Campus Aware: Our Story

We are a group of university professors from Canada who aim to bring awareness around issues related to equity, diversity, and inclusivity following the events of October 7, 2023. Since this fateful day we have observed what seems to be a never-ending litany of hate manifested towards Jews, both in Israel and abroad. This hate is most often cloaked (or thinly veiled) in the garb of anti-Zionist bigotry.

It started on October 8 when terrorist sympathisers handed out sweets in the streets of the Greater Toronto Area and other cities to celebrate the massacres of Hamas. However, the celebration would not stay in the streets, but instead swept over university campuses like a tidal wave. Here radicalized university professors, who for decades had preached their one-sided anti-Zionist agenda from the sanctity of their classrooms, now openly celebrated the massacres at Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, University of Toronto and elsewhere. "All forms of resistance against the colonial-settler oppressors are justified", they railed. That so-called "resistance" included slaughter of women and men, children and the elderly, civilians and soldiers. It included extensive rape and a host of barbarity that we will not dwell on further here.

Student unions across Canada, the US, Europe and elsewhere, next wrote proclamations supporting Hamas. Sadly, some faculty unions also joined the chorus. Professors and administrators in places of power signed open letters denying the rape of Israeli women despite the clear evidence to the contrary. Ironically some of these were so-called "human rights activists" such as the former University of Alberta director of the Sexual Assault Centre. Radicalized university departments also violated their obligations to remain politically neutral and have made official departmental statements full of one-sided hatred towards Israel and support for Palestinians. These polarized departments have generated toxic environments for many Jewish students and faculty alike. Departmental toxicity has been so strong in the worst cases, that Jewish faculty have fled and university administrators have had to provide them new homes in other, more cordial departments.

All the while, Jewish students, staff, and faculty have had to endure what seems to be an endless cacophony of campus protests, walk-outs, and sit-ins, all to the tune of slogans like "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" and Globalize the Intifada."

As I write this, a protest tent city has been erected at Colombia University and across many other campuses where the rhetoric has increased ten-fold with direct calls for violence, no-longer cloaked in slogans that could be interpreted multiple ways, but said plainly and in the open. Police have finally been called in and arrests are being made. These campuses are no longer safe for Jewish students, who are being told to work remotely and are being escorted on and off campus by security.

It is with this backdrop that I introduce Campus Aware. We are professors who are disgusted by the hate, frustrated by the slow action of many university administrations, and worried for the welfare of our Jewish students, staff, and faculty, many of which are barely coping and are scared for their safety. We can no longer stay silent. Unfortunately, our voices for now will remain anonymous -- we also fear for our own safety. Our members include pre-tenure faculty who are afraid their activism will lessen their chances of tenure. Our spouses have pleaded with us not to reveal our identities. None of us want to be doxed or harassed. Call us cowards if you must, but do not let our anonymity fool you into thinking we are not proud of the work we are doing. In fact, we have never been more proud to bring the messages that we do here.

Are we qualified for this task? Yes and no. Some of our members sit on Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity committees. We are anti-racists! We seek social justice! We attempt to conduct thorough research on the messages we bring. This includes many hours researching the origins of protest slogans and pouring over surveys of university student viewpoints since Oct 7. Our research has involved enlisting Arabic speakers to translate obscure texts. We try to understand the positions of both sides. Some of us have first-hand experience of having lived in the Middle East and experienced the horrors of the second intifada firsthand. Yet despite all of this we admit that we are not fully qualified for this task. No one is. The events we see unfolding are unprecedented, and frankly most university administrations have been caught completely off-guard. We do not pretend we have all the answers because we do not. Instead, we simply seek to shine awareness where we have some knowledge and feel the pain of those affected. We seek to provide a different perspective that is greatly needed at this time.

Let's start by making it clear what we are not. We are not apologists for Israel and neither is this website another site defending everything Israel. We do provide a different perspective on Israel starkly different from the "settler colonial-enterprise" libel that so many in academia make. Nevertheless, we freely admit that leadership of the country of Israel has committed blunders and certain government policies are unjust and need reformation. We find the history of settlement in the Westbank problematic. While we raise our voices in criticizing Israel, as we do our own countries when they have errored, we are not haters of Israel. When we criticize, we do so with the wish that Israel will become the best it can be just as we wish for Canada, the United States, and all the Arab countries involved to become better versions of themselves.

We are also not anti-Palestinian. While you are unlikely to find us joining pro-Palestinian protests, we do dream for the day when Palestinians will achieve their own independent state, peacefully co-existing in the Levant side-by-side with the state of Israel. We want nothing more. We consider ourselves to be pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel and we believe those positions are not mutually exclusive. Not only are they not mutually exclusive, but we would argue that only those who support Israel and formation of a future Palestinian state can effect true change. In contrast, those in the supposed "pro-Palestinian" movement calling for the destruction of Israel, chanting "From the River to the Sea" and calling for "Intifada" are not helping the Palestinian cause.

While we cannot solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can work to bring Jews and Palestinians together on campus. But before this can happen, we must regain a campus culture of mutual respect and civility. This begins with university professors. This begins with university administration. This begins with university students. This begins with you.

So lets get started.