecting the pain of loss and the unique and shared trauma endured by the world’s Jewish community. It is a day to reflect on the unique hatred of Jews shared by the supporters of Hamas, both the ones who committed the attacks and the ones who have been celebrating it. It is a day to commit ourselves to eradicating Jew-hatred, to making it as socially unacceptable as every other form of racism or bigotry, and to building a society in which the civil and human rights of all are respected.

It is singularly inappropriate to allow activities on campus on October 7th that do not reflect the reverential and respectful commemoration of this tragedy. Some schools have explicitly given permission for the use of campus space to students and organizations, like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), that have, at worst, celebrated the October 7th attacks, and at best, created a hostile and toxic campus environment replete with the systematic targeting of Jewish students, subjecting them to discrimination, harassment, intimidation, bullying, and acts of overt violence.

This cannot be allowed to happen, of all days, on October 7th. Granting such permission is not just unacceptable, it is beyond the pale – as disgusting as granting permission to white supremacists to burn a cross on campus on the day commemorating the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Any progress you think you have made in restoring order to campus, any goodwill you think you have earned with the victims of campus atrocities, will be erased in an instant. More than that, it would be a slap in the face to civil rights activists and a step backwards for civil rights and social justice.

We will not remain silent about universities that violate our shared values and allow our suffering, our grief, or our healing process to be desecrated, and the Jewish community to be further traumatized. Such universities will be specifically added herein – a list of deplorables not worthy of the students they seek to enroll.

But you still have time to do the right thing. Rescind permission for such unacceptable use of campus space on October 7th. Do not grant it in the first place. The lawyers among us will tell you that when there is a will, there is a way. Public safety is a compelling governmental interest. Hiding behind the First Amendment will not work, especially at private universities. Do not compound the tragedy of October 7th and the devastation it has caused on university campuses in the last year by enabling naked aggression against the Jewish people and students who want nothing more than normalcy.

Do the right thing. Show the world that you practice the values you seek to instill in your students. On October 7th, stand in solidarity with people of good moral character. Stand in solidarity with the families still mourning the loss of loved ones. Stand in solidarity with the families holding out hope that their loved ones will be rescued. Stand in solidarity with the Jewish people, and stand in solidarity with us. Send the clear message that campus is for all, not just for the loudest of bullies.

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UPDATE - The following schools have canceled the antisemitic events scheduled on October 7th (thanks to your support):

Wake Forest University - September 26, 2024: 

Thanks to your support, Wake Forest University canceled the event with pro-Hamas speaker Rabab Abdulhadi on October 7th. Abdulhadi supported Hamas's October 7th terrorist attack on Israel, and even criticized ILHAN OMAR for not fully endorsing "Palestinian resistance." She has defended Hamas's October 7th atrocities, which include rape, burning alive, taking civilians hostage, and indiscriminate slaughter, making her presence on this traumatic day completely unacceptable. 

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Our work isn't done yet. We’re still pushing back against other schools that are allowing pro-Hamas groups to mobilize on October 7th.

Our Fellows are meeting with their administrators to stop this from happening. They’re trying to do this quietly, without media or public pressure—but if these universities fail to proactively protect Jewish students, especially on October 7th, we’ll make sure everyone knows exactly who they are.

In the meantime, please continue to sign and share this petition to make it clear to all universities that we will not back down in the face of Jew-hatred, especially when it’s happening with university approval. 

Your signature helps make it clear to the universities how important this issue is for all of us!

To learn more about the End Jew-Hatred civil rights movement and support our other initiatives, visit endjewhatred.com.